Over 70 per cent of University College Dublin’s (UCD) graduate-entry medicine students – sick of fee increases and coronavirus-induced disruptions to learning – are withholding payment of their fees, the Irish Times has reported.
Speaking to the Irish Times, Colin Smyth, a second-year graduate medicine student said that UCD sees graduate medicine students as “cash cows”: “What’s really frustrating is the feeling UCD aren’t taking us seriously or treating us as grown-ups.”
Annual fees now stand at €16,290 for Irish students and €55,140 for non-EU students. UCD has increased these fees every year since 2017.
With the course duration at four years, this means that Irish students pay €65,160 for the course in total, with non-EU students paying €220,560 to obtain their degree if fees stay at this level. Only graduates are eligible to take this degree, meaning that all students already hold an undergraduate degree.
Irish students have complained that the highest bank loan available – €15,000 per annum – does not cover the costs of the course fees.
“We have to make up the shortfall ourselves somehow, but our earning power is reduced this year with the pandemic,” Smyth said. “Some of us are struggling to make ends meet.”
Students also complain that class sizes have increased year-on-year, surging from 100 per class two years ago to 140 students now.
“We’ve no idea where the money is going, or why our fees are going up. We don’t know how much our degree will cost by the end. People were already angry, but when you add in coronavirus it’s very frustrating,” Smyth explained to the Irish Times..
Students said that Prof Michael Keane and Dr Patrick Felle told them in a meeting last week that the School of Medicine would not change or freeze its tuition fees.
However, there is talk in the School of freezing fees next year. Students have asked for a “comprehensive explanation for the proposed annual increase in tuition fees”, but to no avail.
UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU) president Conor Anderson told the Irish Times: “We are frankly tired of the costs of running the university being placed on students. Now, with Covid, the unfairness has been fully unmasked and UCD has shown itself willing to gamble with student welfare for financial gain.”
