Speaking after a leaked report outlined that the Government is proposing to\u00a0introduce a student loan scheme for third level students, Dublin South West TD Se\u00e1n Crowe, described the\u00a0proposal as “a blundering mistake”.<\/p>\n
This leaked paper follows a commissioned report on\u00a0Third Level funding, and Crowe has stated that saddling students\u00a0with more debt is not a substitute for greater inclusivity, that could\u00a0be more easily enhanced by a decent grant system, which would allow\u00a0students to concentrate solely on their studies.<\/p>\n
Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cSinn F\u00e9in\u2019s position is that education should be free and affordable to every family and student regardless of their financial resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current grant system is not delivering an inclusive education system particularly when it comes to the cost of third or higher education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no denying that our funding system needs to be enhanced and reformed. A simple look at a map of disadvantage in Dublin, coupled with levels of progression to higher education, highlights quite starkly that very few are getting around or through Ireland’s education roadblocks. This doesn’t reflect intelligence or ability, but the actual cost staying on and moving to third level education<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no denying that we need a fairer and more equitable financial supports where students from a poorer background are not excluded. Ideally students should be able to concentrate on their studies rather than having to take up multiple jobs simply to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current funding crisis for students is exacerbated by long delays in receiving their grant, the high cost of housing, with a the complete lack of supply of decent student accommodation, and the rising cost of books and other materials just to attend college<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past number of the years the grant system has been hacked away, with governments changing the rules to exclude greater numbers of people by giving them less supports, for example, by changing the adjacent and non-adjacent rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government\u2019s proposal to introduce a loan system will effectively eradicate the grant scheme by stealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny look at other countries would suggest that the student loan system is peppered with problems including the actual recoupment of loans, with many countries trying to jail defaulters who move abroad to work\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Speaking after a leaked report outlined that the Government is proposing to\u00a0introduce a student loan scheme for third level students, Dublin South West TD Se\u00e1n Crowe, described the\u00a0proposal as “a blundering mistake”. This leaked paper follows a commissioned report on\u00a0Third Level funding, and Crowe has stated that saddling students\u00a0with more debt is not a substitute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2428,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427\/revisions\/2428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}