YOU would have thought that abolishing fees would have been a fairly straightforward business - you just abolish them, right?
Well, no, it's not as simple as that: you see "the concept of fees" still exists, the Department of Education explained to us some time ago, even though fees are no longer charged to most undergraduate students.
So fees have not been "abolished" as such fees still exist but the Department of Education pays the fees to the colleges in the case of most undergraduates.
A fee is set for each year of each course and the fee goes up by a certain amount each year. Thus, for example, if you end up repeating a year or doing a first year twice, you come back into the fees category again and fees are charged.
This is all a bit confusing, but not entirely unreasonable. The only problem is that it has resulted in multiple heart attacks around the country this week as students have received what appear to be invoices for college fees for courses which should be exempt from fees.
A few panic stricken parents of UCG students contacted Points Race after they got a bank giro slip with their registration details which quoted "amount due to college" of over £1,000 in some cases.
Not surprisingly, they all thought they were being charged fees. This giro slip lists "cost of course", then the tuition amount and non tuition, deducts the deposit paid by the student and then ends up with an amount "due to college".
An extremely helpful and nice lady in the UCG fees office explained that there is also a form D19D attached to this giro which explains very clearly that the Government will be paying this amount on behalf of most students. It is only students not eligible for the free scheme who would have to pay.
There is no question of the college charging other students anything. The problem is that, when people see a bank giro citing "amount due", well, they are inclined to think that it means what it says.
Hardly were the UCG callers off the phone when we got a student with a place in the Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design with a bill for £580. "Why do I have to pay fees?"
We checked with Dun Laoghaire. No, no, they explained patiently, there is no fee for the course, "if they read the form carefully, it says clearly that it is only students who are not eligible for ESF fees funding who would have to pay".
Fair enough except that when our caller read over the form to us, by the time all the clauses and sub clauses about eligibility for ESF fees and ESF maintenance and charges of £5 and £150 were spell out, even we were a bit bamboozled.
But one thing was clear, it said very definitely at the end that students "not entitled to ESF grant" and who had paid the £150 deposit on registration had to pay the balance of £580.
Now from that it seems to us that anyone who had paid the £150 could reasonably assume they were being asked for the £580 also; perhaps if they had included the words "fees grant" instead of grant's, it might have been clearer.
Later, we got calls from students getting confusing statements from other colleges, also. It appears that there is some legal requirement that they cite a fee for the course so that, in the event of a student not being eligible for free education, the relevant amount can be charged; sounds like a very cumbersome way of going about it.
We're not blaming the colleges, this is their financial or legal advice. But is it really necessary to scare the living daylights out of 30,000 students in order to catch out a few hundred who are not eligible?
There are a few points to remember if you think you are being billed for fees:
. A student services charge of £150 applies in all colleges and is payable by everyone.
. If you are eligible for a maintenance grant of any kind you pay only £5 of this when accepting a place; when the grant comes through your local authority or VEC will pay you the £150 and you then pay the balance of £145 to the college.
. Three colleges - UCC, UCD and UL are charging £160 to £180, but grant applicants still get only £150 towards this.
. RTCs looked for a deposit of only £5 from everyone; those not eligible for a maintenance grant will have to pay the balance of £145 themselves on registration.
. No further fees are payable by any mainstream student resident in Ireland and just coming from school into first year university, RTC, DIT or other state funded college.
. To qualify for free education you must be an EU national and have been resident in an EU member state for three of the five years preceding entry to college.
. A student who has done a first year in higher education before has to pay fees to do another first year. (In the case of ESF courses, students can have a second attempt at first year in a different discipline, but not in the case of non ESF courses.)
. A PLC course does not constitute "higher education" and therefore does not disqualify one from the free scheme in first year at a CAO college.
. A student who failed last year and is repeating will have to pay fees.
. PLC FUNDING
NO FEES are charged on PLC courses - but neither is any maintenance grant available.
We have had several calls from PLC colleges who found students, particularly from outside of Dublin, simply unable to take up the places offered because they could not afford two years away from home without a maintenance grant.
There is a huge concentration of good PLC courses in the Dublin area and the absence of maintenance support puts students outside of Dublin at a great disadvantage.
Cork also has a strong grouping of varied PLC courses and there are other centres in Waterford, Limerick, Monaghan and Cavan. But in most provincial areas students would have to leave home to avail of the wider range of PLC courses.
People get paid to attend FAS courses; they get grants to go to agricultural colleges or to train on Cert courses; they get allowances while training as gardai or nurses - and all of these are not even means tested.
Yet, even for those whose parents are unemployed, there is no provision at all for any support in the case of PLC courses. It is now more affordable for the child of unemployed parents in Co Roscommon to go to Trinity than to Ballyfermot Senior College; is this not an absurd state of affairs?
Worse still, even though no fees are charged, many PLC courses find they have to charge for materials, equipment etc. We have come across PLC courses charging up to £200 for materials/equipment - yet even the most affluent can go to university without paying fees.
Meanwhile, despite this, Points Race encounters quite a number of students in Dublin who are forfeiting RTC places outside of the capital to take up PLC places in such schools as Colaiste Dhulaigh or Ballyfermot Senior College in the city.
So not only are provincial RTCs competing with private colleges in Dublin for students, they are now also competing with the bigger, more prestigious PLC colleges.
. PLC VACANCIES
. Dun Laoghaire Community College (01 2809676): They still have places in the following PLC courses: tennis coaching; soccer skills and coaching; security business management (Security Institute of Ireland); auxiliary nursing; receptionist.
They can also take about a dozen more students on their repeat Leaving Cert course.
. College of Commerce, Dundrum (01 2985412): Try them for PLC vacancies in nursing studies; TV and video; travel and tourism.
. Limerick Senior College (061 41 4344): Possible PLC vacancies in marketing; accounting technician; economics/management leading to a degree; diploma in fashion; interior design; office skills.
. St Peter's College, Killester (01 8337686): Possible places still in computer studies; art/drama, portfolio preparation/design; horticulture; auto engineering and transport management; community care; child care; Montessori.
They also still have places in their repeat Leaving Cert course.
. Liberties College, Dublin (01 4540044): Try them for: the business of childcare (part time course for mature applicants); CERT hotel and catering; heritage studies and tourism; Montessori.
. Greendale College of Further Education, Dublin (01-8322735): They have places on an NCEA certificate course in office information systems where you do year one in Greendale and year two in Athlone RTC, and get an RTC qualification at the end.