The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has denounced Budget 2025 due to the lack of financial support for third-level students. This year, €235 million has been allocated to the tertiary sector as one-off current funding.
The Government announced a once-off reduction of €1,000 in the student contribution charge for the third year in a row and a 33% reduction in apprentice fees. The postgraduate fee contribution grant was increased by €1,000, bringing it to a total of €5,000.
Additionally, the minimum wage will increase from €12.70 to €13.50 and the threshold for paying the initial 3% rate of the Universal Social Charge (USC) will increase to €27,000. This means that someone who makes minimum wage and works 39 hours a week can expect about a €1,424 increase in net annual take-home pay.
“They talked about wanting to make Ireland the best place in the world to be a child, but between the cost of going to college, the lack of student accommodation and no mention of specific supports for students, it seems like they want to hand young people a plane ticket along with their Leaving Cert. results.” USI President, Chris Clifford said in a press release.
The USI said the only measure that will help some students is the increase in the renters’ tax credit whichthat will bring the total credit to €1,000. However, the organisation called it “a drop in the ocean” in comparison to the current cost of student accommodation in their press release.
USI sent a pre-budget submission to every Teachta Dála (TD) ahead of Budget 2025, in which the main requests were to fund the building of the 30,000-bed shortfall in student accommodation, reduce fees by €1,500, to introduce a plan to abolish tuition fees over the next few years, and for the government to provide free public transport for all students.
The USI press release said: “While we welcome the repeat of the €1,000 Student Contribution Charge and the 33 per cent reduction in apprenticeship fees, and the slight increase in the minimum wage, there has been no move that will fundamentally do anything to relieve the huge burden students currently face. After this so-called ‘giveaway’ Budget, students will be no better off next year than they are now.”
This year, €105.7 million was allocated to higher education — just over one-third of a €307 million annual shortfall in core funding needed in higher education identified by Funding the Future.
