The budget was announced by the Government this week. Sadly, there has been no efforts made to decrease the widening gaps of equality in our society, with students and workers left at the bottom of the list of their priorities.
The key points for students include:
- €250 is set to be given back to all full time undergraduate students. This is a once-off payment, and far off from the immediate €500 permanent reduction of fees for all students.
- Increase in the threshold and rate for the SUSI postgraduate grant.
- A full review of the SUSI grant system – reviews are grand, but not if immediate extra funding is allocated to the overstretched system.
The facts remain; students are paying the highest fees in the EU, and are studying in the middle of a pandemic, with little to no job opportunities to get them through their studies. While some students have parents and guardians to fall back on, our members are diverse; we have single parents, people returning to college, and students who are the first in their family to attend higher education.
Our clear demands have not been listened to; we need Education for All, if we want the people to have open access to a public good.
