€224 contribution???

isilidur1980

I am wondering what this contribution is used for. I have heard that some of it is used as a subsidy for students to use the Kingfisher. The problem I have with that is the college are asking students, who don't have the money, to subsidise students who do have the money. If they can afford the 250-300(whatever it is) student price surely they are not that bad off.However I know of students who would love to use the gym but can't due to money reasons. They struggle to pay the €224 contribution.
Come on university authorities, get a grip!:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I_smell_fear

Feel better now?

ciano1

Doesn't €100 of it go towards paying off the loan the college took out to build the Kingfisher and the rest goes to the SU, Clubs, Socs etc?

Ficheall

ciano1 wrote: »

Doesn't €100 of it go towards paying off the loan the college took out to build the Kingfisher and the rest goes to the SU, Clubs, Socs etc?

Pretty much. Your "etc." covers a convenient multitude though...

isilidur1980

I_smell_fear wrote: »

Feel better now?

Nope!!:)

isilidur1980

ciano1 wrote: »

Doesn't €100 of it go towards paying off the loan the college took out to build the Kingfisher and the rest goes to the SU, Clubs, Socs etc?

That's where I have the problem. Subsidizsng students who can afford the membership fee from by students who can't afford the membership fee.
I understand the need for Clubs and Socs in the university so won't criticise that to much although I'm sure some people would have criticisms of this.
I just can't see what the SU do. All they seem to think about is to march to someone's constituency office or have meetings. I expected much more from a SU to be honest!

TheCosmicFrog

From the website:

Student Levies are used for the development and support of student sports, social and recreational facilities. These facilities include

• Student Societies
• Student sports
• Students Union
• Áras na Mac Léinn
• Student Health Unit
• Flirt FM
• Students project fund
• Capital development of the University Sports centre

The Student Levy for 2012/2013 is €224.

Fooker

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

From the website:

Student Levies are used for the development and support of student sports, social and recreational facilities. These facilities include

• Student Societies
• Student sports
• Students Union
• Áras na Mac Léinn
• Student Health Unit
• Flirt FM
• Students project fund
• Capital development of the University Sports centre

The Student Levy for 2012/2013 is €224.

I think certainly the SU could certainly be more cost effective, the thousands of fresher bags they give out are a waste.

I'd probably agree that we shouldn't have to pay for the gym since it isn't universal membership.

I don't think Flirt FM are really worth subsidising although I am unsure how much it costs. Nobody listens to it, from what I can tell..

The Societies certainly do good work, but the office does seem quite unorganised. It could be made alot more cost effective and allocate money better. Someone part-time, full-time with the responsibility of just looking at the numbers would do wonders there I think.

ciano1

I suppose it depends on the student.

To somebody who is very involved clubs/socs, the levy could be considered good value considering they generally pay/subsidise transport/equipment costs for trips etc.

Somebody who regularly uses the health unit would be saving €50 a pop on GP fees.

The €100 to the gym annoys me though

joeKel73

This fee was voted in by students a few years ago. But what students get for it now is a lot less than what was promised in return.

The gym membership was meant to cost a "nominal" fee, €20-€50 expected... not €250.

Club funding was to double, which was used to canvas all the clubs to get their vote.... yet club funding much harder to get than it was then.

This is from a club email I received in 2006...

A reminder of next weeks referendum. RFP06/01 (Student Levy) will mean a near doubling of club grants. We will be hoping for a yes vote from
clubs.
[edit: this is actually about a second referendum to increase levy by €40]

Funding for the health unit was to double, but I think they just used that to redecorate, seems to be no extra doctors.

If it annoys you having to pay it, best thing you can do is get involved in club/socs and start earning your money back!

So where does the extra money from this go since it was brought in? From what I understand, a lot of services got reclassified from Academic Services to Student Services which allowed them to access the funds which was previously used for club/socs/su etc. .

joeKel73

Page 10 & 11 of this well worth a read: www.sin.ie/download/file/830/

Dan_Solo

The Kingfisher appears to be run as an entirely private enterprise, so I've no idea why all students have to subsidize it.I like beer. Why don't they put the same amount of the fees towards the College Bar?
And Flirt FM? You can't even tune in to in on NUIG premises the signal is so lousy, and TBH who'd want to anyway.

paddymayoman

They say the 'student discount' rate in the gym is €250 and the normal adult rate is €350. So €250+€100(from the contribution fee)=€350, I think we're getting a great discount!

dastardly00

Yeah, but not everyone decides to becomes a member of the gym..... But yet they still pay that part of the contribution. Plus, if everyone did want to become a member, the gym couldn't cope with that amount of people. And also, the students who had to pay an increased levy when the gym was being built may not have got any return for their money.

Ficheall

dastardly00 wrote: »

And also, the students who had to pay an increased levy when the gym was being built may not have got any return for their money.

Alumni are entitled to discounted gym membership for as many years as they paid the extra hundred in the levy, I believe.
Not much use to those of us who have no interest in the gym, of course..

Robmeister2011

I can smell naysayers and complainers a mile off...

The Kingfisher: Students voted in favour of paying it off through the levy, and while they may have been promised access for an additional, nominal fee, this was never written down or contractually secured anywhere so the University was given a free hand essentially. The Students' Union is currently negotiating a method of bringing in this nominal fee to give students access, though I disagree with the model put forward.

The Students' Union: First off, there were no freshers packs this year. I'm not going to write a long argument in favour of the Students' Union, instead I will give two specific examples of why they're useful. Two years ago, the University realised that it overpayed a lot of students with regard to the Student Assistance Fund. They immediately said that students would have to repay this overpayment and were pushing ahead with this until the Students' Union threatened to blockade the open day.

Example Two: The University didn't put in the outdoor lift or the Library Basement swipe card system off it's own back you know.

Flirt FM: Flirt FM has been and continues to be a place of learning and experience. It's a fine community radio station and can be tuned in quite easily now that they have a new transmitter. People assume it's a useless black spot on the funding radar but unfortunately it doesn't have to be. The Happy Hour for example plays the latest music with top quality banter and most of the music played on the popular shows on iRadio and Spin will have been on Flirt way before those guys got their hands on it. It has also produced some of Galway's top DJs.

That's just my two cents.

Ficheall

Robmeister2011 wrote: »

The Happy Hour for example plays the latest music with top quality banter and most of the music played on the popular shows on iRadio and Spin will have been on Flirt way before those guys got their hands on it.

Fecking hipsters...

Dan_Solo

Robmeister2011 wrote: »

Flirt FM: Flirt FM has been and continues to be a place of learning and experience.

PR fail. No one cares. Get rid of this pointless charity case.

steel_spine

Fooker wrote: »

The Societies certainly do good work, but the office does seem quite unorganised. It could be made alot more cost effective and allocate money better. Someone part-time, full-time with the responsibility of just looking at the numbers would do wonders there I think.

I completely agree. However making the office itself more cost-effective is difficult as the societies office as it stands is a sort of vague entity with no actual employees, so I don't know that much, if any of the money being discussed in this thread goes to actually staffing/running the office. Workspace, storage and archiving is a big issue with organisation, but that's in the hands of the Buildings Office.

joeKel73

paddymayoman wrote: »

They say the 'student discount' rate in the gym is €250 and the normal adult rate is €350. So €250+€100(from the contribution fee)=€350, I think we're getting a great discount!

Is the normal adult rate not €5xx?

keesa

yeah, it's 550 I think

paddymayoman

Sorry my mistake so lads, thought it was €350

isilidur1980

Robmeister2011 wrote: »

I can smell naysayers and complainers a mile off...

The Kingfisher: Students voted in favour of paying it off through the levy, and while they may have been promised access for an additional, nominal fee, this was never written down or contractually secured anywhere so the University was given a free hand essentially. The Students' Union is currently negotiating a method of bringing in this nominal fee to give students access, though I disagree with the model put forward.

The Students' Union: First off, there were no freshers packs this year. I'm not going to write a long argument in favour of the Students' Union, instead I will give two specific examples of why they're useful. Two years ago, the University realised that it overpayed a lot of students with regard to the Student Assistance Fund. They immediately said that students would have to repay this overpayment and were pushing ahead with this until the Students' Union threatened to blockade the open day.

Example Two: The University didn't put in the outdoor lift or the Library Basement swipe card system off it's own back you know.

Flirt FM: Flirt FM has been and continues to be a place of learning and experience. It's a fine community radio station and can be tuned in quite easily now that they have a new transmitter. People assume it's a useless black spot on the funding radar but unfortunately it doesn't have to be. The Happy Hour for example plays the latest music with top quality banter and most of the music played on the popular shows on iRadio and Spin will have been on Flirt way before those guys got their hands on it. It has also produced some of Galway's top DJs.

That's just my two cents.

I really can't believe that the students union have achieved all that in the last 2 years. And here I was worried that all the additional fees were going to be a cause of me having to possibly drop out. No worries, we have a lift!! And something from two years ago!!
Put forward a motion on the new model for me. Up the €224 higher!! We must keep that quality of a union in place!! Up! Up! Up!:D

ciano1

Ye're forgetting the free condoms!

Robmeister2011

You may not appreciate the lift or the swipe cards, so I assume you've never been disabled. I take serious offence to that however.

Also, are you naive enough to believe that Students' Unions have no effect on fees? If they have no effect then why is the Government holding back so much? I mean lets be honest, 6,000 is an acceptible international standard nowadays. And the grant is pretty lucrative for those recieving it.

By your logic we should do away with all unions because no sector or group was shielded from cuts.

keesa

Not to mention the health service* or any of that.


*Would not recommend them at all though. Hurt myself and was told to ice it and rest it, ignored everything I said and told me I was wrong. Luckily my mother cares and sent me to physio who was asking about insurance and avoiding surgery how I could end up with difficulty walking if I don't deal with it...

isilidur1980

Robmeister2011 wrote: »

You may not appreciate the lift or the swipe cards, so I assume you've never been disabled. I take serious offence to that however.

Also, are you naive enough to believe that Students' Unions have no effect on fees? If they have no effect then why is the Government holding back so much? I mean lets be honest, 6,000 is an acceptible international standard nowadays. And the grant is pretty lucrative for those recieving it.

By your logic we should do away with all unions because no sector or group was shielded from cuts.

Ignoratio elenchi!! I am not saying the lift is not welcome! Just that the Union should be doing more. What have the Union achieved over the last six months?? Painting me as someone who disrespects disabled people is something I would take greater offence to!:mad::mad: