SETU spends almost €3 million providing student counselling appointments since 2021

South East Technical University (SETU) spent more than €800,000 providing free counselling appointments to students in 2024 alone, with the university coughing up nearly €3 million since 2021.

The SETU Student Counselling Service offers psychological counselling to registered full-time students at both the Waterford and Carlow campuses and has provided nearly 9,000 appointments to students since 2021.

The waiting period for these free counselling appointments remained steady during the 21/22 and 22/23 academic years at 4.6 days and 4.1 days respectively. However, following a reduction in workforce at the service from 14 to 11 staff members, the waiting list more than doubled to nine days in the 23/24 academic year.

These waiting times are in line with those in other universities nationwide, with some universities, such as University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, having waiting times as long as 10 to 14 days, and 28 respectively in 2021/22, according to reporting from the College Tribune and University Times.

Figures released to Waterford News & Star under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that SETU spent €819,907.79 on its on-campus counselling service in 2024, with nearly all of that expenditure taken up by wages for counselling staff.

This sum represents a 44% increase in annual expenditure from 2021 to 2024, despite the number of college-provided mental health appointments remaining relatively constant in the past three academic years: 2,937 in 21/22; 2,840 in 22/23; and 2,929 in 23/24. Just €12,099.64 of the college’s annual spend was on non-pay expenditure.

A statement given to Waterford News & Star explained that the service’s non-pay expenditure is made up of annual licencing costs for its client record management software and scheduling software, annual licencing for its online well-being and mental health platform, as well as staff training courses.

The total cost of the service in 2021 amounted to €569,084.12 before rising to €642,935.47 in 2022. A significant jump in expenditure took place in 2023 to €808,878.72, before costs stabilised at a similar mark last year at €819,907.79.

Pay related expenditure has increased at a relatively constant rate every year since 2021, with the large jump in 2023 being down to a larger than usual €51,369.46 level of non-pay expenditure.

As demand for student counselling services has increased since the pandemic, the costs for universities in Ireland have increased sharply. From 2021 to 2023, Irish universities spent more than €6.7 million on mental health supports, with Trinity College Dublin topping the charts having spent €1.74 million, the Irish Times reported last year.

Technological University Dublin spent €1.39 million, with students typically waiting less than a week for initial appointments.

SETU's student counselling service is staffed by professionally qualified psychotherapists and psychologists and is available to all full-time students in the college. Students can access the service by via the service website or emailing studentcounselling.WD@setu.ie