Three arrested in UCD as students protest about fees

robtri

Attol wrote: »

Ok, maybe I didn't make it clear enough. I can afford that for this year. Barely. The money I am earning in my minimum wage job is going to fall short of what I need to pay. I'm going to have to go to my friends to beg for it in January when the second part of my fees needs to be paid because my family just doesn't have it. I can't get anything more from the bank, neither can my parents. If I had to do this for 4 years I wouldn't be able to do it as I doubt my friends would be happy to have me begging off them every year because between working full time all summer and working part time during the college term I couldn't save up enough to cover the fees. Also how can I expect them to have it? I can't guarantee I'd even manage this. And I'd still have to pay them back... How would I manage that? "Eh, yea.... Hit ya back in 3 years?"

I know you all love the student stereotypes but cop on. If you had that kind of a lifestyle while studying, good for you. Not everyone is lucky enough to have that little to worry about in college.

There's going to be a lot of dropouts due to financial issues if they just bring the fees in to everyone, including those enrolled on courses already. There will also be a lot of people deterred from going due to simply not being able to magically make that amount of money appear out of thin air.

Much clearer now, and when i went to college, I worked full time during the summer and every weekend and 2 nights a week during term to cover my living expenses, it wasn't easy but it had to be done,
as I stated, if you can afford the basic's and I mean the bare basic's and the fee's then I am in favour of you paying them, if you cannot afford the basic's, rent and food, I am not talking about social life, ciggerettes, drink, takeaway's new clothes etc, then I am in favour of you not paying the fee's if it will help ease the pressure....

My issue is with Students that plead poverty and there is a lot of them that do this, yet we see all carparks full in college's and surround area's full of student cars(virtually every college is complaining there isn't enough car parking for students), bars in the college's are busy most night with stundents drinking, niteclubs are full of students at the weekend, CFJ to name one of many, queues of students buying lunch at breaks( if money was that tight they would buy food in suppermarket and make sandwhich's themselves, much cheaper) and then at the same time complain they can't pay fees... well my problem is why should people who work, pay tax money to go towards this lifestyle, when a lot of working people struggle to make ends meet..
I do not deny that there are many students that deserve a helping hand, fees paid and grants, and I am all in favour of this but I am not in favour of supporting students with the above lifestyle....

rainbow kirby

Fajitas! wrote: »

Ah, I didn't cop Attol saying she made a poor choice last year and paying full fee's because of that. I was a tad luckier in that I didn't have to change course or repeat, but I can still understand the fact that the fee's cost money! An aunt payed my last fees, which was great - They had gone up anyways.

A lot of my friends in college are working to pay the years fee's before they graduate, €900 dosn't come too easy after rent, food and equipment, especially if you're like a lot of us where you're stuck above the grants and far below having incredibly wealthy parents.

I paid fees for 2 years due to a late course switch (I changed course after third year and was exempted from first year and part of second year when I switched) - I know how painful it is. Those 2 years cost me about €10k. I'm just thankful that I didn't have to pay fees for this year (4th year, thankfully) - there's no way I could have afforded to come back if I'd had to find another ~6.5k from somewhere. The only upshot is that I am studying something relatively employable - Computer Science.

I've never been eligible for a grant due to the fact my parents are earning just over the limit for a grant, and despite the fact I'm 24 I am not considered as a mature student because I started college when I was 18, just haven't left apart from a year out! Money is incredibly tight this year because I don't have the time with my course load to work part-time. I have maybe €20-30 a week to spend, I'm just thankful that my mother is paying for my bus tickets - it's horribly embarrassing to have to go to my mother at this age for money though.

smk135

My Sister and I are in tight situations as well and we're not entitled to grants because out mother lived abroad for a few years and has only just moved back... it's quite sickening.

Anyway, point is does anyone know when we will know for sure how much / if the fees are going to be brought in?

Where can we get info on this?

Do students who are already in College have to pay them?

I only just made up a budget, working till sept09 to pay for the year in college, 5 days a week + 2 ina bar on the weekends and now it will just barely cover the fees, registration and a couple of months!