Students who have not yet found summer work have until tomorrow to apply for the Students Summer Job Scheme. The scheme, in operation for the past six years, replaces the system where students were eligible for unemployment assistance during the summer.
"In 1993 it was decided that students could no longer be regarded as unemployed," said Mr Tommy O'Friel, assistant principal of the Students Summer Job Scheme in the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. Hence the scheme to accommodate those who cannot find a job and have no means to support themselves. However, students who are not returning to college or who have completed a college course are entitled to unemployment assistance while seeking employment.
The scheme prevents students from being overworked and underpaid by allowing them to work a maximum of 35 hours a week and a minimum of 16, during at least six weeks between June 1st and September 30th.
Students are entitled to work 200 hours at a flat rate of £3 per hour, earning a maximum of £600.
Last year almost 16,000 students participated in the scheme, sharing in £9.1 million along with over 3,600 sponsored, often community-based, groups. So far this year, close on 19,000 applications have been processed.
The type of work the scheme offers is of a beneficial nature to voluntary, community and sporting groups and charitable organisations or public bodies involved in special projects.
Work ranges from research to child care, gardening to marketing, and administration to coaching. Often students are to be found in cemeteries, doing genealogical research.
Payment, which is not subject to income tax or PRSI, is available in weekly instalments or in a lump sum. Students must be aged 18 or older on August 31st. The scheme is means-tested.
Students studying in Britain may avail of the scheme if they return to Ireland during the summer, according to Mr O'Friel. This is because technically "the scheme is for those unable to support themselves", he explained. Nursing students in Britain benefit from a tax-free bursary of up to £5,500, payable monthly, to help meet the costs of their education.