Students will oppose any college fees as O’Keeffe defends plan

STUDENT leaders have promised they will continue to oppose any form of college fees or loans system ahead of an announcement by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe in the coming months.

The minister said yesterday that he has asked fellow cabinet members to give him their responses within the next month to his various options in relation to introducing some form of student contribution.

Among these is the system he is known to favour, under which students would be expected to pay back most of their college tuition costs after they graduate and begin earning over a certain income.

“I presented a paper to my cabinet colleagues, I’ve asked them for their observations, I’m not sure what number of observations are in as yet, but I have now set them a date of September 15 to return to me with their observations.

“Having looked at and taken into account their observations, I’ll make a presentation to cabinet in early autumn,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

While the minister will make a personal recommendation on which route to pursue, he said it would be Government decision if any changes to the free fees scheme are introduced.

They will not affect students already started college courses but those who received Leaving Certificate results yesterday and begin third-level education in the autumn could be impacted from their second year onward.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) held a protest outside Trinity College Dublin as students collected results yesterday morning, claiming it was these young people who are likely to feel the brunt of any Government decision.

“The minister is waiting to hear back from his colleagues and it will be interesting to see what they come back with, or if there is any dissent,” said USI president Peter Mannion.

“They might come back with their own ideas and I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion.”

“We will be lobbying heavily on this issue in the coming months, and we would like people to think of the knock-on effects a loans system might have.

“If professionals are paying back college fees, it could lead to people being charged more to go to the doctor or someone in the legal profession, for example.”

But, Mr O’Keeffe said, it will not be possible to finance the higher education sector to the same extent as now if the National Development Plan target of increasing third level participation from 55% to 80% of the school leaving age group by 2015.

The minister also defended the lack of increase in student maintenance grant payments for the coming year, the second such freeze in two years.

“I think there was great relief that there was no diminution in the level of grant available,” said Mr O’Keeffe.

“One of the two areas that I had in mind in talking about introducing a student contribution at third level was that I would improve access for people from disadvantaged areas,” he said.

“That still remains my priority and I feel that — if we get a student contribution — we can channel some funding into that area,” Mr O’Keeffe added.