Ronan Costello
Editor
It has been reported today that Trinity students may soon be able to avail of a student loan scheme to cover the cost of the student contribution charge. The scheme is being discussed by the College, the Students’ Union and Bank of Ireland. Details of the scheme have yet to be finalised, with crucial elements still being discussed.
However, with the report about plans for a national student loan scheme, SU President Ryan Bartlett and Welfare Officer Louisa Miller felt it would be appropriate to comment on the Trinity scheme, their motivations for working on it and how it could relieve students of financial pressures that have become more onerous with each passing year.
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Few would argue that SU President Ryan Bartlett prioritises practicality over ideology when tackling problems. A theoretical physics student, Bartlett values workable solutions over intransigent ideals and has applied this philosophy throughout his tenure as SU President. During this tenure, the most significant challenge he set about tackling was the ever-increasing student contribution charge.
While Bartlett grappled with policy, Welfare Officer Louisa Miller was faced with an altogether more personal experience, as students offered daily anecdotes of the difficulty being created by the prohibitively expensive student contribution. They knocked on her door, day in and day out. Some sought advice on finance, others applied for a welfare loan, but most came to talk about how they and their parents had come to dread September and the financial stress that remaining in college was causing.
Meanwhile, Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn was suggesting that the student contribution would likely increase to €3,000 within the lifetime of this government. As he did so, he claimed that the matter was out of his hands and that incremental increases in the student contribution were a prerequisite to satisfying the government’s obligations to Europe and the IMF.
So, with Trinity students facing an upfront charge of €3,000 within a couple of years and no formalised method of relieving this financial burden, Bartlett and Miller met to discuss options.
It was apparent to both that “free fees” was a dead concept. If it had ever existed it was surely a thing of the past and any demands on government to reintroduce free third level education would, at best, fall on deaf ears and, at worst, be met with outright derision. The current incarnation of the Fine Gael party is as economically right wing as any ruling party the State has ever had, making such demands all the more unrealistic.
Bartlett and Miller agreed that a local student loan scheme to cover the contribution charge could act as a stopgap until the government offered a nationwide solution to the immediate financial burden that students faced. Both officers had, on numerous occasions, said to various College officials (including the Provost) that a mechanism for coping with the charge was desperately needed by those who did not qualify for the grant but who were also not so well off that they could pay the charge with relative ease.
Bartlett had begun to work with the College Treasurer, Ian Mathews, on allowing students to pay the charge in two installments (expected to be confirmed by College Board soon), one in the first term and another in the second term. During the course of these discussions Bartlett had mentioned the possibility of working with a bank to come up with a mechanism that would further relieve the financial pressure on students. Mathews then suggested that the College and the Students’ Union approach Bank of Ireland, believing there was a good chance that the Bank would at least entertain the idea of working with them.
Mathews was proven correct and the discussions began in earnest.
Assuming that a final agreement will be reached, Trinity’s loan scheme for the student contribution charge will be announced on either the 27th or the 28th of June.
