With inflation eroding grants, it is very important to work out all the financial implications of going to college. Anne Byrne reports

There may be no fees charged to most college students, but there is a huge cost associated with going to college.

Each year, Barry Kehoe, the diligent director of student affairs in DCU, compiles a very useful cost-of-living guide. The most recent figures show the monthly cost of living away from home comes to €812 (£640) while those who remain at home will have to budget for €404 (£318).

The total cost for a student living away from home in self-catering shared accommodation for the eight-and-a-half month academic year is almost €7,000 (£5,440). For those who stay at home the total cost is €3,433 (£2,703). A further non-tuition fee, in the region of €400, must be added for non-grant holders attending certain institutions.

As Kehoe points out, the total cost-of-living figures are approximate. Some students will spend more on travel or food, while others may splurge on books or pay a higher rent. While the total spend seems like a lot of money, Kehoe says these are minimum amounts for survival with a small portion allocated to social life.

And students are entitled to enjoy some social life. In fact, they should be encouraged to do so, if they are to enjoy an all-round education, he says. Lack of money means more and more students work on a part-time (or even a full-time) basis. This means balancing lectures, study time and work with very little time left for enjoying the college's sports facility or student centre.

Maintenance grants were paid to 45,534 students in 1999/2000, the latest year for which figures are available. This represents 39 per cent of the total 115,696 students.

The income limits for maintenance grants are quite low. For instance, in 2001/2002 the income limit for a full grant, for those with less than four dependent children, was €27,316 (£21,513). This increases slightly for those with four or more dependent children. However, while this means many PAYE workers will be excluded, the self-employed and farmers fare better. A Higher Education Authority report, published last year, showed that 25 per of students from farms of 200 acres or more received assistance at a university or institute of technology in 1998.

Of course, qualifying for a grant is one thing. Living on it is another. In an internal memorandum circulated to college staff, Kehoe notes that the maximum grant rates of €2,390 (£1,882), for non-adjacent students, and €956 (£753), for adjacent students, "amount to 35 per cent and 28 per cent respectively of the actual cost of living. For an 18-year-old living at home, the higher education grant is a quarter of what he or she would receive on the dole."

Kehoe continues: "The mere index-linking each year of the normal grant is in constrast to the 1995 White Paper on Education, which states that priority will be given to increasing the real value of maintenance grants 'as futher resources become available'. If 'further resources' have not been available in the last few years, it is hard to imagine when they will ever be. In a 1997 survey of 12 European countries, Ireland was shown to have the worst system of student fiancial support - and this seems set to continue for at least another year."

THE National Development Plan provides for a third-level access fund totalling £95 million over the period 2000-2006. Top-up grants (an additional £1,118 for those on full non-adjacent rate and an additional £447 for those on the full adjacent rate) are available to disadvantaged applicants, but the income threshold of £7,400 is extremely low. Kehoe says the creation of a second scheme is a "further fragmentation of our system of student financial support".

Colm Jordan, education officer with USI, says the massive shortfall between the grant and the cost of living can lead to student dropout. The union is campaigning for maintenance grants to be increased to the level of social welfare payments. The introduction of top-up grants means the Government has conceded that the grant is insufficient, he says.

Last year, USI mobilised 20,000 students to take to the streets of towns and cities around Ireland. This year, the grants campaign will focus on the forthcoming general election. "If all of the colleges were one big constituency, they could elect 33 TDs. Students make up just over 20 per cent of the electorate. We have facilitated students to register and now we are asking them to pledge that they will use their votes in favour of those candidates who prioritise student issues, including grants," says Jordan.