In 2014, I was accepted to my dream course – nursing in Trinity. This offer came after some very difficult years, where I struggled with extremely poor health and lost my partner to Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. But I was determined to move forward and progress in life. I accepted the offer and started my course in September 2014.
I struggled to pay my way through first year in Trinity, but I kept telling myself it would be worth it. My credit union became my best friend as I had to take out loans to cover university fees and living expenses. I worked every minute I could to pay these back, as the last thing I wanted was to leave college with massive debt. I somehow passed first year and knew that I was doing the right thing studying something that I absolutely love. The knock-on effect, though, was massive burnout and I’ve started on antidepressants due to the stress. My studies and health have been affected from the financial stress on top of the demands of studying and working.
If you are working on the ward as a student nurse for three 13-hour shifts a week, on top of your own paid employment, this has a massive impact on your body and mind
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As nursing students, our course includes a large clinical practice component as well as mandatory lectures. Clinical practice involves working as a student nurse on a ward in any of the affiliated hospitals from around 7:30 to about 20:30 without any financial benefit. This does not frustrate students, as we appreciate the learning opportunities these placements provide us with. However, if you are working on the ward as a student nurse for three 13-hour shifts a week, on top of your own paid employment – another three 13-hours shifts – this has a massive impact on your body and mind. I work three shifts a week just to make sure my rent, loans, travel and bills are paid. There have been days and weeks when I have not had any money left at the end of the week for food. For some time I survived every day on a 49 cent packet of cookies from Dunnes Stores.
In 2013, Ireland produced a Healthy Ireland framework for improved health and wellbeing. It states the importance of healthy eating, exercise and positive mental health. I studied this document as part of my course. I still laugh when I think of it, because my course does not support students in any of these ideals. I cannot afford food. I sit with patients every day and discuss with them the importance of a diet rich in nutrients and reduced fat and salts, yet I don’t have a diet rich in anything. I have had to borrow money from friends and family just to pay for the prescribed medications that I need to breathe.
If I study, then I lose time for sleep
With all the work and placement hours I complete, where am I expected to find the time to study effectively? It’s almost impossible to function following a busy placement or working shift. If I study, then I lose time for sleep. Sleep is such an important part of our wellbeing too, another thing I tell my patients to make sure they achieve. There are so many studies that show good sleep improves concentration, performance and wellbeing. And yet I can’t practice the advice that I preach.
In first year, I did not receive a student grant as I had moved home for nine months to grieve after losing my partner. I was deemed a dependent mature student and my mother’s income combined with mine was less than €2,000 above the limit. I felt as though I was being punished for even trying to move on and do something with my life. Second year has not been much better, and I fought to get a 50 per cent maintenance grant. I received my first payment in March 2016 of €168 a month. That does not even cover half my rent. This is supposed to support me during my term in university. I have no choice but to work despite the exhausting and counter-productive knock-on effects this has. The SUSI system is broken, but is a better system than the proposed loan scheme which will see a further divide between the rich and poor. By implementing this loan system, the cycle of poverty and inequality will only continue in Ireland.
We’re dropping out and missing the wonderful opportunities that education provides due to a lack of support from our government
Students in Ireland today are struggling. We’re struggling to balance our study, work and placements. We’re dropping out and missing the wonderful opportunities that education provides due to a lack of support from our government. No student should be disenfranchised or discouraged from education due to a lack of support. Students should be supported when entering higher education. Second-chance students and students with proven exceptional circumstances deserve an independent, humanistic review, including legislation that is clear and does not punish them for experiences beyond their control.
Fees should be abolished if we want to support students and provide a world-class education system that is not plagued with inequality. Such an education system, and the students it produces, is the future of this country. But if you don’t support these individuals through their education, compassionately recognising the many barriers that some face when trying to better themselves, then don’t expect us to support our country by staying here when we are finally qualified to work.
