Parents taking on debt to fund education

Students arriving at the Institute of Education, Leeson Street, Dublin. A survey of 1,000 people found that 45 per cent of parents would take on debt to fund college costs.
Photograph: David Sleator

ALMOST HALF of Irish parents intend to take out a loan to fund their children's third level education, even if college fees are not reintroduced, a survey has found.

Three-quarters of those surveyed also said they were prepared to pay for their children to have grinds at primary school level.

The survey of 1,000 people, by market researchers Amárach, found that 45 per cent of parents would take on debt to fund college costs and 16 per cent did not know how they would fund these costs. The survey was conducted last July, before the reintroduction of third level fees was mooted.

A high proportion of those surveyed expressed a lack of trust in the State education system. One quarter of parents said they did not think the State system provided value for money and 76 per cent said they would pay for their primary school child to have additional private tuition if they were concerned about their progress.

Just under half of parents said they would "happily" send their child to a fee-paying school to ensure they got better exam results. Even those who thought highly of the State system intended to have some form of private tuition for their children, with 44 per cent of parents saying that the State system was a good one but they felt they had to pay for private education for their child to reach their full potential.

The 1,000 people who took part in the survey, commissioned by financial services company Irish Life, included parents and non-parents, but the answers given by both groups were broadly similar.

Responding to the survey, Rose Tully of the National Parents' Council Post-Primary organisation said she was not surprised that people were having to take on debt to fund education.

"Not only are people taking out loans, they are extending their mortgages and even taking on new mortgages just to get their children through college and that's even without the reintroduction of fees."

Parents were faced with huge costs when their children started third level, with capitation fees at around €900 and the need to pay rents and deposits up front for their children's accommodation.

"We need to publicise these costs and the fact that parents are putting themselves in debt, so that the Department of Education who wants to introduce fees can see what that would do to an ordinary parent."

Labour education spokesman Ruairí Quinn said more funding was needed for education at all levels and the reintroduction of college fees would not make up for Government underfunding.

"Basically we need to double what we put into education and we need to do it over a five-year period. The Government is underfunding education and has been doing so for a period of time."

The capitation fee at primary level was only funding half of the operating costs of schools he said. "Funding is going to have to come from the public purse, either through reallocation from the existing budget or from taxes."

By the numbers

75%: of parents would consider paying for their children to have grinds in primary school.

45%: of parents would obtain a loan to pay for third-level education.

16%: of parents do not know how they would pay for third-level education.

25%: of parents do not think State education provides value for money.

49%: of parents would pay private fees to ensure their children got better exam results.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times