More local teens 'staying at home' for third level

The shortage of accommodation for third level students appears to be prompting more local teenagers to stay at home and study in Athlone IT, according to the principal of the town's largest secondary school.

Athlone Community College principal Eileen Donohoe said it was apparent that the dearth of housing was causing concern for a lot of students heading to third level.

"The big worries for students are accommodation and costs," she said. "We’ve seen a trend in the last few years, and again this year, that quite a number of students are looking at AIT, where there are excellent courses.

"Years ago, before the accommodation crisis, many students wouldn’t look at AIT on their doorstep because they wanted to get away from home and be independent and all of that.

"The reality is, you have super courses out in AIT and you have no accommodation costs. Of course you have expenses, but it’s nothing compared to having to live away from home."

Ms Donohoe said several other Community College students had told her they were planning to study in Galway and commute there for classes while continuing to live at home. 

"It’s sad to see students at 18 years of age - when they should be excited and happy - worrying about 'where am I going to live?' or 'I won’t like the accommodation' or whatever.

"To me, that’s a sad reflection on the situation that exists at the moment. You can only wonder how parents are feeling, particularly if they have more than one child in college. 

"It must be a huge worry and a huge challenge for them," she commented.

Looking ahead to the new school term, Ms Donohoe said there would be 248 students starting first year in Athlone Community College. A total of over 1,100 students are to attend the school in the coming year.

One of the difficulties the principal experienced over the summer was recruiting teachers, and she said it was clear there was now a significant shortage of second-level teaching staff.

"There’s a massive shortage in second level teachers, in all areas," she said. "In the last three to four years it was very evident in the languages area but now it’s gone right across the board into maths and sciences."

She said one step toward addressing this would be to end the two-tier payment system, which sees teachers recruited since 2011 being paid less than colleagues hired before then.

"(The recent recruits) have the same expenses as everyone else. They are highly qualified, a long time in college, and suddenly they’re in staff rooms sitting beside somebody who’s on a totally different salary. It’s very wrong," she said.