A Dublin medical student’s Susi grant doesn’t cover half of petrol costs it takes to travel to college.
Evelyn Flynn, a final year medical student from Athboy in County Meath commutes to college and placement.
She pays €80 for one tank of petrol to do her for a week which is needed to get to college placements in hospitals but she only receives €33.75 from her weekly Susi maintenance grant.
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Evelyn lives at home because she is priced out of Dublin accommodation and because she can be put on placement anywhere in Ireland, it’s not worth paying to live in the capital.
She told Dublin Live: “It’s the straw that broke the camel's back for me, the cost of living has been rising so much these past couple of years and the rise of petrol prices in recent months.
“I don’t have a choice with food and all the other essential living items, you can find alternative cheaper options. But the distance I’ve to travel to college hasn’t changed and I can't do anything about it. There's no viable public transport alternative for me so I just have to drive, you can’t substitute it like beans on toast.
“There’s commuters who have been affected and people on grants, it varies, it’s meant to fund your essentials for college like books and stationery to covering your petrol. I’m in final year medicine and there’s a good chunk of us holding down one or two jobs to meet the cost of living."
Evelyn said many students in Dublin have to choose between having a car or living in the capital.
“Partly because we move around so much for placement, it’s hard, every six weeks you could be in a new location and you have to commute there. So you’re not at an advantage living in Dublin, you could be commuting to Drogheda or Waterford," she continued.
“It’s either the car or live in Dublin for those of us on hospital placement in college. The car always takes priority for a lot of people.
“We start so early in the morning and you’re moving around so often. Public transport isn’t an option, there’s not any good public transport links. On my last placement I started at 6:30am each morning.
“There’s no bus that goes from Athboy to Beaumont hospital to get me there at that time, you need a car. Even if you live in Dublin the buses won’t get you there on time if you’re commuting by public transport.”
The cost of living has always been a factor in access to third level education and that the lack of investment in public transport and education grants aren't meet increasing costs of living, according to Evelyn.
She said: “The public transport links should give people a cheaper option and that’s from an environmental standpoint. I don’t want to be in my car every day, it’s not good for the environment but there’s not any other option for me.
“The student grant system, Susi, hasn't had a full review. The changes are a long, long time coming. They need the Susi system to meet the cost of living for students and make it viable for us to go to college.”
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