Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue because the cost of going to third level has moved beyond the reach of many people. In the first instance, fees are at the €3,000 mark while many people fail to qualify for the SUSI grant. While I appreciate that there is a Minister of State with responsibility for higher education who is not the Minister, we need to look at the SUSI system and how grants are given out. A great deal of reform of SUSI is required because it can be difficult just to access and deal with the body. The rules around how far one has to be from a college are very rigid which impacts students from rural areas more than those who can travel to college from home on a daily basis. That brings me to the matter of rental costs for students. Many students are now forced to commute or may end up giving college because they cannot afford the cost of living along with rent and fees. We have a good record of higher education that we are at risk of damaging due to increasing fees and costs of living. While a promise is there for 7,000 units, we need to see a lot more being done a lot faster to provide student accommodation. Otherwise we will slip behind in our record on third level education.

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