Further increases in the cost of third-level charges would be "ludicrous" in the light of this week's survey about the financial hardship facing students and their families, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has said.

The average monthly cost of being in college is €516 a month, up from €484 in 2011, according to the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) survey.

The study also shows that one student in 12 will drop out of college this year due to financial stress, with students working on average of 18½ hours a week to pay their way through college.

USI president Joe O’Connor said the crisis in youth mental health issues was being accentuated by the “financial burden which many vulnerable students are having to bear in their pursuit of a college degree”.

Nearly one in 10 of those surveyed by the ILCU said their children would either not be able to go to college or would have to drop out as a result of increased fees.

In last December’s budget, the Government announced an increase of €250 in the student registration charge, taking it to €2,500 a year from next month.

Mr O’Connor argued that any further increases in the costs of going to college through increased student charges or reductions in the maintenance grant “will merely serve to further attack struggling families already crippled by wider recessionary measures.”

The study found parents were paying an average of €421 for each college student every month and most had to save for eight years for their children’s education.

It also revealed how the recession was putting household budgets under further pressure, with less than a third of all students now living away from home compared to 49 per cent in 2011.

Some 71 per cent of parents told researchers that their family budgets would be adversely affected by any increase in student charges.