The Voluntary Contribution

10-06-2005 11:15pm #1

Did anyone else recieve this letter from CTYI??
Now i dont want to sound stingy but if we are paying €950 for the course i would have thought they could cover costs. Why have they extended if they cannot afford to do so?. I think CTYI is great but if they knew they were going to be short then they should have adjusted the price accordingly.
I think €950 is alot of money, don't you?

Zounds · 10-06-2005 11:35pm

stuohy1 wrote:

Did anyone else recieve this letter from CTYI??
Now i dont want to sound stingy but if we are paying €950 for the course i would have thought they could cover costs. Why have they extended if they cannot afford to do so?. I think CTYI is great but if they knew they were going to be short then they should have adjusted the price accordingly.
I think €950 is alot of money, don't you?

they spend €1.2million a year running the place, so in context, no

jono087 · 11-06-2005 1:49pm

€950 is nothing! divide that by 3 weeks.... where else could you go for a week for €315 and not have to pay for any meals. And then if you consider tuition and supervision.......

halenger · 11-06-2005 2:32pm

How much is this voluntary contribution? (Maybe they don't specify but I'm going with the assumtion that it's like those involuntary voluntary contributions my secondary school were so fond of.)

This is gonna come back and bite me but if they're so much in need of funds why not ask for a little (quite little) from a lotta people (e.g. alumni).

oq4v3ht0u76kf2 · 11-06-2005 2:36pm

Bear in mind, €950 is not what it costs CTYI to support and teach you for three weeks... every Irish (perhaps EU) student is HEAVILY subsidised by the government. Hence, international students pay much higher fees.

Also, the alumni may be more inclined to contribute if the promised alumni 'features' were delivered. I remember hearing all sorts of talk about newsletters and alumni reunions (run by the Centre, not '12@ d green LOL111!!!!ONEONEONE' reunions). Having said that, I'll still contribute.

Crash · 11-06-2005 2:41pm

Halenger: the story with the contribution is that letters were sent out to the parents of students and ex-students asking for a voluntary contribution of around €100.

Personally i support this and will be bugging my parents to put it through, even if i pay a decent patch of it.

Only thing i found weird is its been a fair while since i've seen something with the words "For the Parents of Neil McGough" on something (3rd Year iirc) and especially not somewhere that will be employing me! :P

claire h · 11-06-2005 6:27pm

The letter says eur100 but the ticky-box thing attached has eur25, 50 etc as options. I don't really think it's that much to ask for... and I doubt they'll be hunting people down if they choose not to make a donation. It's a once-off thing, and the choice of throwing away the letter and forgetting about it is always there.

crash_000 wrote:

Only thing i found weird is its been a fair while since i've seen something with the words "For the Parents of Neil McGough" on something (3rd Year iirc) and especially not somewhere that will be employing me! :P

Heh, me too. Only it didn't have your name on it, obviously, because that would be odd.

PurpleFistMixer · 11-06-2005 8:31pm

I got one of them. (Well, technically it was for the sister since I'm not a past student quite yet)
Shall probably bug the parents to pay it. I mean, we pay voluntary contributions to my goddamn school and I love CTYI one HELL of a lot more. So they deserve it for being spiffy.

Raphael · 11-06-2005 9:54pm

It's not just past students PFM, I got one too

PurpleFistMixer · 11-06-2005 10:00pm

Oh. Guess they don't love me enough to send me one, then.

*melodrama*

... That or they're not going to send the letter to the same house twice.

It wasn't me! · 11-06-2005 10:01pm

As did I. To be honest, I don't like it in the sense that it's sounding a lot like my school, but I like CTYI far too much to not help out in anyway.

rainbow kirby · 12-06-2005 12:11am

I got this letter in the post... It's kinda funny to think that at *almost* 21 years of age they still addressed it to my parents. I would pay the 100, but I have to pay 3900 euro in fees for college next year so that's kind of a more pressing matter for me right now.

halenger · 12-06-2005 1:06am

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

Oh. Guess they don't love me enough to send me one, then.

Ditto... Nada here, unless our postman's being lazy again.

Hugh Hefner · 12-06-2005 3:11am

It wasn't me! wrote:

it's sounding a lot like my school

My school asked us for a bigger contribution (than CTYI) before I even had my first day of secondary school. And I don't even like the place! I'll probably contribute if I remember it and can find the freakin' letter.

Crash · 12-06-2005 2:41pm

My old secondary school (i left the place after 3 years because i detested it) are still sending me letters asking if "as an alumnus of the school" i'd like to contribute. :rolleyes:

Scarinae · 12-06-2005 3:00pm

Neil, is that that Opus Dei place you were telling me about before?

Hugh Hefner · 12-06-2005 3:10pm

You went to an Opus Dei school?! Holy ****! That's gotta be bad.

Crash · 12-06-2005 3:19pm

Yup. right hell hole tbh

glad i got out of there after 3rd year - kept me (vaguely) sane

StupidLikeAFox · 12-06-2005 4:40pm

Did they make you wear that spiky thing around your leg or was that just in the Da Vinci code?

Piste · 12-06-2005 9:47pm

I got no letter. I feel unloved now.

Zounds · 13-06-2005 12:05am

Maybe you have to have had a certain number of years attendance to get one

defiantshrimp · 13-06-2005 1:26pm

I got one last week, I’m not sure if my parents will pay it or not since they already pay school fees and everything. But they defiantly should do more (as in something!) for alumni. We could be worth quite a bit of money to them when we enter the real world and start to earn.

Piste · 13-06-2005 1:47pm

My Parents got the letter today, I think separate ones were sent for both my Sister and I which was strange...i'll be encouraging the parents to contribute, 's for a very good cause after all!

ll=llannah · 13-06-2005 2:40pm

they didn't send it to me. way for the office to make me feel unloved. funny, too, cause i'd be willing to fork over some money for them. which would make my high school jealous, cause they've been wanting my money since the day i graduated. *cackle*
but on a more serious note, i think it's more realistic to send requests like that to alums and not to students/parents of students who are currently attending, and with different options of amounts (eg anywhere from 10€ to 100+€).

and neil... are you sure you'll want to give money after being paid minimal amounts to run around spanking children and being sleep deprived?

Crash · 13-06-2005 6:20pm

well, possibly not. it would feel creepy to be giving money towards "staff wages" (which was one of the things mentioned) heheh.

ll=llannah · 14-06-2005 1:53pm

you mean they won't have box to check that says "i want to give myself lots of money!" ?!?!? the scandal of it all. (HA!)

TalkISCheap · 14-06-2005 5:14pm

TDs don't seem to have a problem with it!!

pinkpimp · 18-06-2005 9:50pm

Zounds wrote:

Maybe you have to have had a certain number of years attendance to get one

Not unless it's 1, and these donations are for the CTYI organisation, not just the 3 week courses. (Although they are inclusive)

Zounds · 18-06-2005 11:33pm

pinkpimp wrote:

Not unless it's 1, and these donations are for the CTYI organisation, not just the 3 week courses. (Although they are inclusive)

good point

Bazookatone · 23-06-2005 8:45pm

well, applied to be an RA..................and it took them 4 WEEKS to reply (as well as 2 PHONE CALLS, and 3 trips to the CTYI office IN PERSON to "encourage" them to get a move on) at whic point, they informed me that "You have not been successful at this time"

Then a letter (TO MY PARENTS) drops in asking for a "voluntary contribution". well can you guess how much we decided to contrbiute voluntarily.?

Piste · 23-06-2005 8:47pm

.....A bijillion euro?

TalkISCheap · 23-06-2005 10:13pm

you, cryogenically-frozen?

Raphael · 23-06-2005 10:51pm

HAving spoken to you about this previously, I'm going to guess...a kick in the scrote?

Crash · 23-06-2005 11:37pm

Bazookatone wrote:

well, applied to be an RA..................and it took them 4 WEEKS to reply (as well as 2 PHONE CALLS, and 3 trips to the CTYI office IN PERSON to "encourage" them to get a move on) at whic point, they informed me that "You have not been successful at this time"

Then a letter (TO MY PARENTS) drops in asking for a "voluntary contribution". well can you guess how much we decided to contrbiute voluntarily.?

So you didnt give money to an organisation that showed you 5 years of good times because you didnt get the job?

ah yeah, i see your point. valid i'm sure.

smiles · 23-06-2005 11:57pm

Bazookatone wrote:

well, applied to be an RA..................and it took them 4 WEEKS to reply (as well as 2 PHONE CALLS, and 3 trips to the CTYI office IN PERSON to "encourage" them to get a move on) at whic point, they informed me that "You have not been successful at this time"

Then a letter (TO MY PARENTS) drops in asking for a "voluntary contribution". well can you guess how much we decided to contrbiute voluntarily.?

Imagine, "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????"

Hell, even if they were considering you, I'd say your actions put serious doubt upon your ability to act as a rational and responsible adult.

Bazookatone · 01-07-2005 7:38pm

smiles wrote:

Imagine, "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????", "do i have the job????"

Hell, even if they were considering you, I'd say your actions put serious doubt upon your ability to act as a rational and responsible adult.

Good for you. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. Here's mine. I am a rational and reasonable person, please give me some credit, I can ring up and ask politely without seeming neurotic. there is nothing wrong in touching base. Four weeks is a long time to wait, especially when one needs to look into getting another job. Whether people think 4 weeks is a reasonable waiting period is an argument in itself, and one I'm not going to get into. Frankly, I think it was laziness or bad orginisation on their part that it took them so long. I enjoyed my time at CTYI, but my experiences applying for a job have left a sour taste in my mouth. If you apply to be an RA, good luck to you, but I will warn you now that there is a history of people getting the short end of the stick from CTYI when working as an RA or TA, and to be wary.

StupidLikeAFox · 02-07-2005 1:03pm

she was an RA last year

Barry Aldwell · 02-07-2005 6:53pm

ColHol wrote:

she was an RA last year

Sssh, it's funny to watch him dig himself even deeper into his hole

LiamD · 02-07-2005 7:55pm

You need to chill a bit over it.There's no promise of next day delivery or anything.I can understand you probably wanted to plan you summer but what you do there is instead of putting all your eggs in one basket, you organise other work or holidays for yourself after a week or two of waiting.If they get back to you with a job offer and you really want it, you'll make yourself available for it again.I wouldn't employ you if you rang me several times, then didnt take the hint and came to my office to ask again.Three times.And on those visits encouraged me to do my job better.If you can't figure out why you didn't get the job then you obviously cheated in the SATs.

StupidLikeAFox · 02-07-2005 8:38pm

"obviously"

Starbabe · 11-07-2005 7:23pm

Its getting ugly...
Leave the guy alone will you! If i applied i'd be dying to know and probably wouldn't leave them alone. I'm sure more people than him rang up or called into the office to see. And i don't want any smart answers about my employability or intelligence, okay?

The Voluntary Contribution

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