How has education financing reform become an issue for Irish households?

A Concise History of Education Financing in Ireland

• Prior to 1996, undergraduate education in Ireland was not free with students paying annual tuition fees for their third level education.

• Following the introduction of the Free Fees Initiative in 1996, tuition became state funded resulting in much larger numbers of students attending college having only to pay registration fees.

• From 2008-2015 however, the registration fees increased substantially to roughly €3,000 per annum.

• There are ongoing discussions about the feasibility of the Free Fees Initiative with an eye on alternative models of tertiary funding.

There are seven universities, 14 institutes of technology and seven colleges of education in Ireland. At present roughly 115,000 undergraduate students attend these institutions, up from just 18,200 in 1965.

At present the majority of undergraduate students benefit from the Free Fees Initiative which sees the exchequer pay tuition fees on their behalf. Prior to the introduction of the initiative in 1996, undergraduate education in Ireland was not free. This resulted in relatively low numbers of students attending third-level education. Public funding, at the time, was around 70% for third-level education spending requiring students to pay fees averaging €3,000.

After the 1996 government spending increased to 84% of overall expenditure. Fees were all but abolished, and students only had to pay nominal registration fees. This continued up until 2008. However, the effects of the financial crisis saw a dramatic threefold increase in the registration fees with students very soon paying upwards of €3,000. The increases became contentious with some university heads calling the current system ‘fees by any other name’. What will happen next, is up for discussion and an ongoing public debate.

Further reading:

Department of Education and Science, A Brief Description of the Irish Education System, 2004, p. 17.

Investing in National Ambition A Strategy for Funding Higher Education, March 2016.

Universities admit student charge is an unofficial fee, Irish Independent, 29 January 2010.

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