A letter from your Campaigns & Communications VP, I am writing to you in relation to the third level funding referendum that you will be asked to vote on this Tuesday and Wednesday. First of all, I should stress that this is the single most important policy vote the Union has ever had. In the lead up to and during the ‘stop fees’ campaign this November, we received a large amount of feedback demanding this question be put. Since that point, I have received numerous emails from students each week questioning our ‘Free Fees’ stance and saying that we simply no longer represent them based on this stance. That is why I feel it is so imperative at this point to put the question to students. However, it is equally important that you get out and vote, not voting at all can only be taken as a form of support for our current policy of free fees and so to not vote would be to strip yourself of your opportunity to have a say if you feel any differently. Democracy requires action and requires those with a vote to use it effectively. The choices when voting in this preferendum are clearly laid out, but perhaps still not overly clear. There are 5 choices. 1. Fully Exchequer Funded (current policy, ‘free fees’ ie Fully paid by the state from taxes) 2. Full Fees (every single penny paid up front by you upon the start of each year) 3. Graduate Tax (no upfront cash barrier, but with some contribution to the cost through an extra % of tax when you start earning) 4. Student Contribution Fee (a large contribution paid by students at the start of each academic year with some contribution from the state as well) 5. Student loan scheme (fees to be paid by a loan, with the student paying back the loan afterwards) Let me be clear, none of these systems are ideal. We face many challenges in the education sector. It is clear that the current system suits no one. The prohibitive charges upon entry of €2250 which is due to keep increasing keeps far too many students from lower socio-economic backgrounds out of our colleges and cutting supports such as the grant sees many of our friends unable to stay in college. However, a genuine lack of funding in the sector coupled with the limitations that the croke park agreement places on where cuts can be made (safe guarding the 80% of the budget made up by wages leaving the 20% made up by student services all too exposed.) leaves the quality of our education falling all the time. As your President rightly said in a recent article in the Irish Times, we are in serious danger of losing our status as a nation that produces top class graduates. Funding being choked from the sector is causing the quality of all of our degrees to fall continuously and we need to find a way to fix that. At the moment balance is hard to find with no simple answer, a system that takes more funding directly from the students leaves far too great an imbalance in equity of access to third level, your education should never depend on the size of your wallet. However, having a system in which funding is so stretched as to make quality suffer to the point that our degrees aren’t worth the paper they are printed on is not acceptable either. What is clear is whatever model of funding we choose going forward, our two main goals must endure, equity of access and quality of education. UCD SU has always been a proud leader in the fight for access to education and that cannot change as we face into a difficult and changing future. We must best serve not just ourselves but the next decade and generation of student who will follow us by ensuring that the quality and equity of access of their degree is in a much healthier condition than when we found it. The Argument really comes down to the following question.

Free Fees v Study now, Pay later v Fees There will forever be a great argument in favour of free fees, one which I have been proud to lead on your behalf this year and be a part of in my time in UCD. Graduates go on to pay higher taxes than non graduates and pay back their degree many times over over the course of their careers. Education should absolutely be a right and not a privilege. The doors to education should be completely open and in 1995 when the ‘Free Fees’ scheme was announced it surely represented the biggest win the student movement has ever seen and one we should be proud of and one which, if you return a decision that should continue as our policy, I will happily continue to fight for with pride. A system which ranks amongst its biggest failings too many people coming into third level, can only be regarded as a success. With the free fees argument there is a strong case to keep fees state funded and pressure that more of our Nations budget be apportioned to education, as the true silver bullet to economic downturn. There are many arguments in favour of ‘Study now, Pay later’ (ie Graduate tax / Student Loan scheme). Clearly our education system needs more funding, having a third level that is fully open to everyone but the quality of degree is next to worthless is simply not good enough for Irish graduates. What is clear is that we need to protect the next generation of students to come through our campus and keep the doors open, but keep our University a top class one, back in the top 100. The picture of the Irish economy for the next decade is a bleak one. Many arguments could be made that though free fees are idealistic, they simply no longer exist, fees exist in the form of the €2250 student contribution charge and they continue to rise. When deciding if free fees should still be our policy over the next 10 years it should really be asked if it is likely that this can be achieved. At what point does our constant steadfast policy on free education become a shackle behind which we are hurt again and again by Ministers of Education. The argument for presenting a realistic option which sees Graduates contributing to the cost of their degrees, but keeps no up front costs at point of entry to their degree is becoming increasingly worthy. Whether that should be a graduate tax or loan scheme really depends on the finer details of either. We do not know the intricate details of those plans yet so in the choice between those two options it is more of a preference of framework, what is clear is the ‘study now, pay later’ options allows the doors of education to remain open, whilst providing additional funding the sector so badly needs. By continuing to fight for free fees and refusing to hear the other options, do we hurt ourselves and those that will follow us, many will say we need to lead the discussion into a fair and equitable model that is sustainable and realistic in the current climate. The full up front fees or student contribution models have their arguments too, with either, more money could be invested immediately into the education system, with the ideal version of either being a sliding scale means test, with those who can afford to pay, paying and a well oiled, fair and robust grant scheme rebuilt to allow those who can’t afford to pay to avail of it. It is clear that this model will provide the much needed investment boost in education in a more immediate fashion, though much change would have to take place in our failing grant system. The Student Support Act, whilst a vast improvement on what we had before, certainly comes no where near an adequate or fair enough system to allow fees return without a massive overhaul. Regardless of preference, what is most important is that you get out and vote, you must make your voice heard on this issue as it could well affect the future of our education system for years to come. We have a huge voice on a national scale as UCD students, we need to use it. Is mise le meas,Brendan Lacey