AIT students focusing on social media in campaign

ATHLONE Institute of Technology (AIT) Students’ Union will focus on social media in an effort to encourage the introduction of publicly-funded education.
The decision by the Students’ Union follows a recent protest in Dublin by thousands of third level students who are calling for publicly-funded education. Some 250 AIT students were among those who marched to the Department of the Taoiseach.
The Cassells report on third-level funding includes three proposals on third-level funding, one of which is the 'Study now, pay later’ option. As part of this, students would get loans while in college which would leave them facing loan repayments when they reach a certain earnings level.
The President of AIT Students’ Union Kevin Ronan said students are vehemently opposed to this proposal and are strongly in favour of a publicly-funded system.
“When you mention the idea of a €20,000 debt leaving college students are shell-shocked at the prospect,” he said.
He said there are no immediate plans for further protests but the campaign will continue.
“We need to kick the campaign on further. We will be launching online videos here at AIT encouraging students to contact their local TDs about this,” he said.
“Viral is the way for the message to go through. It will focus on telling people what they can do about this and to encourage people to get on the phone to their elected representatives,” he said.
He said it is important that parents of future students are engaged in this as decisions made in the short-term will affect people in the long-term.