Rachel Barry
TCDSU Education Officer
I first walked through the front arch as a Trinity student in 2007, a fresh faced girl from Liverpool, excited about what the next four years would hold. In addition to the obvious hopes of your average fresher as regards social life, I also had several expectations about the academic side of the environment I was walking into: a superior education from one of the top universities in the world; to face a new academic challenge that required more than mere regurgitation of knowledge; to be surrounded by the brightest minds of my generation; and for those minds and my own to be cultivated by a culture that not only admired but demanded excellence.
Having graduated in December 2011, I am happy to say that I look back on my time as a student with pride. However, now as a student representative, I find myself staring into the reality that because the funding of our higher education system is at a crisis point, those that follow me may not be so lucky.
When I began my studies in Trinity, the registration fee (as it was then called) was €900, nearly a 500% increase on the original figure of €190 when free fees were introduced in 1995/6. Next year, students (my younger brother among them) can expect to pay €2250 up front – more than double the amount that I had to pay for my first two years in college. The Minister for Education has virtually guaranteed that this will rise for every year of their course, reaching €3000 in 2015. At the same time, the grant has been cut so much that the USI have resorted to taking a Supreme Court case in an attempt to protect its more vulnerable members.
We’ve heard all these numbers before. In fact, most students are sick of hearing them. As I write, we have commenced the third week of exams, and the fatigue is starting to kick in. We’ve been talking about this all year, and soon myself and my colleagues will be replaced by a new, fresh team of officers. Shouldn’t I just change the record?
Unfortunately, I can’t do that. The fact of the matter is, this issue is simply too important to stay silent on.
It’s too important for our brothers and sisters, our cousins, our families, who will be paying an increased student contribution charge in the next few years, and who will have no government assistance in paying this increased student contribution charge.
It’s too important for the students whose income lies just above that eligible to receive the grant, and yet currently have to pay exactly the same as students whose parents earn six figure sums.
It’s too important for those who fail to qualify for the higher rate of the grant because they live 0.2 km outside a higher distance rate that is calculated as the crow flies, at the same time as vital transport services such as the 84 Dublin bus route are being cut next year.
It’s too important for those entering college with the same expectations that I had, only to find slashed library hours, no access to labs, beleaguered lecturers who have no time to meet one student out of their ever increasing class size, and student services who can’t cope with the increased demand and lower funds.
It’s too important for those of you reading this, who will have to pay an increased student contribution next year, and who may want to give your children the same opportunities that you have to become highly educated citizens.
The vote taking place this week will affect how higher education will be funded in the future, because it will affect the argument of one of the main stakeholders at the table – students. When government officials and the Higher Education Authority sit down to make decisions on third level funding, USI is the only student organisation with enough clout to influence the discussion. It is vitally important that Trinity students do all that they can to make sure that this voice is representative of your hopes, your dreams and what you want in your future.
