Call to end ‘free fees’ perk for university staff children

Date Published: 30-Apr-2012

By Dara Bradley

Student leaders at NUI Galway say the practice whereby university staff are entitled to have their children’s college fees paid for by the State is an “outdated perk” that should be discontinued.

Last year, 94 staff members at NUIG availed of long-established perk that entitles their children to be educated for free. The fee remission scheme is afforded to full-time staff members who are permanent since before September 2002.

NUI Galway confirmed that 94 staff availed of the perk last year and that more than €185,000 was foregone by the university as a result of staff members’ children studying at NUIG. In addition, more than €25,000 was spent by NUIG so that children of staff could study at other colleges.

The information about several universities, including NUIG, was obtained by the Irish Examiner, which reported that the vast majority of the perks claimed relate to undergraduate registration fees and postgraduate fees.

NUIG Student Union President, Emmet Connolly, said the perk was outdated and the money should be diverted into education. “It is my view that this is an outdated and unnecessary perk and that the money could be better spent elsewhere on grants,” he said.

Mr Connolly said the union didn’t have a stance on the matter because up until now it was believed that the free education perk for children of staff was an ‘urban myth’.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel