“In a week which saw thousands of students flock to Limerick for the start of the new academic year, a landlord has charged a number of students €5.5k each up-front for privately rented accommodation near UL campus …” (more)
[Rebecca Laffan, Limerick Leader, 12 September]
“The grant provided by the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) does not cover even half of the cost of accommodation in Ireland’s major cities, a committee has heard. The SUSI grant, which provides funding to third-level students for fees and maintenance, also fails to reflect the cost of living, particularly for housing …” (more)
[Cate McCurry, Belfast Telegraph, 12 September]
“The cost of student accommodation for the year 2019/2020 has increased nationwide, with UCC introducing the highest price increase in Ireland. All five of UCC’s on-campus accommodation facilities – University Hall, Victoria Lodge, Castlewhite apartments, Victoria Mills, and Mardyke Hall – saw price increases between 10% and 11.5%, with the price range now €4029-€6179 yearly …” (more)
[Samantha Calthrop, University Express, 7 September]
“Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Laura Beston has condemned LIV Student, a luxury student accommodation company, after it allegedly placed advertising leaflets on the union’s freshers’ fair stall without asking permission from any of those at the stand …” (more)
[Donal MacNamee, University Times, 6 September]
“College students are being distracted from their education by looking for accommodation. Many students are still trying to find somewhere to live for this academic year. It comes as every college in the country has hiked its student living fees …” (more)
[Irish Examiner, 6 September]
“While the Government will claim some success in reducing motor insurance premiums in recent times, based on CSO data, it is clear that that those figures do not reflect the experience of younger drivers and students in particular …” (more)
[USI, 5 September]
“A month ago, I went to a viewing of a two-bedroom apartment on Adelaide Rd. Sound nice? Calling it a hovel would be generous. It was a basement apartment: two cramped bedrooms and one small window, which faced out onto a debris-filled garden …” (more)
[Cormac Watson, University Times, 3 September]
“A Trinity College Dublin (TCD) student has penned a letter to the minister of third level education claiming that PhD students are forgotten in Ireland. The letter asks for an accommodation subsidy to be provided to students as the maximum stipend of €18,000 per year makes living in Dublin difficult to afford …” (more)
[Gabija Gataveckaite, Independent, 3 September]
“An annual Irish League of Credit Unions survey published on August 19 revealed some dismaying statistics on the financial struggles of third-level students in Ireland. While 74% of students having to work during the college term to cope with costs is generally manageable, 55% of students say they often skip lectures in favour of paid work …” (more)
[Lucien Waugh-Daly, The College View, 1 September]
“Four Malaysian students are locked in a bitter deposit dispute after leaving what might be Dublin’s most shocking rented accommodation. Unbelievable photos show what appears to be a small industrial lot that has now been converted into an ‘apartment’ in the capital’s city centre …” (more)
[Gavin O’Callaghan, DublinLive, 29 August]
“The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul has said it expects to spend more than €200,000 in Cork by November this year, on assisting people in third-level education. South West Regional coordinator for SVP Gerry Garvey told The Echo that the organisation has seen a big increase over the last year in the number of people reaching out for help with back-to- education costs …” (more)
[Roisin Burke, EchoLive, 26 August]
“Figures released this week, showing that over half of Irish students skip classes for work, will hardly have come as a surprise to anyone. While we may not have had the official statistics before, the anecdotal evidence on this has long been readily available. Perhaps the only shocking thing about this latest study is that it confirms once and for all just how ubiquitous the practice has become …” (more)
[University Times, 25 August]
“Lorna Fitzpatrick, USI president, tells us how students are spending up to 30 hours a week commuting to college because they can’t afford the high cost of accommodation …” (podcast)
[RTÉ – This Week, 25 August]
“With September looming, the annual news cycle has invariably turned to the perennial problem of student accommodation, or, more correctly, the lack of it. What is increasingly clear is that, with their eye-watering rents, the newly built purpose built student accommodation blocks found on most college campuses have done little to alleviate the issue. In fact, far from providing a solution to the accommodation problem, they are starting to look more like corporate investment vehicles …” (more)
[Donal Horgan, The Burkean, 24 August]
“For some students, gaining the CAO points they need is the hard part. For others, finding affordable accommodation as they prepare for college is even more stressful. That acute pressure is reflected by Garda warnings about scammers who offer accommodation in properties they don’t own, take hefty deposits and then disappear …” (more)
[Irish Times, 23 August]
“The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have called on the government to break the barriers to third level education. In a statement, the USI criticised government ministers Joe McHugh and Mary Mitchell O’Connor for downplaying the accommodation and higher education funding crises …” (more)
[Tadgh McNally, The College View, 20 August]
“More than 50% of students reported skipping lectures to work, as they struggle to pay soaring rents. Some 15% of students said they would cut down on food to afford living costs and 11% admitted avoiding medical check-ups to deal with the financial burden. The number of students missing lectures to earn money rose by 33 percentage points compared to the 22% figure in 2017, according to the Irish League of Credit Unions survey …” (more)
[Laura Lynott, Independent, 19 August]
“This week, Ireland’s education ministers found their way into the glare of the national headlines with an intensity not often seen in recent years. For a sector whose struggles have long been confined to the background of public debate, it was refreshing to see story after story on higher education making it to the front pages of Ireland’s newspapers …” (more)
[University Times, 18 August]
“Two Government ministers are under fire for ‘alarming’ comments on the cost of living for students. Craig McHugh, Union of Students in Ireland vice president for the Dublin region, said young people face huge obstacles to university due to rising rents and stagnated student grants …” (more)
[Laura Lynott, Independent, 17 August]
“Fianna Fáil TD for Mayo, Lisa Chambers, has hit out at Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, for failing to cap spiralling student accommodation rents. The government has for a second year running failed to implement rent caps on student campus accommodation, according to Chambers …” (more)
[Mayo Advertiser, 16 August]
