DCU Affinity Credit Card raises over €32,000 for student scholarships and activities
12 April 2005

Yvonne McLoughlin, Alumni Officer, presents a cheque for €26,000 from the Affinity Credit Card Fund to the DCU Educational Trust. This will provide 13 scholarships to students who might not otherwise be in a position to attend university

The DCU Affinity Credit Card, which was launched in conjunction with AIB, has raised €32,839.90 in its first year. There are currently over 600 DCU credit cardholders including graduates and staff. This year, student scholarships and activities will be the direct beneficiaries of the Affinity fund. Education is one of the greatest opportunities in life and by supporting the Affinity Credit Card, graduates have made it possible to award thirteen Access Scholarships to students who, for a variety of social and economic reasons, might not otherwise have been in a position to attend university. The cost of each scholarship is €2,000.

Over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the numbers of students entering DCU via the Access Programme. Today, the Programme operates nationwide allowing DCU to target individual cases of student hardship in addition to working with students from designated disadvantaged schools.

There was a significant increase in new students entering DCU via the Access programme in 2004. In 2003, DCU enrolled 66 first year Access students and this increased to 135 in 2004. New entrants for the 2005/2006 intake is likely to increase yet again. The recent OECD Report on the Review of Higher Education in Ireland noted the social disparity in education and funds from the DCU Affinity Card are directly helping to address this problem.

The ‘Uaneen’ Extra Curricular Award scheme will receive €5,000 from the Affinity Fund. The award scheme, which recognises the extracurricular activities of students, contributes to both their academic and personal competencies and it is unique within the third level sector. Final year students may register for this optional module in three different categories and receive appropriate ‘credits’ on completion of the academic year. The Award is named after graduate Uaneen Fitzsimons who died tragically in November 2000.

Graduates Rachel Burke and Michael Patten

Graduates like the idea of having a Credit Card with their university image and logo on it as it shows they are supporting DCU. The Card also offers unique benefits to graduates including a premium discount of two percentage points on the standard Visa Card interest rate.

The benefit to DCU is that for every card account issued, AIB will make a contribution of €12.70 to the University. More importantly, AIB gives .03% of all graduates’ spending on the Card to DCU. Therefore, the more graduate cardholders and the more transactions, the more DCU students benefit, at no cost to graduates. Day-to-day spending by each cardholder has the potential to create significant sums of money for DCU students. This will help maintain and increase levels of excellence and provide an environment that is conducive to learning and student life.

By continually using the DCU Credit Card from now until November 2005, graduates will help with the current campaign to increase the number of student scholarships and increase facilities for students.

If you are interested in applying for the DCU Affinity Credit Card, contact alumni@dcu.ie or 353 (0) 1 700 5530. For further information on the card, click here.