Students in the North West are hoping the government will come up with a long-term plan for funding third-level institutions in the New Year.
It follows a number of reports this year all highlighting the crisis facing third level institutions in dealing with increasing student numbers and a decrease in funding.
Funding has fallen by over 33% in the last ten years.
An Oireachtas Committee is examining three sets of recommendations on how we could best fund the sector as outlined in the Cassells report earlier this year.
The Minister for Education Richard Bruton has committed to putting a sustainable funding system in place once that committee makes a decision in the coming months.
However, Dylan MacGowan, President of the Student’s Union at IT Letterkenny says that students should not be used as the main funding stream:
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