A 270km daily trip to college: The rise of the long-distance commuting student

When the alarm clock goes off shortly after 5am, Tadgh Cadden doesn’t have much time to waste.

He has a quick shower, grabs some salad and sausage rolls he made the night before, and jumps in the car. About two hours and 20 minutes later, he arrives at Letterkenny Institute of Technology in time for his first class. When lectures finish up at 5.30pm, he's back in the car and home just before eight in the evening.

“It’s not ideal, but accommodation isn’t available. There are no options,” says Cadden (27), who is studying for a quantity surveying degree.

“I drive because there aren’t any alternatives. Public transport is a joke. It’s a 270km round trip. So far I’ve put about 4,000km on the car.”

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As time goes on, he says, the strain of commuting takes its toll. He worries that he’s falling behind in course work for his BSc in quantity surveying.

“The academic side is suffering, I should be doing more in the evenings but I just don’t have the time or energy. I try to soak up as much as I can during lectures. It’s not too bad early in the week but it gets harder as the week goes on.”

Cadden isn’t alone. Student unions on college campuses say more students than ever are being forced into long-distance commutes or couch-surfing due to a growing accommodation crisis.

"It's a big let-down. To go through all of that just to live your college years on a bus"

For many it can be a miserable experience. Unsustainable commutes mean students’ academic work suffers, while many feel unable to take any meaningful part in clubs and societies.

Union of Students of Ireland (USI) president Clare Austick says the issue is bigger than ever this year because the student housing crisis has spread to every part of the country, beyond the traditional pinch points of Dublin, Cork and Galway.

A major concern, she says, is that long commutes are undermining students’ learning, limiting their college experience and putting them at greater risk of dropping out.

"This situation is not a one-off and unfortunately there are many students across Ireland in this position at the moment," she said.

"From before this semester started, we were hearing stories about the completely unacceptable situations students were facing looking for accommodation."

Some universities have also reported falling levels of engagement with student societies in recent years.

In universities such as UCD, for example, the students’ union has said events that take place in the evenings, such as debates, are not getting the numbers they used to. The pattern is repeated across many campuses.

While some students drive long distances, others living in the commuter belt say they are reliant on patchy public transport that can take hours to get to and from college.

Caoimhe O'Farrell (18) is from Ratoath in Co Meath. In theory, her 45km journey to UCD shouldn't take too long. In practice, she says, an unreliable service means it takes two hours to get to campus "on a good day" and another two hours to get home.

"Either the buses don't come on time or they're full with no seats," says O'Farrell, who gets the 105 bus to Blanchardstown and the 39A to UCD.

“I was at the bus stop this morning in Ratoath at 11am to get to a class for 1pm. I arrived at 1.30pm, so I missed the class.”

As a first year, she was looking forward to an exciting college experience. So far, however, she feels let down.

“I’m falling behind in class, missing days and lectures . . . by the time I get home, I can’t hang out with my friends because it’s nine o’clock. If I want to go out with friends I’ve made in college, I can’t because the buses stop.

“It’s a big let-down. To go through all of that just to live your college years on a bus.”

She would love to get accommodation but says on-campus housing is in short supply, and even student digs are out of her price range. To make ends meet, she works as a waitress in a cafe in Ratoath.

Colm Roche (20) a DCU law student from Kilcoole, Co Wicklow, faces a similar problem. It's a 50km commute to the university. By car it should take about an hour or more, but on public transport – which involves two buses and a Dart journey – it's a round trip of at least three hours to DCU in Glasnevin.

“It shouldn’t take so long but there’s such a lack of cohesion in the transport,” says Roche.

“ I get a bus to the Dart station. When I get off the Dart, I’m on another bus. You end up waiting for up to 40 minutes or longer for some of the connections.”

It often feels like he is going to college – without the college experience.

“College is meant to be what happens outside lectures but I’m constantly planning and worrying about how I’ll get home,” he says. “There are lots of clubs and society events. But if I go to a 6pm event I’m not home until 11pm. It affects your ability to make friends or enjoy life.”

Roche, who works part-time in a hotel at weekends, says the only accommodation that seems to be available is prohibitively priced luxury student accommodation.

In recent years, Ireland has seen a rise in students commuting long distances for third level. The proportion of third-level students travelling more than two hours a day is increasing, with 17 per cent now doing so, according to the latest census.

The obvious solution is to provide more accommodation. While more purpose-built student units are coming on-stream, it is unaffordable for most.

The majority of the student beds created since 2016 cost between €900 and €1,500 a month. Many of these units are aimed at the more lucrative international student market and resemble boutique hotels, with bowling alleys, cinema rooms and deluxe fittings.

In some ways, students who can get public transport to college and back are fortunate, even if it takes hours.

Student unions say they are aware of a new cohort of students who live much farther away and who get by couch surfing during the week and going home at weekends.

A number of students in this situation spoke anonymously to The Irish Times because they felt too ashamed to be identified.

Grace, a second-year mental health nursing student in UCD, lives in Galway. On the days she travels to college, she is up at 4.30am to get the first bus. Most of the week she stays with friends, where possible.

“I’ve been couch hopping with friends since September. I’ve tried looking for accommodation, but there’s nothing I can afford.”

She is entitled to a Susi grant of €336 a week but says this isn’t enough to get by.

“My worry is that I can’t keep it up. I’ve been missing lectures. They’re not all recorded anymore and it’s not the same going through PDFs of notes . . . I’ve got extensions for my work, but it takes its toll. I’ve been talking to the student advisers about what options there are, but I can’t see many.”

Marie, a first-year science student, is already considering dropping out of her course in Letterkenny IT. She lives in Dublin and was unable to find affordable accommodation in the weeks before the start of college. As a result, she gets a 6.15am bus from Busáras and stays with college friends for three nights before retuning home on the weekends.

“It’s draining, really draining,” she says. “I was really excited when I got the course but there’s not much to be excited about now. I’m not settled, so it’s hard for me to study. I’m missing classes. I’m thinking of dropping out and going to a post-Leaving Cert course because I can’t really keep this up.”

These are familiar stories for student officers such as Edward Grant, welfare officer with Letterkenny's students' union. While the accommodation crisis is most acute in cities, it is badly affecting students in regional towns.

“The numbers looking for support this year is ridiculous – it’s harrowing to see so many people who are so vulnerable,” says Grant.

The Government says it is responding to the growing level of need among students through increases grant aid – which comes in to effect next year – and a student assistance fund, which supports about 14,000 students with costs such as rent, childcare costs, transport costs and books.

It says it is working closely with the Higher Education Authority on the best way to disburse the €9 million fund to individual colleges.

USI, however, says much more needs to be done to tackle the root causes of students' difficulties. It wants funding and a plan to develop more affordable purpose-built student accommodation; no new course places without living spaces being provided; legislation to retain student accommodation beds and the introduction of rent controls.  "These are needed immediately," says USI president Clare Austick.

For commuting students such as Tadgh Cadden, the longer-term solution is obvious. “We need affordable accommodation and more of it,” he says. “The cost of living is going up. Susi grants can’t keep pace with it. College is stressful enough without worrying about being able to get by. It’s just not fair on students.”

The names of some students have been changed, at their request