Students to stage rally to protect financial supports

Students will march to the Dáil this lunchtime asking the Government to return €25m withheld from colleges in two previous budgets.

Ahead of next week's Budget, the Union of Students in Ireland has organised the rally in a bid to protect financial supports.

They want the Government to commit to not introduce any deferred payment scheme in the form of loans or graduate tax.

USI President Laura Harmon said third level fees were already the second highest in the EU.

"There's no doubt that higher education institutions are becoming under-funded. The Union of Students in Ireland believes that education should be publicly funded," she said.

"We are against any increases in student contributions because students already pay the second highest fees in Europe so we'd also be against any form of loan scheme or graduate tax because we already have very high levels of family and personal tax in this country."