With a student body of over 22,000 students, approximately 35 per cent of the student population at Trinity College Dublin is international. Despite this being a point of pride for Trinity, some of the systems and opportunities of the school do not seem to wholly account for international students, the Foundation Scholarship (Schols) being one such opportunity.
Schols is a unique opportunity for Trinity second-year students. If a student wins Schols, they not only get the title of Scholar, but also are awarded with free housing, meals, and tuition for five years, allowing students to pursue a tuition-free Master’s degree if they so choose. However, the benefits come with particular issues for international students that seem to go unnoticed.
One of the major issues at hand is winter break, especially with the new academic schedule this year which sees the last day of exams this year as December 22nd. The starting date of Schols is January 5th, leaving very little time for students to rest and study in between. In particular, international students who want to sit Schols must either forfeit returning home for the holidays or spend much time and money to fly back for a short period of time. With flight costs at all-year highs around the holidays, financial feasibility is a genuine part of considering whether or not to sit Schols. The Schols exam schedule is also not yet out for this year despite being roughly six weeks away, making plans difficult for all students, but particularly international students as they balance study with travel to visit family.
In addition, one of the things not clearly communicated to non-EU students is that the “free tuition” included in Schols benefits does not cover their full fees, but only takes off the EU fee amount. While fees vary from course to course, non-EU fee paying students pay significantly more, with fees starting at €22,580. The fees for studying medicine as a non-EU student, for instance, max out at €60,000 per year. When all Trinity is offering a Scholar is a fraction off of their €60,000 tab, the comparative cost of time spent studying and time sacrificed with family and friends simply does not seem worth it.
Aside from these issues of transportation and time taken away from family and friends, given how difficult achieving Schols is, the question of whether or not to even give it a shot is an issue that many international students battle with. In order to be awarded Schols, a student must average a First Class Honours across all four exam papers, receive over 70 in two out of the four exams, and no less than 65 in the other two. Last year 72 scholars were awarded, with 909 people registered to sit the exams, resulting in a 7.9 per cent success rate. Some disciplines had zero scholars awarded, such as Mathematics last year, where the highest mark was in the 40s. Given the sheer amount of memorisation and studying needed to achieve these marks in any discipline, it is immensely difficult for any student to balance school work and social life while studying last year’s material in preparation for the examination. For international students, whose holiday break may be the only time they get to go home at all, sacrificing that time with family and friends in the face of these unlikely chances plays a huge role in their decision of whether or not to sit the examination.
While there are many issues, from costs of flights to missing out on time with family and friends, the Foundation Scholarship is still a unique opportunity at Trinity. Given the additional barriers and issues for international students to consider, Schols becomes a question of compromise in an already stressful time. It is up to the individual and their particular circumstances as to whether or not to partake, but it can be incredibly frustrating to feel as though you have to give up more than other students to accommodate an opportunity that is supposed to be for all.
