UCD Fees: can we get 8% off as well?

Dionysus

Anybody hear Drivetime on RTÉ Radio 1 this afternoon?

UCD has apparently written to all its suppliers seeking an 8% discount at least and a rebate on all money UCD paid to the same suppliers since October of last year. Yes, a rebate!

Otherwise the suppliers in question will have their contracts with UCD cancelled.

Of course I could only think of one thing, well two actually:

1) Will they give me a rebate of 8% off the fees I've paid since October 2008?

2) Will they give us all an 8% discount on our fees this year. I checked this year's fees, and no discount: I'm still paying the same tuition fee as last year's students on the same course paid. In a time of deflation I am in reality therefore paying more than last year's students on the same course.

An 8% reduction in my fees would be around €600, which is a lot of money in my world. By the time I've paid the interest on my credit union loan it is, of course, more. Rather than the pipedream of free fees, the Students' Union might be better employed in fighting this winnable battle of getting the university to reduce its fees.

PS: You can hear this afternoon's Drivetime here: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/drivetime/

PPS: The course I began today had at least 228 people paying over €6500 each in tuition fees. If there were any non-EU citizens on the same course they were paying over €13,000. This single one-year UCD course is taking in over €1.5 million for UCD. Sorry, but I just feel queasy to hear on the radio while coming home that they are seeking such reductions from their suppliers while giving us, the university's paying customers, no reductions.

Riamfada

The increased the reg fee. UCD has mismanaged funds at every level and this UCD regnereation project is going ahead. There is massive pressure on UCD to cover its loss which was 15mill the last time I checked. Some of this is cost cutting and some of it is increases on students. You will certainly not see a discount.

UCD needs massive changes . The first thing I would remove is Martin Butler's six figure salary

graduate

UCD has mismanaged funds at every level

Too true.

But pretty much any fee in UCD is only a fraction of the cost of providing the course, the taxpayer making up the difference, the taxpayer is the real paying customer. The taxpayer is providing less, so in a sense the fees are dropping.

If they didn't screw the suppliers than the fees would be even higher.

The first thing I would remove is Martin Butler's six figure salary

Perhaps better to start with those in UCD who earn twice or three times that amount.

Mardy Bum

graduate wrote: »

Perhaps better to start with those in UCD who earn twice or three times that amount.

WHA!!!!!:eek:
Who are these gougers!?

KeiraG

Mardy Bum wrote: »

WHA!!!!!:eek:
Who are these gougers!?

I heard the head Librarian earns hundreds of thousands a year :eek:

Stabshauptmann

Everyones pay is available online, and if you do a quick search of this board you'll find a link

parker kent

KeiraG wrote: »

I heard the head Librarian earns hundreds of thousands a year :eek:

The library is one of the most important parts of a university. It's criminally underfunded as it is. The head librarian gets a maximum of €146,000. But they are likely to actually be on less. Head librarian is a very senior managerial position. Forget your stereotypes of somebody putting books on a shelf, they are not a library assistant. Compared to people in other admin areas of the college they are much more important. These are the people that should have pay cuts if there are any (not that there will be). There are so many positions called Vice president this and vice president that. Not sure off the top of my head exactly what position I'm speaking of but I've heard of some people just below Hugh Brady on crazy money. I know which position I think is of more importance to students and UCD's desire to become a research based university.

KeiraG

parker kent wrote: »

The library is one of the most important parts of a university. It's criminally underfunded as it is. The head librarian gets a maximum of €146,000. But they are likely to actually be on less. Head librarian is a very senior managerial position. Forget your stereotypes of somebody putting books on a shelf, they are not a library assistant. Compared to people in other admin areas of the college they are much more important. These are the people that should have pay cuts if there are any (not that there will be). There are so many positions called Vice president this and vice president that. Not sure off the top of my head exactly what position I'm speaking of but I've heard of some people just below Hugh Brady on crazy money. I know which position I think is of more importance to students and UCD's desire to become a research based university.

?? I never even implied that I had any stereotyped I was merely stating a fact! I'm well aware of what a librarian does and how important their role is in a uni...

parker kent

KeiraG wrote: »

?? I never even implied that I had any stereotyped I was merely stating a fact! I'm well aware of what a librarian does and how important their role is in a uni...

When I said "forget your..." I did not mean you personally, I meant people in general, like as if I was speaking to a group. I was just emphasizing their role and saying people should not view librarians the way that many do. It's been said here before that librarians don't deserve the pay they get. I just thought by you saying that they get hundreds of thousands (which implied more than what the head lib gets) and having the eek smiley, you were being overly negative towards the librarian when there are dozens of other better targets.