Third-level student fees in Ireland are unlikely to increase as a consequence of a possible global downturn caused by US tariff policies, the Minister for Higher Education has said.
James Lawless has said that he does not envisage any increase to the maximum €3,000 annual registration fee that applies at present but warned that the current uncertainty over the direction of global trade policy made it difficult to predict any outcome with certainty.
“I would find it very regrettable if I was forced to increase the fees. I think it’s unlikely,’ he said.
“I would caveat that by saying there are very changeable global headwinds at the moment, and we don’t know what’s around the corner,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to frighten anybody [but] let’s be honest, dark clouds are on the horizon. We are meeting them, and we’re matching them,” he said.
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The maximum student contribution is expected to revert to closer to €3,000 this year having been reduced to €2,000 for a number of years, because of once-off subventions given in response to Covid restrictions, the oil crisis and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Lawless signalled no additional budgetary provision will be made for a once-off-package on student contributions this year but he indicated that he might be inclined to look at more targeted measures.
“It’s been made known from across Government, from the Minister of Finance and others, that there won’t be a cost-of-living package this year.
“That leaves me as a Minister with the need to examine my own departmental resources to see what funding lines may be there.”
He said the Programme for Government has committed to reducing the student contribution fee in a sustainable way over the lifetime of the Coalition’s term.
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“I very much intend to do that. By how much, in which years, and how quickly that happens, and by what degree it happens, remains to be seen.”
He said he had consulted on this matter at a special event in Croke Park and the department was preparing an options paper.
“Is it possible that we might do some level of reduction in a more gradual way? I think it is important that, whatever we do, we give certainty to families in the long term.
“The cost-of-living interventions were certainly very welcome at the time, but they were also something of a blunt instrument, as they were universal in their application.
He said that more “progressive measures” would target supports to those that may need them most and he would look at the issue of evidence-based intervention.
“That’s an argument for allocating resources according to the need. That would be, I think, an argument made in social justice as well, which I would tend to think has a lot of merit.”
He said there were debates about what were the greatest financial hurdles facing third-level students, with the cost of accommodation, travel and buying aids such as laptops all coming into the mix.
Mr Lawless was speaking at the official launch of Áras Geal, a new state-of-the-art teaching facility on the Blanchardstown Campus of TU Dublin.
The new building comprises open, flexible spaces for active learning, with state-of-the-art computer labs, administrative space, ancillary space, informal learning space, lecture halls and tutorial rooms.
He said the facility would further enable TU Dublin to meet the need for workers upskilling in the West Dublin region and deliver a teaching facility that would support the changing needs of society.
“We are investing very significantly in a programme for research, infrastructure and innovation, and partnering with industry in some cases,” said Mr Lawless.
“We are pioneering independent academic research and investing heavily in skills. All the things I’m doing here today in TU Dublin and in universities, colleges and training centres, is about making sure that our workforce is equipped for whatever lies ahead, be that recession, a boom or bust. It’s about making sure that we have the right skills to meet the challenge,” he said.
