Student Satisfaction Survey

Pride Fighter

maxi-twist wrote:

I fail to see your point of how this makes UCD a better university.

It would give the university more money to spend on improvements. The government does not give the colleges 3-5 grand for each student that attends. Britain and America have the best universities in the world partly because students pay fees to go and as a result the universities are full of cash for facilities, research, and innovation. Trinity was considered on a par with Cambridge and Oxford up until recently. It has fallen in stature due to a lack of funds in comparison to these places and as a result is ranked 80th or something like that in the times ranking system when it should be in the top 20 with the big boys. UCD belongs in the top 50 but will never get there as it lacks funds also. Introducing fees to those who can easily afford it will give our third level institutions the financial muscle to propel themselves up the rankings and give the students a better deal in the process. That is my opinion and it seems completely logical.

lizzyvera

Or more tax money could go to education! That way we'll pay for our education as we work and pay tax.
People who went to uni will generally earn more and so they'll pay more tax and that'll pay for their education. Better than some people having to pay fees for four children.

maxi-twist

Pride Fighter wrote:

The government does not give the colleges 3-5 grand for each student that attends.

Is that right? Why does it say government grant of 3000 euro on my SIS fee's page?

dajaffa

The government have given about €14000 to the college for me so far and I've only done 2 years...

Ugh, bringing back fees will only serve to make it more difficult for some people to go to college. If you qualify for a grant, it might be slightly better if fees are brought back in. However, it will be made very difficult for those who are just outside the income threshold for a grant to go to college. Right now the max income of your parents to qulaify for any type of grant is €49000 if you have 8+ kids. Now if it's one of the older kids whos heading off to college, + due to where they live the person will have to move out. That'll easily cost €8000 anyway before fees, and at say €15000 including fees they probably won't be able to go to college at all.

Now as for all these D4 muppet/rich-kid types that some posters speak of, well lets call a spade a spade, their parents probably pay a lot of taxes, and after that they probably pump a fair amount into the economy. The country has a €2000000000 budget surplus, bringing back fees will just result in fewer people going to college + the colleges with less funding than they have now as the government won't pump the same amount of public money in to the colleges...

griffdaddy

dajaffa wrote:

The government have given about €14000 to the college for me so far and I've only done 2 years...

Ugh, bringing back fees will only serve to make it more difficult for some people to go to college. If you qualify for a grant, it might be slightly better if fees are brought back in. However, it will be made very difficult for those who are just outside the income threshold for a grant to go to college. Right now the max income of your parents to qulaify for any type of grant is €49000 if you have 8+ kids. Now if it's one of the older kids whos heading off to college, + due to where they live the person will have to move out. That'll easily cost €8000 anyway before fees, and at say €15000 including fees they probably won't be able to go to college at all.

Now as for all these D4 muppet/rich-kid types that some posters speak of, well lets call a spade a spade, their parents probably pay a lot of taxes, and after that they probably pump a fair amount into the economy. The country has a €2000000000 budget surplus, bringing back fees will just result in fewer people going to college + the colleges with less funding than they have now as the government won't pump the same amount of public money in to the colleges...

Take your common sense somewhere else mate, this is the 'I've got well-intentioned but poorly thought out socialist views' thread.

Red Alert

A bit like the hospital system, we have a government who has its priorities wrong. So they've a huge budget surplus and waste money on things like the unused Taoiseach's residence that nobody knows about. Meanwhile they want the private sector to bail out both the universities and to a greater extent the health system. Consider also UCD's apparently massive PR budget - why is this money not being spent on things that need it!

Suzie_Woozie

Dalfiatach wrote:

Well, the argument against at the time was that free fees would just end up as a subsidy to the already-rich, and wouldn't help students from poorer backgrounds get into college. Which is exactly what happened, and our universities (particularly UCD and TCD) are jam-packed with people who are, quite frankly, morons - but morons with very rich parents who can pay for the grinds to get them through the Leaving to do an Arts "degree" in Greek Philosophy and Art History. It's a huge waste of resources on a societal level.

Instead, if the rich had to fork out a few grand a year then darling, but thick, little Clarissa might get married off early instead of sending her to waste 3 years in college, leaving a place free for Anto from de Mun (who should get free fees and the dole while studying).

Something like - parental income over €100K - 3K a year fees
parental income under €35K - free fees plus the dole
In the middle - free fees

Self-financing, more or less, increases social mobility, ensures we utilise the talents of all our people effectively, stops wasting resources "educating" thick rich kids. Sorted.

I've just finished my Arts degree, entirely self-funded. My parents earn too much for me to get a grant, but refuse to give me anything (we don't really get on, I even had to work during Secondary School to afford it, and while I lived there I'd often end out on the street). I could barely manage to get myself through, and now have a load of debts to pay off to boot. should I get judged the same as someone who's spoonfed money? Problemn with your whole idea is that you're judging everyone under sweeping generalisations and bias.

As for the survey, I was the last non-Horizons year, and let me tell you it all but wreaked my final year. The lecturers had no idea what was going on, and the students seemed to be wandering around like lost sheep.

An example: small-group teaching session number one had something like 100 people in it, due to miscommunication and poor organisation. And this was in the "non-modularised" section, so if they'd just forgotten about us, I don't hold out much hope that the new years were getting much help.

Red Alert

self-funded? does that mean you paid your fees yourself too?

gubbie

No people we have a very good education system. I don't see why the government should put in any more effort into it then they already are. They supply the dough and UCD be the one's who waste over a million of it on redoing the Presidents gaff. Now the hospitals, thats a mess. The fact that all them industries are moving out to Asia, ya thats pretty screwy.

Though I do think that students have become lazy with the whole standing up for their rights because of free fee's. If we had fee's then I think people would care a lot more, and be willing to get out and fight for the quality of education that they're getting. But the only time that they've had that was when fee's were threatened to be reintroduced

And kinda off topic but...
did anyone hear that in Canada they were planning on selling off the names of schools to franchises so you could be getting a degree from Abrakababra High?

Pride Fighter

When I am finished my arts degree I may get a masters in Kebab studies in Canada, Mmmmmmmmm Kebabs.

Red Alert

Degree from Supermacs University Dublin anyone?