The march will take place at one.

Over 5000 students are expected to attend a national demonstration march today to oppose the introduction of income-contingent student loans. The march will begin at 1pm at the Garden of Remembrance and participants will be marching towards the Department of the Taoiseach. The Union of Students in Ireland said the income-contingent loan scheme option is not a viable solution to third level funding as a graduate debt of over €20,000 will create a two-tiered system of higher education – those who can afford education and those who can’t and will become buried debt. The president of the USI said Annie Hoey warned that coming too close to the expectation of mass indebtedness of our young people, as seen in the UK, USA and Australia will create locked-in class systems and make upward mobility inaccessible, while moving life events (such as home-ownership) back by decades. Hoey added this will have a ripple effect of negativity on other societal platforms apart from education, such as the property market, and the economy. She also emphasised that 46% of all new college entrants were in receipt of a grant in the academic year of 2013/2014, according to SUSI reports, and the slashing of maintenance grants in the UK after bringing in an income contingent loan scheme should warn the public of the likely future of third level funding if loan schemes are introduced in Ireland. According to DCU Student Union, these are the changes that may come into effect if this is implemented.

• In the current publicly publicly funded scheme fees go from €3,200 to €250.
• In the Loan-Scheme, fees would go from €3,200 to €5,000 per year. SUSI grant will eventually disappear. Mature students, DARE, HEAR and part-time students will be affected most in their ability to access education.
• In the Loan-Scheme, fees are going to & will rise. Every country in the world where loans have been introduced, fees have risen.

You can find out more about the march here.