one major issue: the cost of living. 

 Students up and down the country have began college over the last few weeks a lot of whom share a common burden about the cost of everyday necessities like food and drink.

Students that have to move away from home for college face further challenges paying the high accommodation costs.

One question many are asking is, what is the Government doing to help students counteract this problem? 

SUSI grants are available for those who may not have the means for one reason or another to pay the price in full. However, this can be a battle to get, as you must go through many different steps to avail of the grant, like family earnings. 

In Ireland the average price for a home was between €198,000 to €682,334 last year, according to the latest CSO (Central Statistics Office) figures.  cso.ie 

As RTE reported Taoiseach Micheal Martin has confirmed that the upcoming budget comes with an increase in tax credit for renting in Ireland which will make renting slightly easier for students. RTE.ie 

Many students going through college only rely on their part-time income for expenses, with a minimum wage set at €14.94 an hour from 2027. Irish Independent 

Transport for ireland confirm an increase in Luas fares has also made commuting to and from college that bit more difficult. 

A recent survey conducted by the National Youth Council of Ireland  NYCI recently stated that 7 in 10 young adults will be forced to move away from Dublin for more affordable living. This comes off the back of the recent increase in a range of prices for 2027.

Dr Rory O’Farrell teaches at TUD in Grangegorman in the tourism and hospitality sector. He has previously worked in the science, technology and innovation directorate in OECD in Paris. (Tudublin.ie meet our lecturing staff)

Dr O’Farrell said the biggest problem now is rent for students as the range in prices for a college dorm is not feasible for a lot of families to keep up with rising costs. 

What Dr O’Farrell believes is that “colleges need more funding so that they can build more accommodation for students so that it renting affordable places is not as scarce”. 

The TUD lecturer did hint at plans to build more accommodation buildings near TUD, TUD were contacted to comment on the matter however they have declined in their right to reply to questions asked about the recent project surrounding student accommodation

He fears that because the cost of living is rising “students grades will suffer because of them needing to work more, giving them less time for studying, which will affect their grades with some failing to progress”. 

Even repeats, he said, would be a struggle financially, stating “the SUSI grant does not cover the cost of repeat exams or assignments”. 

Regarding the emigration side of things, DR O’Farrell is not too worried about that as he went on to say that “emigration is part of what happens with young people, they go and explore, a lot of young people in Ireland move to Australia only to find that rent is just as high if not higher over there”. He also claims that people who are in temporary situations “tend not to put up a fuss if they can see an end to it”.