Call for earlier Leaving Certificate results

Leaving Certificate results should be released earlier to help aid the student accommodation crisis, the President of the Union of Students Ireland (USI) has said.

USI president Laura Harmon called for Leaving Certificate results to be made available before August 13th so that students have more time to find accommodation.

The three Dublin universities, which all provide on-campus accommodation, confirmed plans earlier this month for rent increases of up to 13 per cent for the upcoming academic year.

NUI Galway and University of Limerick have now also confirmed plans for rent increases, while University College Cork says it will not be increasing the cost of its campus accommodation this year.

Ms Harmon said bringing the date forward for publishing Leaving Cert results would be a useful step but wider issues behind the rising cost of student accommodation also needed to be addressed.

“The student maintenance grant needs to be looked at. It currently works out at €84 a week, which is very little to survive on when the cost of living at college is around €1,000 a month, according to a study carried out by DIT Campus Life.”

Rising rents

Ms Harmon also cited a recent study by the Irish League of Credit Unions, which showed that 84 per cent of families were already struggling to meet the rising costs of third level education.

More purpose-built student accommodation needed to be built as more Irish universities tried to recruit students from overseas, she added.

The cost of renting accommodation in Corrib Village in Galway will rise between 2 per cent and 4 per cent this year.

General manager of Corrib Village residences Karl Reinhardt said the 2014/2015 rates had been reviewed because they had not been increased since 2009.

Students applying for Corrib Village must make their first part-payment on or before Thursday, August 21st and the second part-payment is due on or before December 5th 2014.

Charge for utilities

In Corrib Village, a twin room with shared bathroom costs €2,925 for the academic year, excluding a first-payment charge for utilities and booking of €850.

The University of Limerick confirmed that the cost of renting campus accommodation would increase by 2 per cent for the 2014/2015 academic year. A spokeswoman for UL said this was due to “increased overheads and our plans to implement extensive refurbishment in the residences”.

The online waiting list for incoming first-year students will open on August 18th and students must pay a €250 application fee.

A room in Plassey Village costs €3,350, plus a €290 utilities deposit, which adds up to €3,640. Campus accommodation at UL includes high-speed internet, TV licence, refuse collection and professional maintenance service

Explaining the length of time it takes to publish Leaving Cert results, the State Examinations Commission said it took 7½ weeks from the end of the State exams to the publication of results – and then it was another five days before CAO offers come out.