By Dara Bradley

There has been a surge in the numbers of students at NUI Galway who are on the verge of dropping out of their courses because of financial hardship, student leaders have warned.

NUI Galway’s Students Union Welfare Officer, Brian Grant told the Sentinel that more than 1,300 students at the third level institute have applied for additional financial assistance through the ‘last resort’ Student Assistance Fund (SAF).

The numbers applying for RAF, which is a European Union ‘hardship fund’ for students struggling to pay their food and other bills while in college, has more than doubled in three years, he said.

Mr Grant said many of those applying are on the verge of pulling out of university because their incomes are too low to get by.

The emergency assistance amounts to €1,200 and is paid to struggling students in addition to any third level grants they receive.

The EU funds the RAF, and some of €60,000 donated by college authorities to persuade the Students Union to abandon RAG week this year, is redistributed to ‘hard up’ students through RAF. Half of the fund must be spent on ‘general’ students with 20% earmarked to help students’ childcare costs and 30% has been ring-fenced for Access Course students, who are usually mature or from disadvantaged backgrounds.

NUIG Students Union President, Emmet Connolly said roughly one in every 12 students who are studying full-time courses at the university is struggling financially and has been forced to apply for RAF.
“This is not people applying for money to buy video games – this is people who are struggling with day-to-day expenses such as food,” said Mr Connolly.

Mr Grant agreed and said most of the cases are very real – they are due to reductions in maintenance grants and a rise in fees following the last budget.

In 2011, registration fees rose by €500 to €2,000 per annum and maintenance grants were cut to about €3,000 on average, which is roughly €90 per week. It has been flagged by Government that the registration fees could rise by a further €500 in the upcoming budget, a move that is being resisted by students and their families.

“The numbers applying have more than doubled in three years,” said Mr Grant.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel