“No Minister will enter UL unimpeded”

THESE PEOPLE DONT KNOW WHAT PROBLEMS ARE!

KIDS TODAY HAVE FAR TOO MUCH WHEN I WAS LEAVING SCHOOL A SCOOTER WAS UNHEARD OF AND THIS WAS THE LATE 1990'S,NOT TO MENTION A CAR FOR THAT MATTER..IT IS BLATANTLY OBVIOUS THESE COLLEGE KIDS CAN WELL AFFORD,IN ORDER FOR ME TO OBTAIN ANY EDUCATION IT WAS VERY SELF DRIVEN I GOT NO HAND OUTS OR FREE CARS LOANS OR STUDENT PERKS FOR THAT MATTER!IF YOU CAN AFFORD SUCH A PRESTIGEOUS COLLEGE LIKE THE UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK..A FEW WEEKS AGO I WAS READING AN ARTICLE IN THE IRISH INDEPENDANT ABOUT A FEW UNIVERSITY KIDS IN DUBLIN PISSING ALL OVER A BUS AND CAUSING FIGHTS!!

wanderingsodacake, wasn't at you for the car.

Mature student's should get the grants and more funding needs to be made available for mature students. Offering opportunity to people who can't afford college is what it all should be about.

If the grant system worked correctly people who can't afford to go to college could go, as people on the grant will have free education. And those who can afford should pay, but only if a very low (almost 0% APR) gov backed student loan is offered where the loan can be payed back over their working life.

For a third level qualification of four years the most the loan for the fees would be at most €20,000, spread over at least a 40 year working life. Currently our taxes are going up 1%, VAT by 0.5%, if agreement about 3rd level fees isn't met we could higher taxes to pay for a broken system. And thus end up paying more in taxes per year than €500 student loan.

Anyway I think I've been hogging this blog a bit too much, match is about to start too.

The SU can't keep saying "NO FEES", they need to meet somewhere in the middle and have some solutions. Otherwise the gov will blast through fees without thinking of students. We need a good workable loan system and reform of the grant system.

The new registration fees this year are crazy expensive for any family, especially if they have more than one student in the family. How many families are taking out personal loans at 9+% APR to cover the expense of four years.

Quick Question: Currently what happens if a parent is made redundant during the year and thus earnings drop below grant threshold, can they apply for a grant mid-year to support their child through college?

Sean, wasn't, just I remember that at the No Fees campaigns in college it was always about the opposition parties slating everything about the gov, and nothing actually about the issues.

Luke,
I work 3 twelve hour shifts while I was in college to be able to afford that 2k piece of shit. Thats mon to thur in UL the fri-sun in a factory. That car brought 4 guys every day accross town. Saved everyone a nice bit on public transport. Not to mention having to use that rubbish. So no. This is not an argument for having fees returned. It is closer to the direct opposite. However, I think the means test can be readjusted. There are too many people who are genuinely wealthy enough to pay fees and have plenty of money for living. I would never have gone through the door of a college had I to pay fees. Just couldn't have afforded it.

@Ed: totally right. The quality of irish graduates is pretty low and as a student myself, it seems like half the people around me are in for the free ride. What do you do after secondary school? You go to college. That's just what you do -- what everyone does.

People don't pick the right course and don't give it the thought they should because it's free, and then you end up with a whole ton of students who don't like what they're doing. The only part of college they enjoy is the "social life", which might involve wheelie bins and certainly involves vodka and Red Bull.

I absolutely do not support these actions. The Students Union actively suppresses views that go against their opinions. There is a substantial minority of students who support the introduction of fees, and we are never heard.

Luke you might want to put away your civics books and just remember you're not the smartest.

Last year's ULSU president was quite good. don't know much about the incumbent guy though

Seán, Cowan was elected by his party members, that is the system we have in Ireland. We the people don't vote for the Taoiseach, we vote for the party in your area. This isn't the USA.

Also I remember a few years back when a ULSU president won because his name was the only one in the hat, not elected.

wanderingsodacake!

I think you have just proved the point of charging fees. If you have enough money to own, run, insure and tax a car while in college you should not have free education.

When I was in college (within the past six years) very few had cars, it was extremely rare. We took the bus, on a rare occasion a taxi, and walked to the shops with a bag full of shopping. I have noticed that the biggest SU challenge after fees is the lack of parking for students, get over it.

I remember in August too for the past couple of years all the problems with Leaving Cert students celebrating their results abroad on holidays causing trouble, this is before they even start college.

How can 3rd level students of today expect the tax payer to support them on free education when they complain about no car parking in college and spend money on holidays. I don't mind the social life, I had a good one on a budget in college, it's part of the experience, but cars and holidays shouldn't be.

Ah shit, I meant O'Brien not O'Brian

Protest registered, minister impeded, no blood on the ground. Can Pa O'Brian really be a worse choice than Taoiseach Cowan. At least President O'Brian was elected to his post.

Fees should be brought back for a couple of reasons:
Quality of students has gone down not up with the increase in numbers, there are alot of dopes doing courses which they dont like for no other reason other than the dont know what they want to do when they grow up. (A bit late if your a college student). If they had to pay they would take a lot longer to pick a course to do.
It would also cull those ejits who cause havoc that you talked about earlier.

I'd like to see a Talent & gifted student grant scheme also brought in, to keep the best in the country instead of them being poached by Oxbridge or US.
But since the Dept of Ed doesnt like change it aint going to happen any day soon.

These student unions are full of their own self improtance. Trying to justify their positions. When I was in UL there was terrible parking issues. I missed class because I was driving around and outside the campus looking for a space. Then when I gave up and parked on a path where I had seen cars there on many occasion. I got clamped.

I went to the idiot club and asked them what the hell they would do about it. Basically it's impossible to go tyo college without being fined.
After being told call back for a couple of days in a row, chief idiot finally graced me with an audience. Said it was all under control. A month later and they were slowing up traffic doing a survey at the gates. That was 2005. Still waiting for the results.

Before anyone accuses me of being a rich student. I had a cheap car because I was coming from Raheen every morning. I was a mature student having worked for the last number of years. I went to make sure I stayed employable.

The called a strike against Coke too before realising that coke in one form or another provided huge sponsorship for various clubs in the college and that it would be stopped. Idiots.

I see the college students of today now have 2 nights out a week, Tuesday and Thursday and have a mini cab rank working from the student accomadation on the cratloe road on both nights!!! it used to be one night out in my day and we walked home and that is only less then 10 years ago. Point is there does not seem to be a shortage of money for some LIT students!!

Have to agree with Mitchell, it's true very few cause problems and I don't tie free education with that behavior. Visit any non college town in Ireland late on a Saturday night and you'll experience that, it's a social problem in general.

In fact I have found that non-college towns are rougher from experience.

@ Johnny, I am a UL student and while I have sympathy for your experiences on that street, I think it is ignorant to blame the entire student population because the VAST majority never cause trouble like that.

I am not sure about the fees yet, some major research (PhD) needs to done on the economic advantage of low fees on 3rd level college verses the extra revenue the government earns when you are qualified and growing the middle class.

But one thing that still bugs me, college was never free. At UL I paid annual fees of €750 per year, for my postgrad I paid €4,000 for fees. I had siblings all in college at the same time as myself paying similar. My parents remortgaged their house twice for the 10 years their children went to "free" 3rd level education. We all still have "student loans" (they're not student loans as they don't exist in Ireland as APR is 10% plus) averaging about €8,000 in debt each. We all worked part-time and at weekends while attending college, we all lived away from home too.

So what's my point, bring in a student loan system backed up by the government that charges a low interest rate over many years that is charged on your tax bill when you start working. Basically my parents are in debt, and missed out on any opportunity during the boom as they had to get bank loans to send us through college. We all have student loans now with 10% interest rates, if a government back loan system existed it would have cost both my parents and us less in the long run.

There is a process to doing all this:
1) Move the grant system to an assets based system that also shares information with revenue. This will cut the people who should never be on it. Yes we all know friends from college who should not have been on the grant, I know of one friend bought himself an LCD screen in 2002 with his grant and another got a laptop.
2) Access grants are only suppose to be for poor people, not farmers with 120 acres.
3) This should free up a few million dollars for the colleges to teach.
4) Now that only people who deserve the grant have it we can move to a government backed loan system. Implement it for 4th level first, that's study Masters and Postgrads.
5) Now that all the workings are in place we can seriously consider fees, only once the system is in place. And remember if you are getting a grant you won't pay anyway, just like grant recipients don't pay for reg fees today.

This would have saved me and my family a lot of money in the long run.

No disrespect but it was a shambles, blocking the minister my arse he walked quite happily and freely across the living bridge it was a artificial protest that showed we were willing too moan but not to actually take shagging action!!!!!!!!!

i was severely disappointed with it and wont be throwing my support for the su so quickly in future

Yes great shot. But, I lived near St. Michael's on Denmark for several years just when the Icon and The Old Quarter where starting business, and who were their best customers? yes, the feckin' students. And after the Night clubs were over most of the students went mental on the streets, have weelie bin races (after throwing the rubbish around the streets) with one or two students in each bin they raced each bin down the street with the students in them until they either crashed into each other or crashed into parked cars (and caused damage) just for the craic. I rang the Gardai so many times about these incidents as they happened, but by the time they arrived the stupid shits were long gone to another street to cause more damage. One night I heard the shits singing (screaming) and what sounded like drums beating, so I looked out the window and saw eight or nine shits (male and female) on a car roof jumping up and down trying to flatten it. I called the Gardai again, and a Garda told that they had only one car out that night, and that it was out in Castletroy. So I said to myself "fuck". After many attempts of objecting to the renewal of pub licences I had no choice but to leave the street. I now live in a very expensive apartment block not too far from the city centre, but it is worth every cent. Why? 'cause I can sleep peacefully without the noise of screaming drunk shits. By the way, the also used to kick wing mirrors of cars and the person with the most amount was the winner. I'm not suggesting for one second that all students are shits. But as far as I am concerned most of them are. Two of my nieces are in Uni, but they earn their money by working part time, as I did when I was in college.

So, as you've probably guessed I have no sympathy for students if they will have to pay college fees.
Johnny.

More of that. Well done.

Cullen probably slithered into the water and crawled across the river-bed.

Great shot

Great picture well done to all who stood out in the rain i hope cullen had to walk over the living bridge to make his engagment!