Raking in the cash

DCU is a campus of contradictions.

The College View has obtained information that highlights how, even thought university bosses are calling for cutbacks, companies run by these same people are making huge profits.

While DCU President Ferdinand von Prondzynski is calling for spending slashes in the university in a recent email to staff, some on-campus businesses are raking in the cash.

Campus Residences Ltd, the company that has control over student accommodation on campus, made over €1.7million profit in 2007, according to its latest financial report. DCU secretary Martin Conry is on the company’s Board of Directors.

As well as this, in each of the last three years the company has made profits of over €1million, with earnings jumping by more than €600,000 between 2006 and 2007.

Making the profits all the more astounding is the rental costs of on-campus accommodation when compared to other Dublin universities.

A room in one of the Merville or Belgrove campuses in UCD, in the heart of the exclusive Dublin 4, will cost a student €3,952.

A similar room on campus in DCU will set you back between €4,165 for a standard Hampstead room up to €4,568 for a double room in College Park. A standard room on Trinity College’s campus will cost you just €3,907.

The soaring profits come as the economic outlook for DCU is bleak. In his email the President called upon all university departments to “identify savings, and to monitor costs” so as to assist the Budget Committee in delivering a “balanced budget for 2008-09”.

Von Prondzynski made the recommendations after assessing the effects that the recent national Budget would have on Irish universities.

In spite of the recent Budget announcement that third-level student registration fees are to increase to €1,500 next September, von Prondzynski has projected a 6-7% drop in revenue “in real terms” from these fees in 2009.

The new figure for registration fees, which represents a jump of approximately €600, was heavily criticised by organisations such as the USI and the Irish Federation of University Teachers.

The College View revealed last month that not a penny of the increase will go back into the universities.

In terms of capital allocations, von Prondzynski stated that most income under this heading “has already been earmarked for specific projects, and there is little sign here of ‘new’ money.”

Despite this he expressed hope that funds allocated to a minor works programme “may allow us to seek support for work on some of our buildings needing refurbishment.”

In his email, von Prondzynski concluded by saying that it is hoped to “maintain staffing levels” and “to the greatest possible extent be able to protect ‘frontline’ student support and services”.

Clubs and Societies Officer Eimear Fitzmaurice of DCUSU is unconvinced by these claims. “Protecting ‘frontline’ student services is clearly not the University’s highest priority,” she said.

“Consider the fact there is now a €10 charge for the Health Service here in the college. Putting a price on health in this current climate shows that the university is willing to put even the most basic needs of students on the line.”

She also cited the controversial decision by the university last year to discontinue the position of the Student Activities Officer as an example of their failure to properly consider the needs of students.

According to her: “The Student Activities Officer was a position that served as a solid foundation for clubs and societies to grow and develop.

“Extracurricular activities here on campus offer the main social outlet for many students and can play a role in giving students a sense of belonging at the University.

“In this way, the Student Activities position was a form of retention, which is particularly important at a time of high drop out rates and low attendance.

“Cutting this position indicates that the university is not working closely enough as a community in figuring out what services are essential,” she added.

Meanwhile, news of the large profits of Campus Residences Ltd. comes while many of the company’s residents still face maintenance problems in their apartments.

One third year student living in Hampstead had to notify Campus Residences Ltd. three times before getting her leaking shower fixed.

She said: “My shower leaked from day one. Every time I used it the carpet in my bedroom would be soaking wet.

“I complained on three different occasions. The first time I was told by maintenance I had been using my shower curtain wrong, the second time I was not here when maintenance came but it seemed as if nothing had been done.

“At this stage the carpet was damp and the smell in my room was disgusting. I went down again finally and I got a call that evening from Campus Res apologising because they had found a leak in my shower this time,” she added.

President Von Prondzynski said that the profit from the company is being spent on repaying loans, and will not be used to help the college in the economic downturn.

He also added that none of the directors of the companies, including some DCU chiefs, are receiving any “fees or any other financial benefit”.

He said: “A significant proportion of the residences were funded by loans, and the business model adopted envisaged a repayment of those loans through the profits from the rental business.

“Until the loans are repaid, the profits from the company will have to be allocated to those repayments.”