Deputy Michael Lowry has received a response from the President of the University of Limerick, following his appeal for fairness for students, [See Here], latter who had paid rent or entered into rent contracts for accommodation.
The Deputy, in his representations to Limerick University, had stated that students and their parents, from his constituency had contacted him to say that the University is the only educational facility in Ireland that is not offering refunds to students for their on-campus accommodation. Lowry had stated publicaly that be believed that students should be refunded ‘as a matter of principle and good faith’.
In his response, the University President acknowledges that they have had queries in relation to the refund of accommodation fees “where a student has chosen to vacate in the current difficult circumstances”. He says “UL is in a process of quantifying the financial impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. It seems likely at this stage, taking into account that additional Government funding has not yet been provided to the University, that a significant deficit will be incurred in both the current year and next year.”
“We will continue to balance our limited resources to ensure our own sustainability and to support public health and associated challenges mindful of the legislative requirement to act within our significant but limited budget. In some cases, this might mean that while we are sympathetic to certain requests, now we cannot devote budget until we have sight of a funding source which may be forthcoming at a later date.” he stated.
“We are working with our regulator/funders to assess the financial impact of the third party and our own needs; to understand what may be possible to fund in the future and until that work is complete we cannot make a commitment to refund accommodation fees.” he concluded
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