Student services cost less than €2k

COLLEGE charges for student services which the Government may increase to around €2,500 are only costing universities between €1,589 and €1,943 a year per head.

This is the range of costs the universities told the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) they incurred for each of their students in the 2008/09 academic year.

The purposes of the charge, currently €1,500 per student, has never been clearly defined but the figures from the Irish University Association (IUA) cover items such as student services, exam and registration costs, and non-tuition academic services.