Today tens of thousands of college students from all over Ireland (estimates range from 15,000 to 42,000 - there were so many of us that no-one is sure of the exact numbers) gathered in Dublin to march from Parnell Square to the Government buildings in protest of the proposed doubling of college fees - one of many expected (I'm sorry but I just can't think of a neutral way to put this) vicious slaps to the face of the country and the collective face of its people in the upcoming budget.
It was peaceful for the most part, but things got out of hand towards the end as a small number of protesters (Eirigi and Socialist Workers Party militants, according to the people who organised the march) got a bit violent (three were arrested).
Apart from the violence, it was pretty freaking spectacular. You could hear it for miles, the ensuing traffic jams were horrendous, and good times were had by all involved (again, violence aside).
I don't get the point of these protests. Universities need to be funded somehow, and we (at least in the UK, unsure of how it works in Ireland) have been having it too good for too long. It's not sustainable.
I don't know whether it'll make much difference to what the government will do, but I think that raising the tuition fees to around £7000 is ridiculous. There's no way I would be able to afford that, and you'd start out life with a stupid amount of debt. In effect, you'd be discriminating against the poorer students by stopping them getting to the places they deserve. So in a way, it would be like stuff equality, we just want the rich. Cambridge and Oxford with their plan to raise tuition fees to £12000 is just one example.
There are still loans and grants available. The current economy cannot absorb the number of graduates there are anyway. Of course in some sectors (engineering, for example) there aren't enough graduates, but that would require an overhaul of the primary and secondary schooling systems.
Fees would be raised to £6,000, with universities needing to justify a raise above that to a maximum of £9,000. If they do raise it above the £6,000 they need to have bursary and scholarship schemes as well. Unless there has been a more recent report released saying different?
True, there are grants, but there has to be an economy in order to back these grants. Not all loans get paid back anyway, quite a few don't, so the government might end up spending more, especially since students will come out of university with a lot of debt and therefore might be unable to get on the housing ladder or within the job market. I plan to go for a masters, and if I do and the government have raised tuition fees, I won't be able to afford it. Student loans don't cover it, so that would mean that I'd have to ask a bank and contend with stupid interest rates.
The government are considering placing financial penalties on those who want to pay back their loans early. Obviously they lose out on the interest, but I would have thought they'd rather receive the money any way they could, especially with the proposal to start repayments above £21,000 rather than the current £15,000.
Higher education costs. It costs a hell of a lot. It's not just the time in a lecture or a tutorial, it's everything.
Ahh, if only protests could change the mind of an idiot.
If only. Brian Cowen and his band of morons are not known for responding to protests. What's worse is that since this particular protest was hijacked by rioters, they now have an excuse to ignore it (especially since the riots have taken up about 90% of the media spotlight, to the point that most non-Dubliners have been led to believe the mostly-peaceful protest was just one big riot).
I'm expecting them to make a statement any day now, along the lines of "we will not be intimidated by violence."
As for raising fees to cover the administration costs, that isn't the case here. Officially, Ireland has free third-level education. We pay registration fees, but the bulk of the costs are handled by the state. If they raise the registration fees, none of that money goes towards the college, it all goes straight into the government's account. Which I wouldn't have a problem with, if not for the government spending all of its money on bailing out corrupt and inept bankers (and that's not even the worst of it - last week the government announced that they'll be shelling out 700,000 euro on a f*cking penguin sanctuary, and went on to say that yes, they'd be slashing the dole again this year). It's estimated that this year's budget will cost every family in Ireland 6,000 euro in cuts to wages and welfare.
They're basically sentencing our generation (and quite possibly the next generation) to a lifetime of debt to cover up their own failure in running the country. This stuff about college fees is just the latest in a long line of tax hikes, social welfare cuts, health budget cuts, etc. etc. et-f*cking-cetera.
I loved the signs at the march. It was fun.
I'll be saying bye bye education next year if this comes in though.
I did have a longer post written, but I'm too tired and pissed at the government, for it to make sense.
The universe seemingly doesn't want me in UCD. Even if I do well enough in my PLC course to get in, I won't be able to afford college if they raise the fees. And everything I've done for the last eight years will be wasted.
As for raising fees to cover the administration costs, that isn't the case here. Officially, Ireland has free third-level education. We pay registration fees, but the bulk of the costs are handled by the state. If they raise the registration fees, none of that money goes towards the college, it all goes straight into the government's account.
The money goes to the government, who in turn will be paying for your education. The education isn't free, far from it. The money needs to be paid, whether by the student or the state. Do Irish students not receive loans towards these things?
Or you could always move to a Scottish or other EU university?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Muir
I loved the signs at the march. It was fun.
I'll be saying bye bye education next year if this comes in though.
I did have a longer post written, but I'm too tired and pissed at the government, for it to make sense.
I may not have been clear enough on some points, my bad. What I was getting it is that while yes, the government do pay for education, they won't be putting any of the extra 1,500 euro towards that education, they'll be putting it towards bailing out the banks and paying off the astronomical national debt they've racked up over the last few years. The debt needs to be paid, but not at the expense of thousands of working-class students (including Muir and myself) who simply can't afford 3,000 a year to go to college. They should be cutting their own wages (rather than raising them at an insulting rate) to pay the debt, not causing a brain drain. I could go to college in another EU country, but I shouldn't bloody have to.
And yes, we do get grants, but they're incredibly hard to get. And when you do get them, it's often more than halfway through the academic year and nowhere near enough to cover your costs.
