Increasing costs of higher education are hardly a new problem in Ireland, and the lacklustre response to these issues is nothing that most students have not seen before. Sadly, Budget 2023 does nothing to go above this unambitious precedent.
The new budget for 2023 includes a variety of one-time measures such as a €1k reduction in college fees and a once-off double SUSI payment meant to address the cost of living crisis for students. However, for a nation facing a long-term cost of living and housing crisis that predates inflation, these measures are too little, too late.
This Editorial Board has previously criticised the Government’s consistently delayed action on the Cassells report, which outlines three methods of addressing funding issues in higher education. This budget is reminiscent of the same deficit of political will – while its one time measures will provide some help, they do nothing to address the long-term issues facing students.
Recently, it came out that the rates of students deferring their start dates by a year have increased across Ireland, partly as a result of unaffordable accommodation. In Trinity, deferrals are up by 20 per cent, with 10 per cent citing accommodation as their reason for deferral. Ireland has the highest third-level fees in the EU, and even before inflation the cost of college accommodation was higher than that of private housing. While temporary relief measures are welcome, nothing in the budget is up to par with those challenges.
What use is a fee reduction to students who cannot find any housing in Dublin? Or a once-off double SUSI payment to financially struggling students who have been repeatedly failed by the SUSI system? The Government clearly acknowledges that higher education is in crisis, but as with many other issues, its response is disproportionately small compared to the issues at hand.
Despite many expecting a lacklustre response from the government, its approach to third-level issues is piecemeal and weak. If the government is serious about fixing the student cost of living crisis, a deeper revision of third level funding and accommodation is needed.
