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University of Galway Students' Union to propose reduction of exam repeat fees

Students at the University of Galway currently have to pay €295 to re-sit their exams.

UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY Students’ Union has said that it intends to put forward a proposal to university management to reduce the amount that students have to pay to repeat exams. 

The plan, being prepared by SU president Dean Kenny, looks to institute a €100 per module fee, capped at a maximum of €295, which is the current fee for students, which must be paid regardless of how many exams they need to repeat. 

Kenny emphasised however, that this was a temporary measure, and the students’ union is committed to the full abolition of repeat fees.

“This has been an issue that the students’ union has been campaigning on for years, but there’s been no willingness on the university’s part to engage on an abolition of fees,” he told The Journal. 

“I see this as being a stepping stone to that full abolition.”

The repeat fee in Galway is the highest per module in the country. The university has frequently come under fire from students and the students’ union over the burden that it puts on students’ finances.

Kenny said that with all the pressures that students face financially, any fees that can be abolished will make a massive difference.

Students are being hit in every regard. With the cost of living crisis, the increasing costs of rental accommodation, and with fees for repeats on top of that, any money that can be put back in students’ pockets is huge

Most recently, the university was criticised for maintaining the fee during the Covid-19 pandemic, when other universities, such as UCC, Maynooth, and Trinity waived fees.

UCC and Trinity have not reinstated repeat fees since the waiver. 

Different fee schemes are in operation around the country. Some universities have a flat rate: Dublin City University charges €150 and Atlantic Technological University charges €100, regardless of the number of exams sat. Others charge either by module or per ECTS credit: University of Limerick charges €171 per module, while Maynooth charges €10 per credit, with a minimum of €50 up to a maximum of €280.

In the north of Ireland, Queen’s University Belfast do not charge repeat fees, while Ulster University charge per module.

The plan comes amid the announcement last week by UCD students’ union that the university will be scrapping their exam repeat fees. The fee had already been reduced from €230 to €180 in 2018.

Speaking about the scrapping of the fees, UCD SU President Martha Ní Riada said “It was great to get this over the line for students, building on years of SU campaigning. This work will have a meaningful impact for students in the cost of living crisis.”

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    Mute donal O'brien
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    Aug 8th 2023, 5:26 PM

    Howabout passing the exams first time and no need for these fees?

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    Mute Robert Smith
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    Aug 8th 2023, 11:17 PM

    @donal O’brien: Says the fella who can’t even capitalise his own name lol.

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    Mute Tom Mc Sweeney
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    Aug 8th 2023, 11:29 PM

    @Robert Smith: We’ll said.I can’t bear pompous fools.

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    Mute parislanuit1
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:08 PM

    Let’s introduce another measure to protect the mental health of students! Sure we have already dumbed down the Junior Cert, sorry junior cycle now! We are in the process of dumbing down the leaving cert! Sorry making it more accessible! We need you to pass the exams now one way or another even though they are not able as we need to get their fee money off them

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 8th 2023, 10:27 PM

    @John John: From what I’ve observed, you don’t spend much time away from this site with your snide and demeaning remarks. Are you employed?

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    Mute Lorne Malvo
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    Aug 8th 2023, 8:00 PM

    There is no shortage of work out there for students, bar staff, lounge staff, waiters, kitchen porters, shop attendants, shelf stackers the list is endless. Fees should be doubled for repeats.

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 8th 2023, 11:04 PM

    @Lorne Malvo: What does that serve? Is it possible the reason they didn’t pass the first time is they were working to fund going to college as their parents are of little means?

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    Mute Lorne Malvo
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    Aug 9th 2023, 12:22 AM

    @I can see clearly now: a couple of weeks work after the failed exams would pay for the repeat exams. I never mentioned working before the exams.

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 9th 2023, 7:04 AM

    @John John: But who are you to make that assumption? I will be objective and say that yes, possibly there are some that have not done their study in order to pass the exam – but they tend to take it seriously the second time around. It isn’t that they are incapable, I would say rather that they have been distracted by college life.

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 9th 2023, 7:06 AM

    @Lorne Malvo: Yes Lorne, you never mentioned working before the exams as a potential factor for failing. One has to take all possibilities into account.

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    Mute Lorne Malvo
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    Aug 9th 2023, 11:10 AM

    @I can see clearly now: I’ve no interest in why they are failing exams in the first place. You brought that into the conversation.

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    Mute Margaret Tiernan
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    Aug 9th 2023, 12:02 AM

    There are so many reasons why students do not pass exams first time round, let’s not be too hasty to judge regarding these reasons and the stress it places on the students who do need to repeat.

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    Mute Tommy Haze
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:06 PM

    Read an article recently about a time when students were radical taking to the streets to fight causes for social and political justice. Anti Establishment fervour.
    Hard to believe isn’t it?

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    Mute Sylvia Power
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:43 PM

    @Tommy Haze: Any time young people protest anything, which happens a lot, the comments on the articles here are heaps of people telling them to get back to class. What do ye people want

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    Mute Alina
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    Aug 9th 2023, 1:33 PM

    Honestly, the fees should not be scrapped. It is not the college’s fault that staff need to be paid to administer and correct the repeat exams, as well as needing money to print out and purchase all the relevant papers and whatnot. If a student fails one or more exams, it is their fault and as such it is their responsibility to pay for it. If the money is not coming from the student who failed, it is coming from the fees of other students who have not failed, or otherwise, the Irish taxpayer. Why should responsible students and/or the Irish taxpayer pay for the failures of students? They shouldn’t.

    €295 is a drop in the bucket compared to things like the €3,000 student contribution fee, or the €5,000+ fee that University of Galway charges for international students to repeat their exams. Students are whining about less than €300, when I can almost guarantee you that these same students are spending their money on lunches either on campus or in one of the shops across the road from the university, or on things like gum, teas/coffees and/or other treats, and/or alcohol, vapes, cigarettes, in various shops or pubs. If these students cut down on any one of these categories of frivolous spending, it would almost certainly save them way more than €295.
    I would understand if these concerns were coming from frugal students who just genuinely don’t have a lot cash after their bills and didn’t get lucky with their parents nor the student grant, but this is not the case. These whiners are almost certainly not the financially responsible type. (And I honestly think that personal finance classes should be compulsory for all students).

    And this is coming from myself, a student who attends this university. I really hope our President does not listen to these Student Union folk, because I don’t want my fees (nor my taxes) being spent on other students’ repeat exams, thank you.

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    Mute Pato
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    Aug 8th 2023, 10:50 PM

    The union don’t charge the fees but the membership pay them. They can just pay what they feel is fair.

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    Mute Pato
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:21 PM

    Why propose it. Do it.

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    Mute Thomas Berry
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:55 PM

    @Pato: Eh.. The union don’t charge the fees.

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    Mute James Carroll
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    Aug 8th 2023, 9:22 PM

    @Pato: Why suppose it. Read it.

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