Personal Finance

Barry McCall highlights the cost associated with education and St. Patrick's Credit Union how their loans can help lower the financial burden this Christmas.

The value of education

When back in the early 90's the then education minister Niamh Breathnach announced that she was abolishing third level fees, she was widely lauded for the initiative. However, as usual with such things, the devil was in the detail.

All that was abolished were tuition fees. Registration and exam fees remained, as did the numerous other costs associated with going to college. So, anyone who is earning above the statutory thresholds for receiving Higher Education Grants from their local authority still has to foot the bill for all of these.

Assessing the cost of going to college can be quite a difficult exercise, as the cost of living obviously depends on each individual student. For example, spending on travel and entertainment during weekends and longer breaks can vary widely from student to student. However, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) has come up with some approximate estimates of the monthly living expenses of a student living away from home.

These include rent of a shared house or flat, which is given as an average of €353 per month; public utilities, including electricity and gas at €33; food at €168; travel (the cost of a monthly commuter ticket) €80; books and other academic requirements at €37; clothes, laundry, medical, expenses and so on at €48; mobile phone at €31; and social life, other travel, and miscellaneous expenses at €117.

This gives a total of €867 per month or €7,803 per annumfor the eight and a half month academic year - and it doesn't include the €800 or so for the college registration fee or nontuition fee that non-grant-holders still have to pay each year.

Interestingly, if the student chooses to opt for lodgings, the expenses will come down slightly by about €300 per annum, so the loss of privacy may not be worth it.

DIT also estimates the cost of going to college for students living at home. This is more difficult to estimate, but the figures produced are: contribution to bills €31 a month; food €65; travel (monthly commuter ticket) €80; books and other academic requisites €37; clothes, medical expenses and so on €48; social life, other travel, and miscellaneous expenses €117.

This indicates a total cost for a student living at home of €409 per month or €3,681 per annum. Again the €800 for the college registration fee must be added if the student doesn't qualify for a grant.

And things get worse if the student is going to one of the private colleges or doesn't qualify for free fees because they already have a degree. This will add anywhere between €3,000 and €5,000 a year to the cost.

Help may be at hand, however. Higher education grants are available to people from families with total annual income of less than around €50,000 a year. These grants will pay for the tuition fees as well contributing more than €3,000 to maintenance costs.

If you don't qualify for the grant you can still claim tax relief at the standard rate on the tuition fees for undergraduate courses of at least two years duration. The relief applies to fees up to a maximum of €5,000, which means it is worth up to €1,000 to the taxpayer.

The relief can be claimed by any individual who pays fees to third level colleges on behalf of themselves, their spouse, child or other person in respect of whom the claimant is a legal guardian.

But this still leaves quite a hefty bill to pay. If you haven't been able to put money aside in savings to cover the cost of your children going to college or indeed a part-time course for yourself, why not consider an education loan from the Credit Union? At just 6.5% interest, this is a very cost effective way of spreading the cost of the course over a more manageable period.

Contact ESB Credit Union for further details.

St. Patricks Credit Union - Christmas Loan

If you are planning on doing your Christmas shopping in the next couple of weeks, then now is the time to get your loan from St. Patrick's Credit Union (ESB Staff) Ltd.

The numerous reasons why are as follows:

• Cheapest personal lending rate in the country at just 6.5% p.a.


• You can top-up your current loan balance. No need to wait until your current loan is cleared.


• You can make lump sum payments without incurring any penalty or charges.


• Flexible repayment terms.


• Fast and efficient application process.


• Free Loan Insurance Cover (for members under 70 years) which will clear your loan balance in full in the event of your death.

Beat the Christmas shopping rush and get a loan now from the Credit Union. You can apply online in the Member's Area on our website www.stpatrickscu.ie or you can post in an application form.

Remember, if you do your shopping with cash it is easier to keep account of what you are spending.

However, if you decide to do the shopping with your Credit Card and are unable to clear the full balance when the payment date falls due; then get a loan from the Credit Union to clear it and avoid paying excessive interest.