LETTERKENNY Institute of Technology Students’ Union President Dylan McGowan has expressed his concerns about new proposals for a student loan scheme.
An Oireachtas committee heard details of the new proposals late last week and one of the options being considered in The Cassells Report, a Government-commissioned paper, is an income-contingent loan system whereby graduates pay frees when their earnings reach a certain level.
Student bodies, including the Union of Students of Ireland (USI) have called on committee members to supporter a publicly-funded higher-education system.
“Everyone needs to recognise that all these models are identified as realistic options for the future funding,” LYITSU President McGowan said.
“Media interaction and political talk is only being directed at the ‘loans option’, which will have detrimental effect on students in LYIT.
“Students in LYIT are one of the highest recipients of maintenance grants and back to education allowances in the country, and replacing these schemes with loans will only impose a burden of debt and financial difficulty on the shoulders of students.”
LYITSU, along with student unions nationwide, have been heavily campaigning against loans and call for the Irish Government to be ambitious, and to ‘state fund’ third level Institutes and Universities.
Mr McGowan said “If a loans scheme is introduced, it will not only provide students with a major burden of debt, it will be a catalyst for students to leave this country to avoid payments, or to seek a cheaper, fairer more affordable education elsewhere.”
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