What are the other biggest issues students are facing as they head back to college?

Yeah, well, the cost of college crisis that we're facing is a varied issue and there are a lot of different contributing factors.

Accommodation continues to be one of the biggest contributors to the rising cost of college.

We've seen that in reports published in recent weeks.

it's 500 euro more expensive this year to go to university than it was last year and that's been driven in large part by the accommodation crisis but costs are rising across the board only last week we've heard yesterday even we've seen an announcement that the cost of commuting is going to go up for students all around the country which is an absolute disgrace.

It's seeing students being punished again for government failures.

Those same students who have to commute because they can't find suitable accommodation near their college are now being hit in the pocket once again come January.

Given everything that you've just said there and everything we've been talking about this evening on the show, what are the biggest things you want to achieve during your term?

So how, how are, how does your platform work? What is this, what's the, what's the kinda the secret sauce for Veroskills and, and to connecting people to opportunities and things like that?

Yeah.

So our whole thing is we are able to, we are able to use the latest and greatest, you know, AI models to be able to evaluate, you know, in the same time period your large Adecco, Randstad kinda staffing agency would, would evaluate 1,000 candidates, might take them a month, you know, to do that, that level of candidates for, you know, say Honda or one of these companies.

We can do that in hours.

And so because of that, we're able to match candidates and employers far greater because we're looking at so much more detail that makes that individual candidate a great worker and, uh, you know, it, it, maybe they need to start in a more entry-level position but then build their career up to where they can be a master or a journeyman, uh, level worker.

Um, and so we use, you know, AI to conduct hour-long interviews with the candidates.

We're doing live evaluations on the call where we're saying, "Okay, you're a plumber.

One or the other.

Maybe we'll go into the camera thing and regardless of if they kind of want to do it more as a hobby or two or three or go into professionally taking pictures, maybe give us a couple bottom end kind of two or three head all the way up into like maybe what you use on a daily basis.

That is such a great question, Mitch.

And honestly, I feel like it's a burning question for most people.

They want to make the investment.

Tell me what to buy.

The real fact of the matter is I'm not that big of a camera guy.

I'm not a camera nerd, I should say.

To Photoshop or to not Photoshop? And where do you think that very fine line of too much or not enough is?

Does that figure tally with what you've been hearing?

Hi, Rachel.

Thanks for having us on.

Yeah, absolutely.

These high costs of college is something that we've been hearing from our members with years, and it's only been worsening year upon year, as is reflected in the reports.

It's not surprising to see that accommodation remains the single highest cost for students.

We know that there is a significant shortfall in purpose-built student accommodation.

Is that what you've been finding?

Like what?

What's the barrier? Well, I think first we need to acknowledge that there's an affordability crisis all across the sector in higher education, but one of the big ones and one that you've highlighted already is rents and rental costs.

We know that students all across the country are battling extortionate rents alongside a spiralling cost of living.

I know rents in Dublin are some of the most expensive in Europe and our students all across the country are struggling every year to find affordable accommodation.

Like what little student accommodation is available for people, it's far outside of the reach of ordinary students and ordinary people.

I mean, we saw a new accommodation open last month, I think, in Galway with basic rooms starting from €300 per week.

That's not affordable for anyone.

Do you ever hear of students dropping out of college because of high costs, Daniel?