Commuting is having a substantial impact on students' academic performance, financial security and wellbeing.
A new survey from the University of Limerick Students Union found 60% of commuter students travelled more than one hour each way to campus during the 2024/2025 academic year.
Based on responses from over 1,000 students, 97.7% reported commuting negatively impacted their academic performance - while 56.4% spent €40 or more per week on commuting costs.
Dervla Ryan, Diversity & Inclusion Officer at UL Students’ Union, told Behind the Story that the idea for the survey came from a commuter hub initiative that they run.
"We run a free breakfast initiative [giving] free breakfast to all students," she said.
"It was in response to commuters in particular – the previous officer team noticed that students were sleeping in cars.
"There had nowhere to go in the morning and obviously the cost-of-living crisis, the price of food has been astronomical and has only grown over the years".
Ms Ryan said she did the survey in response to "horrific stories and students pleading for help."
"When you’re a young person trying to lobby for change, it helps to have some concreate data to back it up".
Ms Ryan said long commutes are becoming the norm for many.
"I started my undergraduate degree in 2018 at the University of Limerick, and I was very fortunate that I was able to find a home," she said.
"Commuting would have been considered a rarity, or it would have been a choice to save money.
"Now it’s absolutely not an option for most people anymore – they have to do it, they have no other choice if they want access to education".
Later, Lucy Fisher of the Financial Times joins Fran and Laura to discuss the pressure on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States last year.
"This really turns up the heat on his judgement in pushing ahead with that controversial appointment at the time, in spite of knowing more detail – if not all the detail – about Mandelson’s links with a convicted paedophile," she said.
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