According to new plans being examined by the Government, graduates could be paying off their student loans until they are 33.
If these plans were to go ahead, graduates may have to pay €160 a month. Is this fair?
Education consultant John Walshe says that graduates in other countries are paying a lot more than that. The plan would work by getting graduates who earn more money to pay more, and those who earn less "wouldn't pay quite as much."
Annie Hoey, President of the Union of Students of Ireland, thinks it's a bad idea as most graduates simply can't afford it: "It's crazy money. Those are serious, lifelong consequences."
Annie would like to see a situation where students don't have to take out loans, but John says that the alternative to a loans scheme with higher fees would be "to call on the taxpayer to invest a lot more."
Listen to the full interview below:
