Students choosing colleges closer to home in face of rising cost of living

It is likely that more students are choosing to go to college closer to home due to accommodation shortages and cost-of-living issues, University of Galway’s president has said.

Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said trends in the UK showed students staying at home and going to college locally and that there were signs of a similar pattern emerging in Ireland.

An unpublished breakdown of draft CAO figures is understood to show a decline in applications across many traditional universities and rising interest in newly created technological universities, which tend to have campuses in more regional areas.

Mr Ó hÓgartaigh said universities were just starting to analyse the latest data, but that University of Galway was responding to affordability concerns in the meantime by building more on-campus accommodation and lowering rates on almost half of its existing beds.

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He said the university was moving to reduce rates by 10 per cent for almost half of its 1,000-plus existing on-campus beds, and freezing rates for the remainder for the fourth year in a row. This means the cheapest rates will start at €365 a month for a twin-room, rising to €505 for a single room.

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In addition, a newly built complex will provide an extra 670 beds from September, with rates beginning at €725 for single, en-suite rooms. The most expensive beds will be for “enlarged double en suite” rooms at €855 a month.

Students attending the university travel the farthest distances, on average, compared with other colleges, which underlines the need to provide affordable options, Mr Ó hÓgartaigh said.

“It’s still challenging, but we think it will make a differences,” he said. “Our sense is there are students who can’t afford accommodation who really need support.”

Galway is one of a number of universities – also including University of Limerick, Maynooth University and Dublin City University – due to receive millions in State funding to progress planning permission for affordable student accommodation. Many colleges say they have been unable to progress developments due to rising costs.

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has received Cabinet approval to use State funding to help “unlock” a number of big developments in exchange for colleges providing below-market rents to students. His department is also understood to be in discussions with UCD, Trinity College Dublin and UCC over part-funding student accommodation on their campuses.

[ Frustration as delayed Leaving Cert results may cut university term short ]

Separately, Mr Ó hÓgartaigh said he hoped this year’s Leaving Cert results would be issued earlier than last year to help prevent disruption for first-year students.

Minister for Education Norma Foley said recently that the “best estimate” for the release of the results would be similar to last year’s date of early September, although education sources have since said it could be earlier.

“We normally start on the first Monday in September, with exams before Christmas and a new semester starting in the new year. If the results come later, it will start in late September or early October, so the semester is truncated with no exams before Christmas, so it is completely disruptive,” Mr Ó hÓgartaigh said.

He also called for grade inflation in the Leaving Cert results to be addressed due to difficulties facing universities in trying to differentiate between top students. The “bunching” of students on high points in recent years has resulted in some students failing to secure their first choices despite securing maximum points.

“This [grade inflation] means that some students lose out because we can’t differentiate when it comes to higher point scores,” he said.

There is also a danger, he said, that higher grades give a “false sense” of how some students will perform, while it is also creating barriers for students in Northern Ireland whose A-level results are devalued compared with applicants in the State.