As the cost-of-living increases for Ireland’s young learners, is it surprising that many stay home?
It’s been three weeks since the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the first results from its ‘Growing up in Ireland’ report, and the results are shocking.
The survey, which documented the lives of a group of twenty-five-year-old respondents, found that nearly seventy percent still lived at home with their parents.
Sixty-two percent said this was due to financial reasons.
While the report focuses broadly on Ireland’s young adult demographic, it is undeniable that such a report also reflects the issues facing students.
Students unable to work full-time are among the most financially vulnerable in society, making them particularly hard-hit by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Jamie Mangan, Vice president for Wellbeing at DCU’s Student Union, believes the issue has only worsened in recent years.
“There are sometimes students who are working two, three, or four jobs, and they’re still applying to the Student Assistance Fund because they’re still not earning enough money to be able to support the cost-of – living.”
“A lot of our job now, which might be different from two, three four years ago, is how can we accommodate those people in the best way possible, so the shift has kind of gone a lot from, you know, running big nighttime events…to what can we do to engage the students that are commuting every day.”
In recent years, measures have been taken to alleviate the strain on students in the form of assistance funds and once-off cost-of-living measures.
These efforts, however, fail to tackle or even address the root cause of the issue. The rising cost of basic goods and housing in the country.
Students represent a country’s future workforce; they are taxpayers in training. A country that fails to support its students fails itself.
Cultivating a thriving student community is in the government’s interest, as it directly contributes to building a strong and capable future workforce.
Recent measures are a step in the right direction but they remain, for now, merely half-measures.
We know that the cost-of-living crisis is not a once-off event, so why should these payments be?
Long-term initiatives and sustainable support systems are needed to assist struggling students throughout their time in third-level education.
Despite what many think, students are a resilient bunch. While the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ report had much to say about how the group struggled, it also identified them as among the most educated in our country’s history.
This resilience, however, has its limits.
If we do not start helping and supporting Ireland’s student population in the face of this growing crisis, we risk losing them altogether.
