A STUDENT loan scheme should be introduced to address the crisis in third-level funding, according to Fr Seán Healy, director of Social Justice Ireland.
Fr Healy said there were strong arguments from an equity perspective that those who benefit from higher education, and who can afford to contribute to the costs of their higher education, should do so.”
His comments came after the rankings of the State’s leading universities slumped in an influential survey. In a blow for the higher education sector, the Republic has for the first time no representation within the top 100 in the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Social Justice Ireland believes the Government should introduce a system in which fees are paid by all participants in third-level education with an income-contingent loan facility. They would repay this loan when their income rises above a particular level.
It says such a scheme would reduce Government expenditure by €445 million on a full-year basis.
Former education minister Batt O’Keeffe attempted to introduce a graduate tax scheme two years ago, but his plan was vetoed by the Green Party. He envisaged a student loan scheme where students would repay the cost of fees (€5,038 for arts and €7,284 for medicine) once they reach an income threshold of €18,000.
Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has given conflicting signals about the feasibility of a loan scheme since taking office.
In another reaction, the Union of Student in Ireland (USI) has called on the Government to take heed, and act immediately, following the poor performance of our universities in the world rankings.
If the Government crams more people into higher education, while cutting funding year after year, the quality of our universities and institutes of technology will continue to decline, it said.
USI president Gary Redmond, said: “The Government needs to realise that we cannot continue to talk about third-level fees every time there is a funding issue . . . Tuition fees, in the form of a graduate tax or in any other guise, will only prevent thousands of people from accessing higher education, and will force thousands of students to drop out of colleges and universities.”