Tuesday, November 11th 2014 | uccexpress.ie | Volume 18 | Issue 6
Students from the SVP Society pictured with Michael Murphy during last week's Homeless Week.
Image by: Emmet Curtin.
College grants additional €10k to Hardship Fund Barry Aldworth | News Editor
As part of its efforts to offer assistance to students going through financial difficulties, the UCC Students’ Union has secured an additional €10,000 from the university for the Student Hardship Fund. The Student Hardship Fund is a collaborative venture between UCCSU and the university and this year has seen an increased contribution towards the fund from UCC. This deal was initially negotiated by previous Welfare Officer, David Berry, and was finalised during the summer by Berry’s successor, Cian Power. For Power the fund offers additional assistance
to students who, without it, would be forced to consider dropping out of college, stating; “The Student Hardship Fund is a service which is administered by the Welfare Officer and is used annually to assist students who may, unfortunately, be victims of extreme financial difficulties during their time in college. “The fund is a 100% confidential service and has had significant success in providing a means for struggling students to remain in college and to help them financially.”
Power believes that the additional funding came at the ideal time as students face the challenge of adapting to the introduction of semsterisation.
“The unfortunate reason this fund exists is the growing financial difficulties that many students find themselves facing,” continued Power. “The Students’ Union, the University Budgetary Advisor and many other departments of the university have come together to ensure that student wellbeing is the main focus of this project and will continue to be.
“One of the areas that this additional funding is targeted at is ensuring that no students are facing increased financial strain as a result of the semesterisation project.” This year a housing shortage across the country has left students facing increasing pressure, as Evan Healy, UCC’s Budgetary Advisor, recently
highlighted. Healy noted that there had been a 20% increase in the number of students seeking his advice, adding that this demand was across the board as students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels felt increasing financial strain. Furthermore, a recent study commissioned by the Bank of Ireland found a significant gap between what students were receiving from the traditional college grant and the costs they faced. The project found that the average cost of sending a student to college in Ireland exceeds €13,000 per annum. Despite this, the same study found that the average student’s grant fails to cover even 25% of this figure, coming in at €3,025.
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