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NEWS: Students must pay in order to graduate
As final year students at Queen’s prepare to graduate this summer, many are displeased with the expensive graduation fees. Students must pay £55 in order to graduate. This sum covers the cost of the student’s ticket, gown and hood. A diploma in nursing costs £60 due to the inclusion of the official nursing badge. Students who wish to graduate in absentia must pay £10. Graduates are also expected to pay a further £5 for their degree transcript.
BY KERRI-ANNE CAMPBELL
The correct academic costume is compulsory for all students who wish to graduate at Queen’s. Any graduate who is not appropriately dressed, or who is not wearing the hood in the approved manner, is not permitted to take part in the ceremony. Gowns must be returned by a specific time and late returns will be cost an additional fee of £150. Any student who fails to return their gown or hood will be charged a fee of £300.
A concerned parent of a final year student said:
“I just presumed that there was no cost. Cost didn’t even enter my head. When I think of the amount of money I have paid Queen’s in the last four years, and now we have to pay them to graduate? It’s scandalous. An absolute disgrace. As if Queen’s couldn’t afford to hold graduation ceremonies and provide gowns, etc. for students who have paid them up to fourteen grand on fees. I’m glad this is being publicised.”
Another parent commented in disbelief, “You’d think that at that price a three course meal would be on offer!”
Most students are not notified of these fees until just a few weeks before graduation. Final year students at Queen’s have expressed their concerns.
One final year English student commented: “I couldn’t believe it costs £55 to graduate at Queen’s. And you don’t even get to keep your gown. I have had to ask my parents for the money because I can’t afford it. It is ridiculous. You would think that Queen’s would have the decency to supply the funds, especially since students pay thousands for fees, books etc… What is even more ridiculous is that we have to pay £5 to receive our degree transcripts. It is a disgrace!”
Another final year student said, “It is unbelievable that students at Queen’s have to pay to attend their own graduation. What about those who can’t afford it? They just aren’t allowed to graduate.”
The first graduation ceremony will take place on Monday 5th July. Queen’s urge that “cheques should be made payable to Queen’s University and prompt payment is appreciated”. Graduates are instructed to pay online, in person or by post. It seems clear that Queen’s are using student graduations as a money making opportunity. When asked to comment on the substantial fees, the QUB alumni office, the organisers of the event, failed to respond.
Tags: Gown, graduation, Kerri-Anne Campbell, News, newspaper, qub, Queen's, queen's university, student, students, The Gown, tickets
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 11:43 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Students are entitled to spend their money on a night out. At the end of the day it is them who are paying for it whether it be from student loans etc... The issue is that Queen's do not have the decency to pay for their students graduation, even though their students pay them thousands every year. They don't give a dam about their students. All the care about is money! Queen's has become more of a business than a university. No wonder it has dropped several places in The Guardians list of universities! They should take a long hard look at themselves. Especially Gregson.
Yeah, let's face it it, we have to be honest. Some lads would spend the guts of 50quid on a night out...maybe not everytime they go out, but certainly sometimes. Therefore tpo get all het up about this 55quid fee seems a bit much.
BUT...not all of us go about spending money follishly and are mindful of our pennies so in that respect this is totally ridiculous.
Grand, it mightn't be NEWS as such, as it has been happening for quite some time. BUT I didn't know this and I'm in second year, so it's news to me. It reminds me of a story one of the English newspapers did years ago about how divorce is illegal in Ireland. It wasn't news....but lots of people didn't actually know about it so therefore it was news in a round-a-bout way.
@jd1991 It hasn't been this way for decades, I asked my parents last night and in 1982 it was free.
Also, such esteemed universities as Dundee, Durham and Oxford don't charge for graduation, so it is news.
There is no in-abscentia fee for City & Guilds Licentiateship. Licentiateship is an optional component of some engineering pathways, no students are "forced" to pay for it if they don't want it.
"And you don’t even get to keep your gown." ahahahaha
The whole point is that most QUB students are completely unaware of these fees! And even if you think it is old news, it is still an issue. It really is ridiculous that graduates must pay this money after already spending so much. Queen's are nothing but money grabbers and to them, students are no more than numbers on a page!
This is hardly news, seeing as it's been like this for decades.
On the ball Gownies!
Storm in a tea cup. Most Students spend so much on alcohol and complain about a fee for graduating? Don't see their logic.
Keep the fees up to keep Gregson well paid :D
I love Queens.
Some Engineers and CS students were also forced to pay for their City & Guilds Licentiateship (aswell as having to pay an in-abscentia fee).
This is yet another student tax that QUB is laying on students in the worst of economic times. Personally (I'll not be graduating till 2011) I'd be asking them to charge me by invoice and send it to Gregson.
I'm already paying through the nose for a degree that no longer technically exists, and will be largely useless by the time I get out.
As a guestimate, about 4,000 students should be graduating this year. so 55 each is over 200,000 that queens are walking away with. Those 4000 students have, on average, already paid Queens about 48 million. Get a grip guys; Queens is sliding down the performance tables due to mismanagement and over/underspending in various areas. QUB is running itself into the ground by focusing on postgraduate research instead of graduate education and local service.
If I was going through UCAS this year, I wouldn't be coming to Queens.
The only way QUB will ever listen to their student body is if a significant group actually stand up and demand to be heard.
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Queen's are a business. People nowadays are too snobby to take on a trade. Queen's provide for this snobbery by providing idiotic degrees which are filled by idiotic snobs. Queen's take every opportunity to make money and act like loan sharks to their own schools and rip off idiotic students at every opportunity... this is just a small drop in the Queen's business plan.
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