A job that leaves no time to settle in!

Almost a week in at this stage, and it was one busy experience. The minister of education is bringing his proposals to cabinet and I've been on loads of radio shows doing interviews on fees. It's been really tiring but tomorrow we have loads of officers coming to HQ from the colleges to discuss our campaign and we wil be doing a protest / photo op outside the dail at 4pm.

Unfortunately, the family dog, Leo, died today - so i'm a bit upset about that, but alas another interview to be done for tomorrows news!

I am attaching an article I wrote for a student newspaper when I was Western Area Officer. It is as relevant now as it was months ago and deals with the HECS model of funding.

I have a good friend who is doing a postgraduate in NUI Galway who happens to be an aussie. I mentioned I was doing an article on the different systems of paying tuition fees that are being touted by certain sections of the media and indeed university presidents. She said "No, not the HECS model!" Thankfully she was able to explain the model to me as reading about the 'graduate tax' system was beginning to confuse me greatly. The University heads have stated that the Irish third level system has been chronically under funded for years. This is seen as an impediment to Irish colleges attaining an ideal of 'world class institutes'.

Now while this appears to be rhetoric befitting of persons who recently lobbied for a substantial pay-rise that accumulated in a salary higher than the Taoiseach, it is fundamentally correct. Students experience the under funding of the sector most, with students learning in overcrowded lecture halls, subjected to the allure of 1970's style science laboratories, even in some cases thecancellation of college courses.

The funding of the sector is vital to the well-being of the economy, especially in times when the economic outlook is not as favourable as it was the last time the question of fees was asked. So we look outward to see how other countries fund their third level systems. Jimmy Browne, NUIG President, is widely recognised as believing the best way forward is to introduce a form of graduate tax akin to the HECS model from Australia, while other presidents insist on full fees being introduced with the possibility of a loans system akin to the UK model.

Some of these models seem at the outset to be a fairly decent compromise for not paying outright fees. The graduate tax or a loan system would appear to be doable, yet on closer examination of the systems it would appear that they are not student friendly.

As recently as August 2008, the Australian National Students Union held a national day of action against the current system they use, the one we are looking at imitating. The National Union of Students in Australia asked for the government to reduce full fees at universities. Over 60 undergraduate degrees now cost over $100, 000. Universities can offer unlimited full-fee places which degrades any sense of fairness or accessibility to education. The Union also demanded that the government reduce HECS to more equitable levels. Australian students now pay the second highest fees in the OECD leading to students graduating with crippling levels of debt, up by 1100% since the 1990s.

The HECS system is one in which after graduating the graduate pays back through extra taxation the cost incurred of the degree. Once a graduate starts earning at a certain level the tax automatically kicks in.

The problems start when the Universities start increasing their prices for a degree, something which appears to be inevitable regardless of what system is used. This would lead to a longer period of repaying the costs.

My Australian friend was not enamored with the system, and even commented that should she return to Australia she would again have to start repaying the extra tax plus interest. She did not see it as a tax, but as a debt. The minister of Education states that only the rich should have to pay for education, with those whose parents income reaching a certain level paying fees.

In Australia if you have the money to pay off your HECS account after graduation you will receive a discount on the total amount, those that cannot must defer until they start earning, thus supporting those high earning families. The numbers of families whose combined incomes will be over the threshold (circa €100,000) for paying fees may also be small.

The University heads are pushing the agenda to have as many students pay fees in order to allow it to fund itself so the expectation is that the threshold figures will more than likely decrease, thus incorporating more middle class families. The issue of graduate tax creates many questions that remain unanswered. What rate should the tax be set? Should it be payable income or earnings? Should it apply retrospectively to current students?

When Ireland took the decision to introduce the free fees scheme the, UK took the opposing scheme, allowing fees to be charged by institutions. Students pay a contribution towards their tuition fees based on their parent income (circa £0-£1,250 a year), but the commencement of the highly contentious 'top-up' fees have dramatically increased the overall cost of college in the UK. Top-up fees basically allows Universities to charge students any amount up to £3,000, which naturally almost all Universities charge. A government run Student Loans Company loans the students the necessary money for college and students pay back theloan and tuition fees after graduation. According to Barclays bank, student debt in the UK will rise from just under £18,000 for students graduating in 2006 to £34,000 by 2010.

It is worth remembering that the Irish model of free tuition is not the only one of its kind in Europe. Countries across the continent ensure that third level education is free, from Scandinavia to Greece. In Finland for example; all Universities are public and free. By law, any teaching which leads to a degree must be provided free of charge to students.


Over the coming weeks it is likely that the debate on the fees issue will deepen and the public will have to consider if tuition fees were to be re-introduced; how much debt we are willing to push onto students to prop up our third level system.

Should we not be more willing to examine how countries continue to give students free fees without affecting their chances of becoming 'world class'? According to the QS world University Rankings, 9 in the top 300 are Swedish, 7 are Finnish, 4 are Danish, 4 are Norwegian. Ireland has 3. All are free fees Universities. The French college École Normale Supérieure in Paris, which, ranked at 26th, is the highest free fees college on the list, perhaps this is the type of college our country should look at and imitate before we throw away our current system. My Australian friend was in agreement.