Third Level Costs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 September 2020

Wednesday, 9 September 2020

Ceisteanna (23)

Mattie McGrath

Ceist:

23. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the reason full fees are applicable for students in third level institutes when full services are not available to the students, for example, access to libraries and printing facilities; the supports available to students who struggle with online learning due to limited broadband facilities; if he will work with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to introduce protections for students in student accommodation in terms of deposits and refunds in view of the difficulties encountered by many as a result of Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22958/20]

Freagraí ó Béal (6 píosaí cainte)

Deputy Mattie McGrath

In view of what the Minister said, I wish to ask about the situation regarding students returning, college fees being demanded upfront and the students not getting refunds. There is also the fact that there is limited broadband in rural areas. Will the Minister talk to the Minister with responsibility for housing about the huge difficulties with accommodation?

Deputy Simon Harris

I thank the Deputy for this important question. The short answer is that I will. I have already spoken to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, about this. He was planning a meeting with the Union of Students in Ireland, USI. That either has taken place or will take place shortly. The union has a number of proposals that it wants the Minister to consider and he wants to engage with USI on that. I will support him and the union in any way I can in progressing that.

With regard to students having to pay fees upfront, as I said earlier approximately 44% of people who will go to college this year, or almost half, will have either all or part of their student contribution fee paid through the SUSI grant system. Approximately 2,500 more people applied for the SUSI grant this year, a sign of the times. We have made sure that those grants have been processed as quickly as possible. We have doubled the student assistance fund. This fund is accessed through the local access office. If somebody is having a hard time because he or she used to have a part-time job at the weekend but does not have one now, he or she can seek financial assistance. We have provided funding for laptops. Almost 17,000 laptops will be purchased, and I can send the Deputy a breakdown for his area. These are being sent to the universities and will be there in time for the start of the college year.

On the issue of broadband, I will not take up time by repeating the points I made to Deputy Cairns. I believe there is work we can do in terms of looking at the WiFi access students have on campus and seeing if we can extend that off-site. There are some exciting pilot projects that we can run in the course of the year. I will be happy to meet the Deputy with regard to Tipperary and how we can possibly roll that out there.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

In the first instance, I thank the staff in SUSI. They are doing an enormous job and they are under great pressure this year. They have got on top of their game in the last number of years and they do excellent work. I also welcome the leaving certificate results. Everybody involved with that, including the Minister, Deputy Foley, all the staff, families, students and schools, worked together and put their shoulders to the wheel. It was a good outcome.

Covid-19 has changed the issues in the third level sector and those facing families with third level students. The scandalous position students and their families were put in from last March must not be repeated in terms of their lack of protection from unscrupulous accommodation providers. Unfortunately, they exist. The failure of accommodation providers to issue refunds was scandalous. I know that the Department providers did provide refunds, but some private providers did not. That is totally unfair to hard-pressed families. It puts awful pressure on the students and parents. In August, tens of thousands of students and their families were put under pressure to pay the deposit and three months rent ufront. That is shocking in the middle of Covid with people out of work and everything else. Indeed, some colleges told students that they would be on campus and that everything would be working. That was wrong and they should not have done so. They were not available and they should not have given that misleading information. The students clearly were not able to be on campus.

Deputy Simon Harris

I welcome the Deputy's kind words for the staff of SUSI. I met them last week and it is incredible that almost all of them have to work remotely to keep everybody safe and follow public health guidance. They are still managing to process a serious amount of applications so I join the Deputy in thanking them.

I asked for a note from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government on private accommodation in light of the Deputy's question.

Students who are renting private accommodation under a lease are entitled to the same legal protection as any other tenant. Tenants' rights are set out in the Residential Tenancies Act and information on tenants' rights and responsibilities is available on the website of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. Student accommodation licence terms including cost, duration, refund and cancellation policies should be set out in the licence agreement signed at the beginning of the academic year. I have asked higher education institutions to provide flexible renting options for students seeking accommodation and welcome the fact that a number of them are doing so. I also hope that private accommodation providers will show flexibility to students in current times. Quite frankly, I believe we should not be as reliant on private providers as we currently are and I hope we can make progress on increasing college-owned student accommodation in the coming years.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

I appeal to the Minister to work with the Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, because while there are many good providers, both public and private, there are also rogue operators who make enormous demands of students. Then there is peer pressure, with students worrying that they do not have a place. The scramble for accommodation every year is unbelievable.

I was contacted by a woman in Tipperary whose daughter attended grind school. She worked very hard and achieved a good result in her HPAT selection test, with a view to studying medicine. However, her results were downgraded in four subjects. She knows that her teachers provided better grades and she wants those grades to be provided. She also has an issue with the appeal date. As the Minister knows, the CAO offer of places is on Friday but appeals cannot be submitted until Monday. Can the appeal process be opened earlier? I am sure there are many other people in a similar situation. This is an excellent student who put in huge effort. Her parents supported her with fees for the grind school and everything else but there is an anomaly in the system. We cannot have people in such situations being discriminated against either.

Deputy Simon Harris

The appeals process and the standardisation is a matter for the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, and I will pass on details of the issue raised by the Deputy regarding that family in Tipperary to her. My understanding is that the appeals process opens on Monday but in addition to that, the marks that teachers gave to students will also be provided to all students from next week. I would make the point that a standardisation process needed to be put in place. We are already dealing with the issue of grade inflation but one can imagine how much more significant that issue would have been had there not been a standardisation.

On the issue of the window, my understanding is that the universities have aligned their own timetables, in terms of start dates and the like, to take into consideration the window of the appeal but I will write to the Deputy to confirm that.