THE abolition of fees comes into effect this year. For the first time students will not have to pay for third level education.
This is by any reckoning a historic development. College fees cost parents about £2,000 annually up to last year. So the pressure on many family budgets should be eased considerably.
It is not of the same magnitude as the introduction of free secondary education, because about one third of higher education students already have their fees paid through the grants scheme in any case.
It is unlikely that the abolition of fees will mean that many if any students will go to college this year who might not have made it if fees applied. What it certainly does mean is that many families who were very hard pushed to raise the money in the past will find it a lot less stressful putting a daughter or son through college from now on.
Perhaps the biggest improvement for many parents is that they no longer have to pay a huge deposit to secure their child's place the moment the CAO offer arrives. Even with half fees in operation last year most university students had to pay a "deposit" of £900 in order to lodge an acceptance.
This year the deposit for accepting a university place is £150. Or at least it should be £150 but, strangely, in the case of UCD it is £160, and both UL and UCC are looking for £180 to secure an offer.
So what is this then? Are we back into the old business of fees creeping in by the back door with the deposit up by £30 in some colleges in the very year it is introduced?
. DEPOSITS
The factual position of deposits is that the Minister for Education agreed when she decided to abolish fees that a flat charge of £150 would apply to each student and that this money would go towards providing students facilities and services.
So, theoretically, fees were abolished, but in practice a new "fee" of £150 to cover services was introduced. Students who qualified for a grant would have this £150 paid on their behalf by their grant awarding authority.
Last year this £150 service fee operated but UCD charged £160. The Minister explained that this was because UCD had already decided on the £10 level to fund a new student facility before the £150 charge was agreed seemed reasonable enough.
She also assured everyone that the £150 services charge was not "fees by the back door" and that the basic charge would not go up this year.
But when students get their CAO/CAS offer in the post tomorrow morning they will see that UCD is again looking for £160 and UCC and UL for £180 each. The explanation again is that UCC is providing a sports centre and UL a student centre and the additional money is going towards those. But what, Points Race wonders, is to stop them adding on another £20 next year if they want to provide better student facilities in the library.
Surely, what we are seeing is fees by the back door.
What is even more inequitable is that for grant aided students their local authority pays only the basic £150. So they are left with an additional fee of £30 in the case of UL and UCC they are actually worse off than before fees were abolished.
It is true that £30 is not a lot of money, but it is the precedent which is worrying. Are we now going to see fees fluctuating wildly between the different universities depending on the lavishness of the student facilities they try to provide? And who sanctions these charges?
In the bad old days when we had fees, colleges could increase them only with the sanction of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), which in turn had to get sanction from the Minister for Education.
Did UCC have to ask the HEA or the Minister if it could increase its student services charge from £150 to £180? And, if they did, how can the Minister justify this sanction in the light of her commitment that the £150 charge would not be increased this year?
. RTCs
The RTCs have done much better than the universities or the DIT colleges on the matter of the deposit. To accept any RTC place offered in tomorrow's post all a student has to do is pay a token deposit of £5. It is a very reasonable approach. Students who are not grant aided will then pay the balance of £145 by college registration date.
One might well ask why, if the RTCs can operate such a simple and reasonable system, the DIT, the universities and colleges of education cannot do the same.
The object of high deposits was to prevent students hoarding offers they did not intend to take up. But, with virtually everything in third level education in the CAO system, hoarding is effectively not possible if you accept a second CAO/CAS place it automatically cancels your existing acceptance.
The £5 deposit, incidentally, applies to all grant aided students. So, if you are eligible for a grant, then you need only pay the £5 deposit in the case of all colleges the £150 and higher deposit is charged only to those who are not eligible for a grant.
The problem is that most students will not have got their grant authorisation from their local authority yet. Do not let this worry you if you are reasonably sure that your family's income qualifies you for a grant, then just pay the £5 it will secure your place.
. PLC COURSES
No fees apply in the case of PLC (Post Leaving Cert) courses and the colleges are not supposed to levy charges though in the experience of this column there are charges for special materials in the case of some courses.
What is far more disturbing is that no maintenance grants at all are available to students on these courses. This really does mean that the bigger PLC colleges are the preserve of the better off.
This is an extraordinary anomaly and it particularly affects students from outside the big cities, where the large PLC colleges are concentrated. Students who live outside those cities and whose families cannot afford to maintain them at college for a full year or two in many cases without any help are effectively barred from these courses.
University and RTC students get grants, students on FAS and CERT courses get training allowances students on the new nursing diploma courses get training allowances from health boards families of students attending private third level colleges get tax relief on their fees and even students leaving Ireland to study abroad can get a maintenance grant but not PLC students it is quite simply outrageous.
. CAO/CAS OFFERS
All 59,202 applicants for a CAO/CAS place will receive a letter from the CAO in the post tomorrow. Thus by the end of the day everyone should know where they stand. At least 40,000 should get an offer it was 46,000 last year and many will get two, one from the degree and one from the diploma/certificate list (only one, however, can be accepted).
Thus the vast majority of applicants should have an offer of one kind or another. Those not getting any offer will also receive letters containing the details of their application and course choices, and they will then have to await their chances in the second and third rounds.