In a recent submission to Trinity’s Finance Committee, it was suggested that infrastructure costs could be subsidised with a contribution from undergraduate students. This news came as a shock to those who had invested time and energy into blocking further charges.
Kieran McNulty, President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), has vowed to “fight against this idea” if College ever does introduce it. The same concerns have been raised by the President of the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), Shane Collins, who warned that the proposed levy could lead to “severe repercussions for representation of underrepresented groups right across the higher education system”. Opposition from TCDSU and GSU would create antagonism at the very heart of the university. Alienating its students in this way is not the best course of action for a university administration that relies upon their support.
Writing in The University Times, Tom Boland, the former head of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), emphasised that “institutions need to build more coalitions of support among their regional communities as well as nationally”. Getting students on board is integral in this respect, as is perpetuating and establishing a positive image with communities across the country. Inflicting this extra cost would be disrupt positive relations between College and its students, and further the negative view of Trinity as an elitist institution that the College has been working to dispel.
In October, over 10,000 students turned out in protest against the prospect of an income-contingent loan scheme, suggesting significant anti-fee sentiment among young people across the country. Students’ unions have voiced their opposition to increases to the student contribution charge or the different schemes put forward in the Cassells report. Another levy would be unfavourable to many, creating a further barrier to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and putting pressure upon prospective entrants. If new charges were to roll out in higher education institutions across the country, inspired by Trinity, this could create a devastating race to the bottom where both students and colleges will lose out.
In the face of government cuts to higher education funding and other complex challenges across the sector, Trinity needs all of the support it can get. A new levy upon the very students who will support it is not the best way to go about balancing the books.
