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College life is fine - it's the working, commuting, finding somewhere to live, and everything else that's tough

'University is wonderful - but after coming to Ireland, there's so many other challenges at the same time to stress over'

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Aina Do Bang

05:00, 19 Aug 2026

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Dublin City University (DCU) (Image: Collins Agency, Dublin)

I came to Ireland for a masters in journalism after about three years in the UK doing my undergraduate and then two gap years. The process to come to Ireland was both confusing and harder than me and my sister, who came with me - we didn't know if we'd even be able to enter the country.

We're both Spanish, so there were no visa regulations holding us back, only a housing crisis that we had had no idea was this pervasive. I'd spoken to some Irish people before, and they'd warned us, but we thought, Surely it couldn't be worse than the crisis in the UK!

Fortunately, a stroke of luck and communication with a student accommodation complex let us into Ireland. Even before my studies began, my time here in Dublin had been affected by an external crisis.

But the overall university experience itself was wonderful. DCU, my university, had strong professors who were experts in their fields. The facilities were well-equipped to support both our theoretical and practical learning.

And the pace of the course, though rigorousespecially for a class where the majority didn't have a background in journalismhelped push us towards the right direction. As an Indian student in the course told me, I wouldn't complain too much about my student life, because I got to meet a lot of lovely people and made some useful connections, plus my professors were super helpful as well.

My own experience of the course itself was positive. It was everything around it that caused undue stress. And soon, I found I was not the only international student who had been faced with the unexpected not only financial but also mental cost of studying here.

A fellow Spanish student in my class I came to know here told me how she was dealing with housing issues from the beginning.

She wanted to stay in Ireland longer than her course, so at some point during her studies, she was juggling school, also looking for a house as well as looking for a part-time job.

The student from India in my class also told me how more than half of your money is eaten up by your rent, leaving very little for your personal expenses and sustenance. He found himself needing to work part-time. However, because of visa restrictions, distance, and scheduling, securing a source of income became a bit difficult.

Fortunately, though, he had a relatively easy experience in his first round of house hunting, and then his second, due to some good connections here in Dublin.

Both of them had no issues with the course itself and found it a lovely experience, with professional development well-supported by the school. And a fellow Irish student, who had studied abroad, told me about how she was grateful that the Irish education system isnt as full on as others as I could work and still perform well in school once I built a schedule that I committed to.

But facing rising costs and lack of housing does seem to have added additional stress to what was otherwise a good time.

Irish students themselves are having to face a university experience affected by such outside worries. Those without a home in Dublin must scramble to take whatever housing they can get. Often times, people from a less well-to-do background need to take whatever is available within their budget, which often comes with poor living conditions and a bit of distance from their school.

And then there are the commutes, largely carried by Dublins bus system. While over the years, it has seen good progress and expansion, there are still statistics showing how students social lives are adversely impacted by long commutes.

John Cullinan of the University of Galway and Darragh Flannery of the University of Limerick conducted a study that showed how long commutes were negatively affecting engagement and grades among undergraduate students. They also cited how people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were disproportionately influenced by the effects of log commutes.

For international students such as the Indian in my course, the commuting experience here was even better than the one back at home. For myself, it was no different than commuting in the UK, and I actually found the Leap card system much more efficient and comfortable than the northeast UKs bus system.

And for the other students in my course, including myself, the commuting overall didn't seem to be an issue. But that's 22 masters students in a sea of thousands across Dublin, where statistics do show how Irish students are increasingly having to commute, sometimes not by choice.

However, to put it in the words of my fellow Spanish DCU classmate, the uni experience is more than just going to school and studying. It's also about all the different parts of life. It does make you face what you've taken for granted living at home, but it also lets you realize your own abilities and strengths as you find that you have to tackle living on your own, self-care, and socializing alongside school.

And, to be honest, I think Dublin is a good and easy place to start a new life, she said, citing its wealth of shops and resources.

Universities have changed, as more students equals less spaces in university accommodation and rising costs compel students to either seek financial support from family/loans or find a part-time job, sometimes both as in my case. There's nothing wrong with students experiencing both academic and adult life, with the financial and social pressures that come with it.

The problem only comes when one overly affects the other. A student's primary job, after all, is still studying. And while there's nothing wrong with commuting troubles, working part-time, managing finances, and house-huntingin fact, I'd say to learn how to manage these things in a somewhat safe setting is quite positive, and Dublin is a good place to learn itI wonder when they become an academically-debilitating burden more than a learning experience.

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