Lowry happy with UL decision to refund in-house accommodation fees to students

Having raised the issue of refunding student in-house accommodation fees with the University of Limerick in March, Deputy Michael Lowry has welcomed their decision to now do so.  He has also appealed to the providers of privately owned student accommodation to follow suit.

The Tipperary Independent TD has received confirmation that the Governing Authority of the University of Limerick (UL) has recommended the issuing of refunds for all students availing of rented accommodation on the UL campus.

Deputy Lowry, who had first raised this as a matter of fairness to students with the University in late March, stated to them at that time that students and their parents from his Tipperary constituency had contacted him to say that the University of Limerick was the only educational facility in Ireland that was not offering refunds to students relating to their on-campus accommodation. 

Deputy Michael Lowry

As students had been left without the option to continues their studies at the University once it closed due to Covid-19,  Deputy Lowry stated publicly at that time that be believed that all students should be refunded, ‘as a matter of principle and good faith’. 

Deputy Lowry stated  that he would now like to see privately owned student accommodation providers follow in similar vein by also coming to an arrangement with students, in light of the closure of Third Level Institutes in mid-March.