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WHY ARE NEARLY 25,000 part-time undergraduate students excluded from the free fees scheme and automatically ineligible for any student supports that are readily available to their full-time counterparts? This isn’t fair and it doesn’t make any sense.
Although the Irish education system must be applauded for the large numbers of school-leavers who proceed to third-level and further education – nevertheless it is an inflexible system. Those who are forced to leave school without a leaving certificate; those who for various reasons fail to secure the required points, and those who have to reject a college place because of personal circumstances, can find themselves locked out of higher education. Their only option is often to enrol as part-time students in order to balance work, family and financial commitments.
Financial pressure
Universities offer places for mature students, but many of these offers are not taken up, because of financial cost. Access to part-time education is internationally regarded as an established route through higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Oddly, in Ireland, access to this route is impaired by the fact that part-time students, in contrast to their full-time peers, are excluded from the Free Fees scheme and are not eligible for maintenance grants.
There is strong evidence to suggest that financial pressures continue to be the biggest impediment for prospective part-time students in accessing higher education. Indeed, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has acknowledged in a recent report that the lack of adequate student financial supports continues to be “the most significant issue that needs to be tackled in terms of successfully developing flexible provision in Irish higher education”.
On a purely anecdotal level, it simply does not make sense that a full-time PAYE employee earning €25,000 a year is being charged fees to study in the evenings, while the child of a bank’s CEO is entitled to free fees to study during the day.
Education gap
Ireland’s success in recent years in increasing participation in higher education, although laudable, has resulted in the development of a significant gap in educational attainment in the adult population. According to statistics from the CSO and Eurostat 51% of 25-34 year olds have a higher education qualification; however this figure drops significantly to 25% for 55-64 year olds – that’s an entire generation lagging behind. The good news is that there is strong international evidence to suggest that by expanding part-time education we can reduce this imbalance.
This is further exemplified when it is noted that 92% of part-time entrants to higher education in Ireland are mature students. It is time that part-time students were given parity with full-time students in respect of the Free Fees Scheme and SUSI supports, which are currently provided to half of all full-time students. This would make higher education more accessible for working adults and adults with caring responsibilities. It could also afford a route to higher education for school-leavers who could not afford to commit to higher education on a full-time basis.
The marginalisation of part-time education is both surprising and regrettable given that, in the past, many of Ireland’s leading public servants (most notably TK Whittaker) studied for university degrees as part-time students, and their education enriched Irish public life and the quality of public administration.
Poor career prospects
Some employers, including the public service, continue to pay the fees of part-time students, but this option is not open to those working in SMEs, or in lower paid jobs that can offer poor career prospects.
Efforts could also be expanded to develop financial supports to encourage postgraduate study. Of the nearly 25,000 postgraduate students in Ireland, 30% are studying on a part-time basis. Postgraduate fees vary – a part-time MSc in Economics can cost €10,000 per year, while a part-time MBA can cost as much as €15,000. Previously postgraduate students were entitled to means tested government grants, of which 40% of full-time students availed.
Budget 2012 saw the abolition of all financial supports for postgraduate students. Currently, postgraduates can only avail of a tax relief for fees in excess of €1,500 at the standard rate of 20%, and only then up to a maximum of €7,000.
This is despite the fact that entry to many professions or career progression within particular fields requires some form of postgraduate qualification. As a consequence many employees who cannot afford the burden of part-time fees are effectively side-lined from career progression.
Tax reliefs
This burden could be greatly alleviated by the introduction of a new tax relief covering 100% of postgraduate fees. Such a system could potentially see a PAYE worker saving €1,300 per year from the €12,000 cost of enrolling in a part-time postgraduate degree course.
The National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2008-2013 committed the HEA and the Department of Education and Skills ‘to explore the establishment of financial and other supports for part-time learners from disadvantaged backgrounds’. This has yet to happen. By the Department’s own admission, the annual revenue that is currently generated by part-time tuition fees amounts to €40 million. The inclusion of part-time students in the Free Fees Scheme would appear then, to be a relatively inexpensive means of tackling this issue.
The call for the equal treatment of part-time and full-time students has already been widely supported by a broad range of organisations including the OECD, IBEC, USI and AONTAS. If we are serious about developing Ireland’s reputation as a growing ‘knowledge economy’ then more must be done to expand the reach of higher education. The abolition of tuition fees for part-time students, coupled with the expansion of tax-relief supports for post-graduate students would be an effective first step.
In the early 1960s, the then Minister for Education Patrick Hillery, described the one-third of Irish teenagers who did not receive any post-primary schooling, as ‘today’s Third Estate’ – a reference to the politically and economically powerless Third Estate of the French Revolution. That one-third of Irish teenagers received no second-level schooling seems unimaginable today.
The failure to provide parity of treatment to those whose circumstances inhibits them from taking the time necessary to complete a third-level qualification, should inspire a similar outrage.
Professor Mary Daly is the President of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).
The RIA’s advice paper on equity of access to higher education can be viewed here.
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Went back to college after 8 years in the workplace to get my IT Degree. And I paid about 10K for privilege over 4 years. That’s without all the other ancillary fees (Books, Supplies, laptop, parking etc…).
I could never understand why my registration fees were about 2.5K a year when full time students paid between €175 – €300 a year (1st and 4th year)
Out of curiousity did you claim the TAX back on it. Don’t laugh!! Most people don’t realise that you have up to 4 years to do it.
I know it is a hardship… and I have done it myself TWICE. but why does the govt have to pay for everything? I knew as an adult I would be paying my own way. I wanted to further myself and was willing to put my money where my mouth is. I think most mature students chine at it the same way.
It’s great that you had the means to do so. Not everyone does.
Well done to you Lotto. The taxpayer cannot cover everything for everyone.
increased education for the most part = better Jobs and pay, which in turn means that the Tax intake on PAYE is up along with all the additional VAT that the person pays.
Just put a clause that anyone leaving the country to work has to repay the fees.
I think the system assumes that people who are studying part time are working full time and can afford it.The cost is a barrier to those who want to improve their education, and in turn job prospects while balancing children. I know of a single parent who wanted to further her education with a part time post grad while working and rearing 2 kids. Fees were 10 grand and bank wouldn’t give her a loan. Her other option was to give up work go on social welfare, mortgage supplement and do it as a full time course where fees would be paid. She calculated that this would actually cost the government more!!
exactly, it fails to say that theres no funding on part-time courses for anyone. I don’t agree that anyone earning more than a certain amount should be entitled to free funding. thats why its means tested for full-timers, it would obviously be means tested for part-timers if it were the case anyway.
The article states “This is despite the fact that entry to many professions or career progression within particular fields requires some form of postgraduate qualification”. What does this say about the quality of the undergraduate system that a primary degree is not sufficient?
the success of so many going to third level education means that degrees are two a penny and therefore demand grows for higher qualifications
Degree is the new Leaving Cert, Masters in the new undergrad. PhD is the new masters.
I had to pay over 6k a year to do my undergrad degree part-time. Doing an MSc now and that is just under 4k a year.
I think the idea is that if you’re part-time you’re probably working and can afford to pay more. In the undergrad degree, the money wasn’t even reinvested in my course. According to lecturers it was redistributed to subsidise the full-timers.
Also, a lot of part-timers can get their employers to pay.
And a lot of courses can be put off against tax too
The rules for tax refunds against course fees are utterly ridiculous for PAYE workers.
You cannot claim the first €1000 and after that you are limited to claim at the lowest tax rate. So even if you are paying 42% tax, you can only claim 20%. If your employer pays for it, no such rules apply.
Because this country is so backwards nothing makes sense anymore
Eventually it will only be the middle class or higher folk who will be able to afford college
There would also be alot less in college if the back to education route was done away with and qualifying for the grant was harder
….and the thousands of “New” Irish that are in our 3rd level system with 3k-6k grants all paid for by old Irish fathers,mothers,sons, daughters and grandparents. It’s a joke! Loan system should be introduced for all 3rd students irrespective of social status.
And there is a lady in DP in Limerick who is getting all her tuition free of charge.
Maybe that is an option….. Can you claim persecution in your own country and seek asylum ???
I’m heading back to do the final of a 3 year programme in Dublin this year. Three evenings a week plus working full time in Kilkenny it’s going to cost over €100 a week just for transport up and down plus fees, books etc!! College has a supplementary grant system ran through the students union but am told this is only available to full time students, we do the same amount of modules as full time students and pay the same fees our time is just compressed!!
As the Association for Higher Education Access & Disability (AHEAD) have highlighted previously, this can be a problem for some people with chronic illnesses or disabilities like ME/CFS who are not well enough to take on a full-time course.
I am doing a masters of education this year. It is the one and only way to become a secondary school teacher in this country. Its a two year course, I am in my second year, and I am in full time placement between now and christmas. We have 6 hours of meetings with a supervisor between now and then, and then 10 days of lectures after christmas. For these 11 days of lectures and working full time for free with basically no support, we pay 6k a year each. This comes to over 2 million euro for the two years paid by the 170 or so students. The office dont even answer their emails. The third level education in this country is insanely expensive without justification or explanation about where the money goes, and the attitude is that we should be grateful for the opportunity.
Every student, whether they are full-time or part-time, should pay something toward the cost of their education in Ireland. The cost of full-time education for Irish students shouldn’t rest almost entirely on the shoulders of the general taxpayer, as it currently does.
The current system by which we decide who pays for what in Irish higher education is crazy. Two examples – The DES had been considering, for over two years, whether to extend free fess to asylum seekers and their children – it took a second national scandal, and a motivated Minister (Jan O’Sullivan) to do something about that. Although fees at third level were abolished for most students in 1996, colleges are still funded, in part, on the basis of those fees. These fess vary from college to college, and have little evident link to the actual costs of providing courses. No-one seems unduly bothered by this.
The sad truth is that the Irish people and the Irish state begrudge education to ourselves and our children. We pay as little as possible for education, push as much of the cost onto families as we think we can get away with. Part-time students are treated shabbily, with the effect that only the more determined and capable students manage to get in, and manage to survive their college courses. We could fix this, but we’d all have to pay more taxes to do so, and we can’t be having that. Even our left-wing parties present increased taxation as something that will happen to other people, but not to Irish working or middle-income families. Until we grow up, and accept that if we desire good public services we will all have to pay for them, I see little hope of improvement.
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