Student Costs

Rents are 29% less than two years ago

It costs an average of €830 per month in college away from home and €421 for those at home.

Over a nine-month college year – it costs an average of €7,470 for a student living away from home and €3,789 for those living at home.

There is in addition a €1,500 student registration fee – €1,740 in UCD in toto.

For schools

There is a back-to-school means-tested grant of €200 per pupil for primary schools for eligible people and €305 at the secondary school for 160,000 applicants. The average family is spending €700 per child to send children back to school. The state has a budget of €82 million for clothing and footwear allowance this year. 70% of primary schools had book rental schemes.

To qualify, the means test is a couple’s income must not exceed €563 to
€653 weekly depending on the number of children in the family. This is administered through the community welfare officer.

A bank of Ireland Life survey found that schoolbooks cost €185 at primary level, €329 at second level and €585 at third level. Uniforms cost €204 at primary level and €260 at secondary level.

An average primary school with 100 pupils has a deficit of €19,00 every year in its finances

The total cost of educating a child from primary to third level is about €70,000