Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Someone does not need to be a rocket scientist to work out why people are dropping out of college. Of course, if people actually studying to be a rocket scientist they would be living on less than the living income, as we know from our PhD students, but we have covered that ground. The Minister mentioned the increase in core funding. The Government accepted that there was a shortfall of €307 million in core funding but only provided €60 million in the budget. This is very significantly short of what is necessary. That puts pressure on the services that should be provided by third level institutions, such as counselling and others. That also puts pressure on the institutions to jack up the rents to ridiculous levels. Some of the rents being charged by universities for their own accommodation are off the charts for most students. Accommodation is a major issue. What has been done to actually increase the delivery of more affordable student accommodation, properly funding the universities and services such as counselling?

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