Bank of Ireland introduces unique discounted college fees loan for parents of third level students

Bank of Ireland has introduced a new discounted personal loan option for parents of third levels students to cover the cost of annual registration fees. This unique discounted loan at 9.9% APR can provide funding to cover registration fees and is repayable over 12 months.

Third level college registration fees were increased from €1,500 to €2,000 in the last Government budget, putting parents and students under greater financial pressure. Every subsequent dependent student registered by one family is charged registration fees of €1,500.

Loan applicants must be parents, relatives or guardians of third level students and the loan option is designed to ease the burden of paying a lump sum for fees by allowing borrowers phase the spend over 12 months instead. Proof that the loan is intended to fund one or more third level student registration fees is required.

Commenting on the initiative, Kealan O’Reilly, Loans Product Manager, Bank of Ireland Consumer Lending Business, said: “Bank of Ireland has always been at the forefront in delivering meaningful and discounted products and services to Ireland’s students and graduates. We are very conscious that in the current economic climate Ireland’s future generation of employees, but also their parents and guardians, need initiatives such as this to enable them continue to access third level education in order to up-skill for a changed environment.

Student income has reduced and there is an emerging trend of parents having to provide even more financial support than in recent years. This was borne out in recent Bank of Ireland research with students when over half said that they relied on their parents to fund their registration fees. There is an estimated 156,000 full-time students in third level education in Ireland today.”, he concluded.

Bank of Ireland also offers student loans for those students that wish to fund their own registration fees. These loans are also available at a discounted rate of 11.9% APR.

ENDS

19th May 2011