Survey reveals more students need parental dig out to stay in college

Students are relying on their parents for more than €100 a week to keep them in college, with most families depending on their savings or turning to credit cards and loans to meet the bills.

As more than 65,000 college applicants wait in hope of an offer from the Central Applications Office next week, the figures in the Irish League of Credit Unions survey demonstrate the financial pressures on parents to put children through college.

Almost 44,000 of the 55,300 students getting their Leaving Certificate results tomorrow have applied to the CAO for a college place. However, the ILCU survey reveals the costs they and their families face during their third-level education, with 43% of parents having saved for at least a decade to support the cost.

For students living away from home, rent and utility bills have gone up almost €35 a month in two years, to e431 a month. However, additional spending figures show students have cut down spending on social life and clothing to help meet the rising costs of food, travel, and college materials.

Parents and students are also struggling with the prospect of the latest €250 rise in the student contribution, to €2,500. Almost 1,100 students will no longer have the fee paid or half-paid through the student support system, after changes to qualifying income rates this year. Another 5,000 will see the level of grant they receive fall by between e300 and €1,510.

“The increased registration fee alone puts huge pressure on family budgets, but when you factor in all of the extras, rent, bills, food, travel, and more, the costs begin to spiral,” said Mandy Johnston, ILCU head of communications.

Almost half of parents with a child in college (44%, up from 39% when the ILCU did its first such survey in 2011) are using some of their monthly income to support them. Another 42% use savings, 29% use a bank or credit union loan, 6% pay bills by credit card, and 2% have borrowed from money lenders.

Even those who qualify for grants have had additional problems, with more than half saying their grant was delayed. This has led to a third of families of grant- eligible students sacrificing spending on essential bills, a fifth borrowing money, and more than one in 10 unable to afford to continue to send their child to college.

The grant-awarding body, Student Universal Support Ireland, said the problems it had in its first year of operation should be resolved. However, to date, it has refused to provide figures on the progress it is making with early grant applications and had to extend the closing date at the start of the month after technical problems with its website.

While most of the expected 70,000 first-time grant applicants got in on time, any applications received after last week’s deadline will have to wait until all others are finalised before being processed.

The State Examinations Commission is sending out Leaving Certificate results for collection at more than 700 schools tomorrow morning. The first round of college offers will be made next Monday, with around 46,000 places likely to be filled through the CAO this year.