Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I call on the Minister for Education and Science to ensure the proper dispersion of the student services charge by higher education institutions throughout Ireland and to guarantee all the moneys collected through the charge are invested in student services and not used to pay off institutional debt. Almost €1,000 is collected from every third level student at the beginning of each academic year. The fee is colloquially termed the student registration fee but within colleges it is entitled the student services charge.

Guidelines published by the Higher Education Authority, HEA, in the mid-1990s advise how the money should be spent. It is distributed among a variety of stakeholders, namely, the student health service, examinations and registry offices, student services such as chaplaincy, student advisory service, disability and support service, careers officer, the student's union, the societies office and sports clubs. Principles such as these are applied throughout colleges and universities.

The total net income from the charge was €10.508 million in UCD this year but only €6.676 million was spent on student support services. Unbelievably, €3.8 million was collected by the university but not spent on such services. According to its accounts, this was due to the reduction in the HEA grant allocated to universities when Deputy Noel Dempsey was Minister for Education and Science in 2002. UCD has taken a significant portion of the student services charge to cover its deficit. This practice is being carried out in bad faith as students and taxpayers are not being told clearly about it.

Money collected through the charge must be invested in much needed, under-resourced student services because students do not receive the support they need. Child care and course equipment costs as well as accommodation issues and all the other problems facing students today add to the financial burden they carry and the least that can be done with the vast sum collected under this charge is to invest it in them to give them the support they rightly deserve. Financial issues haunt students on a daily basis and too often they create a barrier to pursuing further education, especially for mature students, lower income groups and single parents. Will the Minister commit to ensure the proper dispersion of the student services charges by higher education institutions throughout the State and to guarantee all moneys collected are invested in student services and not used to pay off institutional debt?

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter. The student services charge is levied by third level institutions to defray the costs of examinations, registration and students services, which include the planning, co-ordination and implementation of a variety of programmes and services designed to provide students with the opportunity to reach their full academic and personal potential. The charge is €825 for the current academic year. All students eligible for means-tested student support have the student charge paid on their behalf by local authorities or the vocational education committees in addition to any maintenance and tuition grants to which they are entitled.

The HEA issued a framework of good practice for the provision of student services to the publicly funded higher education institutions in 1998. Reference was made to the principles of transparency and accountability. The framework consists of guidelines to establish an appropriate system of consultation with students in the allocation of funding from the charge and in the determination of student services to be funded from this source. The framework also provides that institutions should ensure information is available relating to expenditure from the fund arising from the charge and that this information should be made available to students.

The HEA has written periodically to all institutions to remind them of their function in the student services charge to ensure correct procedures are in place in accordance with the framework. The HEA recently wrote once again to all institutions about the charge reminding them of this framework. I am satisfied the authority considers, generally, that the framework has operated quite well in the sector. Third level institutions are autonomous bodies and they determine the internal disbursal of funding, including funding received under the student services charge.

I am aware of the annual demands for additional resources for the higher education sector and I have afforded significant priority to investments in this area. Spending on higher education has increased dramatically over the past decade. When all higher education funding is taken into account, the overall provision by the Department for the sector amounts to €2 billion for 2008, an increase of 25% since 2005, when the provision amounted to €1.6 billion, and an increase of 135% on the €850 million provided in 1997. Unprecedented investment is being made in our higher education infrastructure in promoting excellence through system-wide collaboration and change, widening access and creating a vibrant fourth level sector. These are key long-term investments in Ireland's future.

Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I acknowledge he mentioned the charge is in place to support students. Can he do anything about the university to which I referred taking more than €3.8 million under this charge during this academic year because of the reduction in the HEA grant, thereby forcing it to use the students' money? Is he prepared to do anything other than ask the authority to write again to the universities?

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Third level institutions are autonomous bodies and they determine the internal disbursal of funding, including funding received under the student services charge. If the Senator provides details of the case, I will bring it to the attention of the Minister for Education and Science.