Latest news with #studentaffordability
BreakingNews.ie
03-07-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
No decision on level of college fees yet, Paschal Donohoe says
The Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said the government has not yet decided what the level of college fees will be. It was a standard decision that was made in the Budget every year and it remained unclear what was going to happen. Advertisement 'We'll be deciding if it goes back from €2,000, it is currently €2,000. Before it's a temporary deduction in place, that would make it €3,000, but the government has to decide what that level of fees will be and haven't done it because we haven't done the budgets,' he told Newstalk's Pat Kenny show. 'This is a standard budget decision that we make every year and you could ask me what the decision would be in relation to social welfare, in relation taxation and the answer would be the same that we decide all these things on Budget Day.' 'The programme for government makes clear that budget by budget we want to make student life more affordable for students and for parents. "So that budget, each budget will contain measures to help that but what we can't do and won't be doing is having an additional budget on top of that with one-off measures. Advertisement "We have to move to a more normal budgetary cycle that we've been in every other year except for the last few years where we make decisions on budget day about measures that are going to be permanent, that we're confident that we can afford. And we will engage in that process now.'
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
University tuition fees must be affordable
Tuition fees should be "affordable" for students while also supporting the "financial viability" of universities, Stormont's economy minister has Archibald was speaking after Northern Ireland's five universities and university colleges called for tuition fees to rise by more than £1,000 a Sinn Féin minister was challenged in the Stormont assembly to rule out raising fees, which would increase to £5,831 a year under the said that "ideally student fees would be zero, but we have to work within the financial reality that we have". The call for a fees increase was sent to Stormont's five main letter was signed by the heads of Queen's University Belfast, Ulster University and the Open University in Ireland, and supported by a separate letter from the principals of St Mary's University College and Stranmillis University letter argued about a third of young people leave Northern Ireland to study elsewhere "due to the continued Northern Ireland Executive policy on funding".Higher education is the responsibility of the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive. 'Breaking point' In the assembly on Tuesday, a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) assembly member urged the economy minister to "commit to not raising fees under any circumstances".Sinéad McLaughlin said students were "already at breaking point", with some working over 20 hours per week on top of their studies "just to get by".In response, Archibald said: "From my perspective ideally student fees would be zero, but we have to work within the financial reality that we have."She said the current system is "imposed upon us by the British government" and that "years of austerity has had an impact on all of our public services, including our universities"."So we need to ensure fees are at a level that is affordable for students and maintains the financial viability of universities," she said the response was "neither a yes nor a no". 'Burden to the budget' Tuition fees in Northern Ireland were £4,750 in 2024/ students take out a loan to cover their tuition fees and living costs, which they then pay back when they begin working after England and Wales students currently pay £9,250, while Scottish students who remain in Scotland to study do not pay tuition in the Republic of Ireland pay a maximum of €2,000 (£1,695) a year in Friel, president of the National Union of Students and Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI), said last week the proposed rise in fees meant "asking students to bear the brunt of a broken system"."Education is seen as a burden to the budget at the moment, but it needs to be seen as an investment for our future and our young people," he said.
