I will deal first with the issue of the grant. As I stated previously, I intend to have all of the research from the Freedom of Information Act requests concluded by the end of the week and, at that point, I will circulate it to all the members of the committee. It appears that across the board at the very least we will see a 20% increase in the number of grant applications this year. In Wexford, for example, we will have a 50% increase in the number of grant applications this year, based on figures obtained last week.
One issue with the freedom of information requests is that we also sent the requests to the VECs, but VECs do not fall under the Freedom of Information Act. VECs have been extremely unhelpful in revealing figures to us on how many grant applications they have received and what is the total administration cost. I have absolutely no idea what the administration costs are in the VEC sector because it does not fall under the provisions of the Act.
On the welfare funding issues, I can only speak for UCD. In UCD, there are three tiers of student welfare funding. There is the student assistance fund, which is predominantly funded by the EU. As I stated earlier, that is for persons who are encountering ongoing severe financial issues. For the past number of years, that has been at €128,000.
Then there is the welfare fund, which is funded through a number of mechanisms, such as local fundraising, the university, local businesses, charity nights and quiz nights. That deals with unforeseen circumstances, such as funerals. It usually deals with sums of €100 or €200; the maximum amount of money the fund can give out is €500. This year, however, we have been obliged to introduce an emergency fund. Under this, the students union and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul can give out up to €150 straight away. This money is being provided by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul nationally. Each week — I do not recall on which day — students are able to make applications for emergency payments of up to €150. We were obliged to introduce this fund in order to try to assist students.
As stated earlier, I had one student in my office who could not afford to eat and another who could not afford to pay the bus fare in order to travel to an examination centre. The fund will allow us to deal with such people. Like all our other funds, that fund has been inundated with applications. This year we have managed to place additional moneys of over €100,000 into the welfare fund. However, this will not go anywhere near allowing us to deal with students who are experiencing financial difficulties.
I do not know if the committee is aware that every student pays a registration fee of €1,500. In addition to this, most ITs and universities impose a student levy. Due to the fact that there is no money to fund student services correctly, students have, in cases where it is necessary to build a gym, a pool hall or a common room, voted in referenda to put in place a levy that is additional to their €1,500 registration fee. UCD students pay a total of €1,650, while their counterparts in NUI Galway, UCC and elsewhere pay over €1,700.
Following the release of the accounts, the president of Trinity College Dublin's students union, Cónán Ó Broin, and I were invited by the chief executive of the HEA to attend a meeting on Monday last. The registration fee is supposed to be governed by a framework of good practice, which was established in 1998. This framework is supposed to set out how the students' services charge is distributed. The students' service charge is a colloquial name for this charge. It was established when the free fees scheme was introduced in order to offset the cost of student services, registration and examinations. That was the intention behind the fee when it was originally established.
To assist with how this money would be spent, the HEA set up a framework for good practice in 1998. The HEA has periodically written to the universities to ensure that this framework is still in place. The latter have assured the HEA that it remains in place. The universities issue the same reply when contacted because they do not want to review, on a yearly basis, how this money is spent. Under the framework for good practice, there is supposed to be a group, weighted in favour of students, in place to recommend to a university how the money is spent on student services. This has not happened across the country for a number of years.
The HEA has agreed to write to the universities and ITs and request them to provide information from their accounts with regard to how moneys for student services are spent. It also agreed to ask them to review the framework for good practice, which is simply not working right across the board. That is the current position following our meeting with the chief executive of the HEA, Mr. Tom Boland, on Monday last. We have been invited to meet him again in the new year when the information to which I refer has been provided. I am aware that my colleagues throughout the country have experienced tremendous difficulties in trying to obtain this information from various institutes and universities. It has not been easy to discover how money relating to the student services charge is being spent.
As already stated, the charge was established in order that a contribution might be made in respect of registration, student services and examinations. Towards the end of last year, the HEA and the Irish Universities Association, IUA, came to an agreement to allow library and IT services and spatial costs to be included and funded under the student services charge. The State is supposed to pay for tuition. However, without a library, it is not possible to have a university. If library and IT services do not constitute tuition, then I do not know what does.
If, as the Government states, that students are, for their €1,500 charge, obtaining student services, examinations, registration and library and IT services, then what exactly does the core grant cover? I suggest that both students and the State are obtaining appalling value for money in respect of the core grant. If, as the Minister states, the student service charge covers the various things to which I refer, then what does the core grant cover?
In the past, students were able to finance the registration fee — €1,500 this year and €900 last year — by obtaining part-time or summer jobs or getting bank loans and paying them off periodically. The part-time jobs to which I refer do not exist any more. Most of the students with whom I deal in UCD do not have part-time jobs and they cannot obtain bank loans. They have approached the major banks and building societies but none are willing to deal with them. I do not know how students in UCD can be expected to come up with the €1,650 their require in respect of these fees.
Senator Keaveney referred to social events. Student morale is at such a low level in UCD that the president of the university and I last week established a task force to investigate how said morale might be improved. Membership numbers for the various societies and sports clubs have gone through the floor. In addition, the numbers of those willing to attend social outings have plummeted. Universities and ITs are not nice places to be at present because students simply do not have any money. That is the cold, hard reality.
The first 12-week semester at UCD has already concluded and this week is revision week. As UCD is completely semesterised and modularised, students will commence their exams for the first six modules they have done this year next week. Some 50% of their year's work will be assessed next week and the week after, but I have a long list of students who do not even know whether they will obtain a grant. The first semester is over and there are students who have not even been given grants yet. Things are very tough.