How can universities Justify charging fees on placement years?

studentphil

Placement year fees seem a huge rip off; 500 quid for teaching you nothing and maybe marking 2 projects. Now that is easy revenue!!

crossleydd42

One consolation is that your £500 is less than the average amount of nearer £600!

heymylastnameislewis

its not i am on placement i had a visit by my tutor twice 4 about 15 mins each time, ok so travel expense etc but not 600 squid! its just the uni's making more money, and they wonder why it is poor people dont go uni!

Sillychuckie

do what i did.
don't pay, and officially drop out for a year.
ask your uni, they'll happily take you back a year later and chances are, your employer wont mind.
it looks better on your CV that way too.

MercilessKiller

I dont advise you do what Sillychuckie does depending on your course.

An industrial work placement arranged by the university is better on the cv. Even if the university arranged it, then you drop out, employers won't know.. they'll just see a "working gap year" rather than "industrial placement".. unless you lie which is pointless.

The reason its £600 or whatever, I assume, is because they are still recording data of you, and they also assist you and put hours (indirectly) into finding you a work placement through listings and company associations.

Plus of course you are still a member of the university.

I think they take too much money off us yes.. but I don't think that this is the place where we're conned the most.. paying tuition fees then being told to buy £300 worth of books in the first week of uni was bad enough for me

DrFluffy

You could always ask the Uni to justify the charge... They should be able to provide you with minutes of meeting when the decision was made, and the reasoning for. Sould all be available under Freedom of Information...

studentphil

I did email the fees office to see what they say.
If I even get an answer.

DrFluffy

Copy it to someone higher up - emails suddenly get answered then! Spooky!

studentphil

I have sent it to the Manager of Fees, so I shall see if I get anything back.

Sillychuckie

A working gap year is more impressive than a 'student placement'. It shows you got it yourself and did your own organising (if thats the case). If the uni did it all for you (as they do with some slackers these days) then don't do what I said. If like me, the uni did sod all and you worked hard to get your own job, then why pay them anything? Just drop out... they almost certainly won't have a problem with it, provided it isn't necessary for the degree.
Mine was optional so I just changed from the 4 year course to the 3 year one.

The company also gave me a pay rise as I was no longer officially a student. The degree I got was precisely the same, and I mentioned it in my graduate interview (which they seemed impressed with). Got the job anyway.
Up to you really, but I advised all my friends to do it when I was at uni, and about 6 of them did. None regretted it.

DrFluffy

Sillychuckie wrote:

A working gap year is more impressive than a 'student placement'. It shows you got it yourself and did your own organising (if thats the case). If the uni did it all for you (as they do with some slackers these days) then don't do what I said. If like me, the uni did sod all and you worked hard to get your own job, then why pay them anything? Just drop out... they almost certainly won't have a problem with it, provided it isn't necessary for the degree.
Mine was optional so I just changed from the 4 year course to the 3 year one.

The company also gave me a pay rise as I was no longer officially a student. The degree I got was precisely the same, and I mentioned it in my graduate interview (which they seemed impressed with). Got the job anyway.
Up to you really, but I advised all my friends to do it when I was at uni, and about 6 of them did. None regretted it.

I organised my own year in industry (wasn't on a sandwich course). I spent 13 months with the then GlaxoWellcome - the interview was scary, and I quickly became aware I was the only person being interviewed who wasn't on a sandwich course... I've often wondered if that was the reason why I got it!

Anyway - to cut a long story short, having a self organised placement year on my CV must have done the job as I got offered all the PhDs I applied for