A national fund used to help students with financial difficulties has been cut by €360,000 for the current academic year, meaning that Trinity’s proportion of the fund will fall by €16,000, The University Times has learned.
The fund has been cut by a total of €4.6 million over the past four years.
Today, however, it was announced that from next year, the fund will be allocated an additional €3 million. €1 million will be added to the fund overall, while €2 million will be allocated for students who are considered to be vulnerable by virtue of their background, according to the Union of Students in Ireland.
The Student Assistance Fund is an emergency measure for full-time third-level students who are experiencing financial difficulties during their studies. Administered by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), the fund, along with the Fund for Students with Disabilities, forms the Third Level Access Fund (TLAM).
It is the responsibility of the Department of Education and Skills to set the total funding for TLAM, with the HEA then determining how the fund should be divided between the Student Assistance Fund and the Fund for Students with Disabilities.
While the €15.5 million allocation to the TLAM is unchanged from last year, the HEA has altered the share that each fund receives, leading to a decline in the size of the Student Assistance Fund. The Higher Education Authority did not reply to multiple requests for comment from The University Times regarding why the funding structure was changed.
This year Trinity received €390,965 from the Student Assistance Fund, compared to €406,792 last year. However, 70 per cent of this sum is allocated to the Trinity Access Programme, which encourages members of groups typically underrepresented in higher education to go to college.
In Trinity, the fund is managed by the Senior Tutor’s office. Factors such as family income level, the size of the family, and socio-economic background will determine whether a student is eligible for funding and if so, how much the student should receive. Trinity also receives funding from other sources such as benefactions and the Student Hardship Fund, an internal college fund overseen by the Financial Assistance Committee. These other sources also contribute to the total fund available for students in need.
The cut to the Student Assistance Fund comes at a time when the number of applicants is rising year on year. Over 300 students have already applied for funding this year, significantly more than last year, the Senior Tutor, Dr Claire Laudet, told The University Times. According to the Senior Tutor’s office, the amount given per student may need to be reduced to accommodate the growing number of applicants.
The news also comes as the cost of participating in third-level education continues to rise. The Dublin Institute of Technology Campus Life cost-of-living guide estimates that the cost of studying away from home will top €11,000 for a student this year. 38 per cent of all students currently qualify for the student maintenance grant while rents have increased by more than 8 per cent nationally over the last year alone, and have risen significantly more in major cities.
Due to increased and unprecedented demand last year a once-off top-up of the fund was required, following expectations that the fund would run out before Christmas and that many students would not receive their expected payments for the second half of the academic year. Asked whether there will be another top-up this year, Laudet said: “It’s hard to tell. Certainly, we would lobby for it”. Laudet continued to explain that, although small, the funding students receive makes a difference: “It is not going to solve anybody’s serious financial problems but it helps a little bit”.
Spokespersons for education from the two largest opposition parties, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil, both agreed, before today’s increase was announced, that the current cuts to the Student Assistance Fund need to be reversed. Speaking to The University Times, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson for education, Jonathan O’Brien, highlighted the fact that the Student Assistance Fund funding level does not reflect the financial difficulties many students face: “At a time when we are seeing an increase in the number of people attending third level and seeing no significant increase in the amount of money in people’s pockets, to try and cut the Student Assistance Fund is a very retrograde step”. Charlie McConalogue, education spokesperson for Fianna Fáil, echoed O’Brien’s sentiment: “The government has put massive pressure on students and I mean at a time when we see the registration fee increasing year on year over the last period of time”.
When asked what level of additional funding for the Student Assistance Fund is necessary, neither Deputy gave an exact figure. O’Brien explained that demand should determine the funding level: “By how much? That really is demand led. So, I can’t put a figure on what we would put into it because we need to put in whatever is needed”. McConalogue stated that even a complete reversal of the recent cuts would not meet the demands placed on the fund: “To go back to the level it was at three years ago [€11 million] is insufficient because the financial pressures on students has actually increased since then”.
