Anne Conlon and her husband, Frank, come from a suckler farm near Ballyvary, Co Mayo. The funding available through SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) is vital when it comes to sending multiple children to college during the same year, according to Anne who had three children in college during the 2016/2017 academic year.

“SUSI is a massive support for a family, especially where only one parent is able to work. It would be hugely difficult to send anyone to college without it,” Anne explained.

“We had a son, William, and a daughter, Norah, in college in Dublin and another son, Noel, in college in Galway in 2016. You can’t draw straws to decide which child goes to college. If it wasn’t for the support, they would have had to take out big student loans, which would have put them under massive pressure when they finished college.

“Having the entrance fee covered, in particular, takes a lot of stress off parents. With entrance fees of €3,000/child and then getting a maintenance support of about €3,000 each over nine months, or about €330/month, the support that we got was worth about €18,000 to our family, which can’t be underestimated.

Anne continued: “Norah is still in college in Dublin, while both Noel and William are working in Dublin. If they had to be paying back a student loan along with paying rent it would be very difficult.