TCD fee not used entirely for student services, says union head

MUCH OF the registration fee paid by students of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) was not used for student services, the Oireachtas education committee heard yesterday.

The president of Trinity’s Students’ Union, Cónán Ó Broin, sent a copy of accounts to the committee which revealed that much of the registration fee was used in lieu of cuts in the Higher Education Authority (HEA) grant, committee chairman and Green TD Paul Gogarty said. The registration charge, which was increased from €900 to €1,500 in most colleges this year, is supposed to be ringfenced for student services, exams and registration.

Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes said this highlighted “fees through the back door”. The accounts showed that a substantial amount of the charge to students went to the core grant and maintenance at TCD, he said. This was “direct evidence that students are being fleeced and the charge is not related to student services”.

Mr Gogarty said there was a lack of clarity as to how registration fees were assessed in colleges, however he said it was not fees by the back door.

The registration fees either needed to be reduced or colleges needed enhanced student services, he said.

The committee is to forward the letter to Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe asking for an urgent response before the budget, he said.

Brian Hayes said he had written to the Comptroller and Auditor General asking for an immediate investigation of how student registration fees were spent at the seven universities and institutes of technology.

Separately, Department of Education official Frank Wyse told the committee that the department intended to decide within weeks whether the primary school operator, Educate Together, would be approved as a patron of post-primary education.

The department’s concerns included: how it would differ from the multidenominational education provided by the VEC, the delivery of the curriculum and the demand for this type of education.

Mr Gogarty said there was an “undercurrent of antipathy” towards Educate Together in the department. The delay was no longer for legal reasons but ideological, he said. Mr Wyse said the department was not intently against Educate Together.

Concerns were raised by members of the committee that Educate Together had said it would favour non-streaming of children.

Mr Gogarty urged the department to pilot an Educate Together post-primary school in Lucan, Co Dublin where the organisation already had five primary schools.

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union yesterday released estimated accounts of the student service charge for 2008/2009 which showed that some €590 of a €900 registration fee was spent directly on student services, while €310 was used in lieu of HEA cuts.

In a statement, Trinity College Dublin said the student charge covered just 80 – 85 per cent of the costs of student services with the balance being met by the college.

The college has fully complied with the requirements of the Department of Education’s circular since the charge was introduced in 1996, it said.

Mr Ó Broin claimed that in 2009/2010, just one-third of the registration fee was spent on student services.

A HEA spokesman said that he would be happy to receive details of the claims made. In many cases, the registration fee does not meet the non-academic costs of education, he said.