overwhelmed!

[legohead]

any other 4th years postgrads just get the letter about graduation?
It's all so complicated. hiring gowns, whether or not to go to the ball or garden party, what's going to happen with guests...and it's all going to be so expensive! its something like £44 random fee for the graduation process alone!
I think I'm going to cry, and it's not even time to leave yet!

[hr]This is for all those headless acrobats
faces crushed in the circus dust
all in the name of gravity
and the price of admission

[Happy-Go-Lucky]

I can't bring myself to even look at the application form thing yet. I was too horrified when I spotted the £44 charge. Looks like I'll need a bank loan just to pay for my graduation. Way to make what should be a great time a serious headache.

[Cain]

all that and £2,000 for me to pay, as a scottish student.

joy


[hr]
I hold an element of surprise

[md25]

I haven't gotten the demand for two grand yet. Excellent PR stunt by the LibDems so they could claim that they abolished tuition fees it may be, it's also a royal pain in the arse.

Fortunately my parents think they're middle class so they've said they'll cough up all my graduation costs, although if they actually were middle class they'd pay off the endowment too, but it's better than nothing.[hr]All your base are so terribly passé, nerds!

[Scully]

Yep- I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed as well, and there seems to be a form to fill in for everything. I didn't realise you have to pay £44 even if you don't go to the ceremony- i mean, what exactly do they need the £44?

[Cain]

[s]Scully wrote on 17:12, 2nd Mar 2005:
i mean, what exactly do they need the £44?


if you were able to make people give you money you would, wouldn't you?

[hr]
I hold an element of surprise

[flarewearer]

Without a doubt, people in my year went to university in the right year; we were in the gap year between the abolition of fees and the introduction of graduate tacks, so, no monies to pay! Yay! (oh apart from all that frigging debt, credit card bills and overdraft... ...damn!)

[hr][s]Have you ever wondered how you get triangles from a cow?
You need butter, milk and cheese, and an equilateral chainsaw.[/s]

[legohead]

what's all the stuff on the form about do you want to be in the press? I don't know...the sun, or the herald? I' really confused

[Cain]

the courier and a few other papers have lists of everybody graduating and their degrees; you can opt to have your name in or out of these lists.

[hr]
I hold an element of surprise

[General Porkov]

As someone who graduated last year, I just hope that you lot don't end up with the same situation I had.

It started about this time last year when I got told that I had to pay the £43 graduation fee for my PhD. So, I paid it by bank transfer and decided to graduate in absentia. Later, Cash Office informed me when payment was received, so I thought that would be it until I got the certificate.

Wrong! Just before graduation time, I get a letter from the University saying that I hadn't paid the graduation fee. My response was '??????' and I was not very happy, especially as I had definitely paid and they were saying that I didn't. It's not very nice of the University to take your money for the graduation fee and then turn round and say that you hadn't paid!!!!

So, I phoned up Registry to ask what this was all about and I got told that the list of who did/not pay was lost. Also, that if I had paid, I could just ignore the letter. 3 weeks after graduation, I finally got my PhD certificate.

A couple of things I don't understand about graduation is:
a) £40-something is a bit expensive for a degree certificate (My response to paying the fee was "If they're going to charge £43 for it, they can blinking well send it to Japan"). However, I wouldn't be surprised if they double the fee within the next year or so.
b) Why does the University wait a couple of weeks before sending out the degree certificates to those graduating in absentia? (I graduated in absentia, as I would have had to fork out lots on a return flight from Japan)

To those graduating this year, I hope your graduations go off without any hitches!

Doom Lord General Porko Porkov

[Rob Milsom]

Correct me if I'm wrong here - but isn't the obligatory £43 pound charge for life membership of the General Council? Giving you your chance to elect the Chancellor, and a very shiny biennial magazine with lots of information about the university, and thinly disguised appeals for you to give them yet more money.

I certainly hope it wasn't for the degree certificate - if mine was anything to go by, I could have made a reasonable mock-up with an inkjet printer and a rubber stamp...

[queen of scots]

Yes that's right...the fee is for life membership of the General Council. Otherwise you'd have to pay it every time if you graduate more than once, and I'm pretty sure I only paid it the first time, when it was something like £38. Which means it's not for the actual certificate.

[romantic]

[s]Cain wrote on 16:36, 2nd Mar 2005:
all that and £2,000 for me to pay, as a scottish student.

joy


[hr]
I hold an element of surprise


This is from the SAAS website - looks like graduate endownment will keep going up and up for new students...


The Graduate Endowment is a fixed amount that some graduates will have to pay at the end of their degree if they receive a degree or if they meet the requirements for an award. It applies to Scottish domiciled students and EU students who started their first full-time degree course at a Scottish institution on or after 1 August 2001. The Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001 provides for the Graduate Endowment.

Students have to pay the Graduate Endowment in recognition of the higher education benefits they have received. The funds will go towards student support for future generations.

Although graduates do not pay the endowment until the April after they have completed their course, the amount to be paid is set at the beginning of their degree course. The fixed amounts are as follows.

* £2,000 for students who began their degree course in session 2001-2002.
* £2,030 for students who began their degree course in session 2002-2003.
* £2,092 for students who began their degree course in session 2003-2004.
* £2,154 for students who began their degree course in session 2004-2005.

The amount will increase by the rate of inflation for students starting in future years so the rate payable by students entering in 2005-2006 will be different.

You will not have to pay the endowment if you:

* are assessed as being independent of your parents at the start of your course;
* are eligible for the Lone Parents’ Grant at some point during your course;
* are eligible for the Disabled Students’ Allowance at some point during your course;
* are on an HNC or HND course;
* transfer to your degree course directly from an HNC or HND started before 2001-2002;
* take less than two years to complete your degree course immediately after completing an HNC or HND;
* take less than three years to complete your degree course in all other circumstances;
* are taking certain degree courses that attract an income-assessed Scottish Executive Health Department bursary, such as nursing, midwifery and courses for the Allied Health Professions;
* fail to meet the requirements to be accredited with a degree;
* have studied for a degree in a publicly-funded higher education institution before;
* are studying at a UK institution outside Scotland; or
* study part time.

Paying the Graduate Endowment

If you have to pay the endowment, we will write to you during the final year of your degree course to let you know how you can pay the Graduate Endowment. We will write to you again shortly before you graduate to ask for details of how you plan to pay the endowment. You may want to pay the endowment at the end of your course. However, we assume that many graduates will choose to take an extra student loan to meet their liability. You can choose to:

* pay the Graduate Endowment in a lump sum and send us a cheque for the full amount;
* pay part of it by cheque and apply for a student loan for the rest; or
* apply for a student loan for the full amount.

If you choose to pay by taking out a loan, we will ask you to fill in a loan application form and we will pass your details to the Student Loans Company (SLC). However, the SLC will not take the loan from your loan account or this will not show up on your loan statement until after 1 April in the year after you complete your course.

Students who choose to take out a student loan to meet part or all of their liability will do so on the same terms as any existing income contingent loans. You can get more information from the Student Loans Company (SLC) on how repayments will be collected. Because the amount of the monthly payment depends on the level of income rather than the size of the loan account, the monthly payment will not increase as a result of the Graduate Endowment. If you use a loan to repay your Graduate Endowment, you will not have to make an extra monthly payment for this as well as for your repayment of your loan for living costs.

If you have any questions on the Graduate Endowment you can visit our Graduate Endowment FAQ section. This should answer some of the most commonly asked questions. You can also contact us.

[mossop]

Glad I started my degree in 2000!

[Bitterandtwisted]

Apply for another loan to pay for this?!!? Oh, joy. £17k right down the khazi.

[hr]How many boards
Would the Mongols hoard,
If the Mongol Hordes
Got bored?

[i_eat_pants]

why dont they tell u about the 2 grand ull need to pay before u start ur degree? tis a bit sneeky id say! i mean i alredy gotta pay them back for like 4 years of student loan! ffs... theiving bastards...

[theflirt]

Its f*cking ridiculous that you need to pay SO much to get a higher education so that you can get a good job when graduating!! I can understand paying something, but seriosuly, the amount of debt each student will be in is ridiculous!
This seriously pisses me off! aaaahhhhh

[hr]"I have nothing to declare but my own genius" - Oscar Wilde

[flossy]

So the £2000 is only paid by Scots students?

[hr]Fare thee well eyebrows

[Mr Comedy]

Yes, the £2,000 is only paid by Scots students (those who have Scottish parents or have been educated for 3 or more years in Scotland), and therefore do not pay tuition fees. The 'graduate tax' or whatever it is formulates the replacement for tuition fees.

[Mr Comedy]

[s]theflirt wrote on 13:29, 3rd Mar 2005:
Its f*cking ridiculous that you need to pay SO much to get a higher education so that you can get a good job when graduating!! I can understand paying something, but seriosuly, the amount of debt each student will be in is ridiculous!
This seriously pisses me off! aaaahhhhh


I'm not defending this, but this represents a shift from the government towards more individual liability in Higher Education funding. Seeing as the current Government sets a 50% target for people to enter higher education, there needs to be some way of funding this. The thinking is as follows - you will earn substantially more with a degree than if you don't have one (statistically). If 5-10% of this has to be used to pay off your university education, you have still dramatically benefitted.
I would scrap the 50% target myself, amd I think that there is too much emphasis on numbers in higher education as opposed to quality and applicability of higher education.