Morris asks Tipperary County council to support publically financed Third Level Education

I was delighted that Tipperary county council supported two motions put forward by myself Cllrs
Dunne, Carey and Doran about third level education at this weeks council meeting.

My colleagues and I recently met with the Union of Students of Ireland who asked us to ask the
Government to take Option 1 of the Cassells expert report which reports that Third level Education
should be funded by the exchequer. This is as opposed to an increased dependence by the state on
student contributions (which in reality is parent contributions due to lack of summer jobs for
students) to fund the Third level education sector as the State attempts to back out of funding the
Higher level education which has seen 10 out of 14 Institute of Technology colleges in serious
financial difficulties. The word is that this Government is considering the Student loan system which
has been a disaster for young people all over the world and will certainly see college degree fees
explode like in England where a 4 year degree of 4000 euros in 1998 before the introduction of
student loans increased by a massive 478% to 37,000 by 2016 after the introduction of student loans
as students and their parents had the burden of financing the Higher Education system put on their
shoulders as the state walks away from their responsibilities . This inevitably will see a massive
reduction in the amount of students going on to Third Level Education. I was delighted to see that
the motion was unanimously supported by Tipperary County Council

I also had another linked motion co-signed by Cllrs Carey , Dunne and Doran which asked Tipperary
county council to ask the government to extend childrens allowance for parents who have
children in Third Level education but have no access to grants due to their before tax earnings . The
extended childrens allowance could be capped at a level which will not be extended to those with
very high earnings The reason that I have put this motion together is because middle class workers
have no access to grants at a time when Third level fees and indeed accommodation is becoming
increasingly expensive putting serious pressure on families abilities to send their children forward to
third level education. I believe that extending the childrens allowance will help middle class families
to send their children forward for Third level education. The motion was unanimously supported by
the Council and I asked that it be sent to all other County and City councils for support before
sending it to the Government for consideration.

Yours sincerely Cllr. Samie Morris 16/06/17 0872859125