Student Union Fees?Help!!

THE1NE

Ok as far as I know you were meant to send a cheque for this with your fees that you got in the post.
I organised everything else but I told my mam to put a cheque in with it before she sent it away and what do you know she didn't do it.
So what do I do?
Can I pay them when I get up there is there someone I should ring and what exactly is the student union,what does it do?
Help me out people!

Agent Smith

i sence Edu-myth to the rescue!

John

If you have that sheet with the bank giro attached you pay into your local Bank of Ireland branch if you just happen to have the cash lying about.

THE1NE

Grand I'll look for it later hopefully my mam didn't send that away too knowing her I wouldn't bet on it though.
I'd say it should be grand though..****!in hope so anyway!!

Time Magazine

I know I did it online and it took nothing like 10 days to confirm.

agent smith

agent smith wrote:

i sence Edu-myth to the rescue!

Ye gads man!

The Students' Union is the representative body for students in college. Most classes will have at least one class rep, which make up the bulk of the representation within college. The class reps represent their class at meetings with their department, and can also call upon the SU (short for Students' Union) to campaign on whatever they like, if they bring it to the meetings that are held every few weeks.

These are called SU Council. So as I said, motions to ban coke on campus, to apply to get a vending machine in the Museum building, to stop the sale of Champion Milk in the buttery...and other items like that were brought to SU Council. Anything that interests your class can be brought up.

Within the SU there are 5 full time students employed to do different jobs...me, I'm the Education Officer, so I look after most things academic. It could cover course transfers, restructuring of college, exam appeals...all the fun stuff! There are 4 other officers, namely President, Deputy President/Publicity Officer, Welfare Officer (who is responsible for grants, as well as dealing with any problems a student might have to do with anything non-academic), and finally the Ents Officer.

Right. I could harp on about "What is the SU" as you asked, but anyways John2 has mentioned what you can do with the additional 8 euro on the giro form. That 8 euro on top of that 775 registration fee is to cover the membership of the national union for students.

You'll find different opinions on the topic of "what does the SU do" (in reference to the 5 sabbatical officer mentioned above) but for those people who decide to drop up to House 6, or send an email, they'll tell you that we're there to help if you need us.

There should be more information on the website http://www.tcdsu.org, and as well our lovely mugshots should have gotten sent out to you by now. The fold just happened to go over my head each time. Feck sake.

Right. Leaba time.

randomfella

I paid by Giro over a week ago i'd say. When do i get confirmation for that?

Also that yellow form to say the government should claim my tuition fees (to be sent to treasurer's office) When do i have to send that?

Johnee

THE1NE wrote:

Ok as far as I know you were meant to send a cheque for this with your fees that you got in the post.
I organised everything else but I told my mam to put a cheque in with it before she sent it away and what do you know she didn't do it.
So what do I do?
Can I pay them when I get up there is there someone I should ring and what exactly is the student union,what does it do?
Help me out people!

Is that the USI money? If it is dont worry about it, you dont have to pay it. The TCD Students Union does provide some useful services although this does tend to vary from year to year, depending on the calibre of those elected.

As it sometimes tends to attract people whose egos outstrip their abilities, this isnt always a good thing.

The USI on the other hand is the national body for student unions. And generally a complete waste of time and money. The majority of people on it (again not all, but most) are aspiring politicians who see it as a way to increase media profile and further their future careers. And dont let anyone tell you they talk to government and represent us. The occasional sit-in might attract some (small) media attention but it reinforces their complete pointlessness. Massively cut funding to universities - that's some representation.

A lot of your money will go to subsidising a 'leadership skills' weekend for all USI reps. Read boozy piss-up. Trinity wasnt a member of USI for years and wasnt any the worse for it.

So save your money for an extra pint or two in freshers week.

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Myth wrote:

These are called SU Council. So as I said, motions to ban coke on campus......... to stop the sale of Champion Milk in the buttery.......

Why ban coke? And what is Champion Milk?

Pet

I think it's English milk?

John

randomfella wrote:

I paid by Giro over a week ago i'd say. When do i get confirmation for that?

Never!

randomfella

ok thats grand. But what about the yellow form? WHen do i send that?

air_vent

randomfella wrote:

ok thats grand. But what about the yellow form? WHen do i send that?

Does it tell you to send it????

Yes --Does it give a date or an information on it?---
(Yes-- send it now !!! it aint going to send its self !!! No-- see yes)

No

---

why ask the damed question??

All these witless questions are just taking the piss really. Simple questions ,,,when to I post this does it tell you to!? How difficult is that.
Begining to sound like a broken record now but grow up and ask someone IN TRINITY no us on TCD boards who are not employed by TCD to listen to this jive and who just dont care DONT CARE .
If your really stuck about the edcuation stuff email Myth its his job gets paid to deal with that!!

Intelligent questions are grand but take a little time to think about these things before asking these questions.
Be more worried about how pissed your going to get!

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Seriously, does anyone know if our €8 is going to anywhere useful?? Because a body that prides itself on trying to ban Coke and some brand of Milk I've never even heard of sounds like a right load of bollocks....

randomfella

Yeah your right air vent it was a bit of stupid post asked out of sheer laziness.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI wrote:

Seriously, does anyone know if our €8 is going to anywhere useful?? Because a body that prides itself on trying to ban Coke and some brand of Milk I've never even heard of sounds like a right load of bollocks....

pro / anti paying usi fees has already been argued ad nauseum on this board.

coke and the milk issue were initiatives passed by TCDSU (and Trinity students), not USI.

Coke: Coke was banned because people believed they held some responsibility (either moral or outright) towards the killing of union workers in Columbia. Whether it was right or wrong, it was passed by students and implemented.

Milk: Students just didn't like the brand of milk in the buttery and asked for it to be changed. This was one of about 10 motions passed by SU council in that particular meeting, and only took about 3 minutes to pass.

You can either choose to pay or not to pay your usi fees. that's up to you. now give everyone a break from your moaning on the issue. I personally will decide whether i have 8 euro spare to pay when i'm paying my fees. it's not a big deal, relax about it. IMHO you are probably right about the relative ineffectiveness of USI as a national union, but, its almost even worse to have to hear the ceaseless moaning from people about USI from behind the anonymity of an online discussion board.

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

OK cool, I haven't been here for long, hell, I haven't even registered for TCD yet, so I didn't know I was flogging a dead horse here (Though I did have an inkling that the horse may well have been wounded.)

As for choosing to pay the fees, it very definitely was NOT made clear that there was a choice, and on the online paying system the amount was automatically made out to be €743 or whatever the registration fee+€8 is. Though I understand if you guys are sick with the whole USI/TCDSU issue...

And the board isn't really that anonymous is it? I mean I would imagine most of you would know each other personally in Trinity. (well obviously excepting some of us Freshers) (Or am I wrong?? I genuinely don't know)

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Sorry, thought you were one of the instigators of the earlier USI thread. Apologies if i'm wrong!

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI wrote:

Seriously, does anyone know if our €8 is going to anywhere useful?? Because a body that prides itself on trying to ban Coke and some brand of Milk I've never even heard of sounds like a right load of bollocks....

What I gave was examples of motions that have been brought. I would have put down Restructuring, School Convenors, and rights awareness amongst students, but I went for the more topical ones (i.e. Coke), as personally I find the debates on Coke interesting.

Pet

And the board isn't really that anonymous is it? I mean I would imagine most of you would know each other personally in Trinity. (well obviously excepting some of us Freshers) (Or am I wrong?? I genuinely don't know)

Yeah, well we know each other by face/name anyway.

Not all of us...

Pet

Well come to the next beers and introduce yourself!!

Of course I don't drink beer because it's horrid mingfluid, so it'll be kopparberg for me.

Time Magazine

Pet wrote:

Yeah, well we know each other by face/name anyway.

And talk to each other at the airport in the presence of our girlfriends and my mother. And come very close to referring to each other be internet names.

Or maybe that's just me.

xeduCat

Actually it's administration (Provost et al) 5, fellows 8, non-fellows 5, non-academic staff 3 and students 4, plus 2 'outsiders', if you're counting. It's only for very obscure or rare causes that the fellows and scholars have real power. Also for Provost elections (once every 10 years), there's only a very very small student vote (lots of fellows, although no scholars).

Might have been that way in the past but it's very much the Board and other such bodies rather than the "Provost, Fellows and Scholars" that have the power and money these days. I've been both an SU officer and a scholar (although not a fellow, yet) and there's a major difference between them. For one, you get more abuse as the former...

air_vent

With regards to the SU and USI and I'l always remember this, last year when Aine Gattling or who ever she was became president there was all this jive about

"we will remember this when the election comes (to Bertie) you will not get our votes "or what ever then they had a funeral precession with an old keyboard and some other shi te.
Deplorable then we marched to the dail peacefully I may add then all the usual vote for me jokers like the socialists and SF came out with a few slogans and their propoganda paper pusher then we peacfully disbanded.

Very little public attention to the issue no papers no nothing
The USI just
promised action gave peanuts
A disgrace!

I swear to god now this very moment if I was president there would be serious action and less of making your political career and to add to the CV job.
Of course I have neither the popularity or political clout or connections to do this


For the TCDSU education and ents have a purpose mainly, any persident I had has been a joke and did for alterior motives. But I have high hopes for El presidente manion.

Dead Ed

Dead Ed wrote:

odd. I went to war against the students union a while ago without success, what with the lack of weaponary and unwillingness to eat porridge. Personally in the four and a bit years I've been in Trinity the only purpose served by the TCDSU has been to reduce my freedom of choice. I'm a big boy now, I can decide on my own whether coca cola is a big evil corporation hell bent on world domination. I can also decide that I don't give a **** what they do. I can even decide to be apathetic to this nonsence and enjoy that cool, crisp, sugary acidic taste. It's my right as a democratic citizen. The same goes for the Nestle thing. "but the protests..." you may claim. I'll tell you what these are; a bunch of jumped up little D4 heads that want to make a name for themselves and get a good C.V. at your expense. Standing around shouting about a non existant problem and proclaiming to be "really angry" is not what I pay eight quid a year for. I pay my eight quid so they can carry out their duties towards me, namely organising events helping individual students that may have issues etc. NOT wasting my time with ridiculous protests. Why exactly did those numpties chain themselves to the dail in the last few years? I reckon they didn't even know themselves. By far the most interesting thing I've seen the S.U. doing by way of ridiculous claims is as follows: A perennial runner up in the presendential elections decided to spice up his campaign last year. All sorts of insane promises were made, not least of which was the promise to "Bring to the government awareness of third world debt" Here's some news: they know about it. I know about it. the third world sure as hell know about it. Wanna help starving africans? donate cash. build houses. But don't try to make me feel guilty from your high horse. Also the amount of power the S.U. or indeed any other organisation wields within our fine establishment works on a number of votes type system. It goes as follows:
Fellows: Lots
Scholars: 70 votes
Students Union: 1 vote.

That's how powerful they are. They make a damn lot of noise for what they are and personally I reckon you shouldn't bother payin the eight quid.

Hey, just back from chaining myself to the GPO, man that was fun! I also hear the Customs House is a must for student occupations these year if anyone's interested. Next week: Streaking down O'Connell street to save the flesh-eating piranha's of the Amazon. Gotta love those guys.

Just on another point, if you pay 8 euro, the SU still gets the same amount of capitation fee as if you didn't. Your 8 euro pays for a national union for students.

Nietzschean

Myth wrote:

but I went for the more topical ones (i.e. Coke), as personally I find the debates on Coke interesting.

Could you win one this year n get us our coke back ? (although it is further for me to any su shop than centra......)

Serenity

Serenity wrote:

Could you win one this year n get us our coke back ? (although it is further for me to any su shop than centra......)

You'll do your own dirty work! Grab 350 people, get them to sign a petition, and there's your referendum.

Nietzschean

Myth wrote:

You'll do your own dirty work! Grab 350 people, get them to sign a petition, and there's your referendum.

yes, but alas the abundance of stupid people in college will see its not removed.... *sigh*

Dead Ed

Dead Ed wrote:

I gather these have to be real people? Damn. I can buy it in the ham caff and a number of machines anyway. What I don't understand was the monaghan milk thing. What's the story with that??!

Yep, real people with real signatures and real student numbers...I'd ask Niall Hughes about the Champion Milk thing if I were you.

punka

Dead Ed wrote:

conspiracy to defraud monaghan of their only source of income eh?! (the 'RA gave up the devices so I'm no longer afraid of monaghan people!)

ah sure they still have frank mcnally. a journalist's income goes a long way out in the sticks.

The Shol'va

Dead Ed wrote:

odd. I went to war against the students union a while ago without success, what with the lack of weaponary and unwillingness to eat porridge. Personally in the four and a bit years I've been in Trinity the only purpose served by the TCDSU has been to reduce my freedom of choice. I'm a big boy now, I can decide on my own whether coca cola is a big evil corporation hell bent on world domination. I can also decide that I don't give a **** what they do. I can even decide to be apathetic to this nonsence and enjoy that cool, crisp, sugary acidic taste. It's my right as a democratic citizen. The same goes for the Nestle thing. "but the protests..." you may claim. I'll tell you what these are; a bunch of jumped up little D4 heads that want to make a name for themselves and get a good C.V. at your expense. Standing around shouting about a non existant problem and proclaiming to be "really angry" is not what I pay eight quid a year for.

Well, it's not really the SU telling you that you're not to drink Coke/eat Nestle, it's the SU not wanting to sell Coke/Nestle, to anyone (loads of non-students in the SU shop, they know about the cheap papers). You are free to give as much money to the Coca Cola company as you like (there's a Spar 40 seconds from House 6, and Coke machines a stone's throw from the Hamilton), but the students have voted that they don't want the SU shops contributing towards the profits of the so-called evil companies.

Frankly, I'd like Dr Pepper back (And I nearly cried when that shipment of Nestea was sent back to Coke :P) Some Animal bars would go down a treat too...

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Nestlé too?? Egad man! What DO they sell in the SU shop??

graphene

fruit mainly

oh and cheap newspapers

wheresthebeef

i heard they sell cigarettes. how is that a good thing???
Are they FairTrade cigarettes?

Agent Smith

nope,

if you want cigarettes banned, get 350 people to sign a pentition, and present it to the Su for an referemdum

Ron DMC

I'll sign it

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

wheresthebeef wrote:

i heard they sell cigarettes. how is that a good thing???
Are they FairTrade cigarettes?

How is that a good thing? Maybe because there is a large demand for cigarettes by consenting grown adults in the university who can decide for themselves any ethical issues arising from their purchase of said cigarettes?

Crash

If anybody even THINKS of getting a petition against ciggies they're getting such a swift kicking it wouldnt be believed.

Nietzschean

ooo not bad, if i've to suffer so should you lot.

agent smith

agent smith wrote:

nope,

if you want cigarettes banned, get 350 people to sign a pentition, and present it to the Su for an referemdum

It wouldn't be a true february if there wasn't a referendum on Coke, you see.