Resitting or repeating exams can be a stressful time financially for students and families. Whilst some colleges require large payments to be made to repeat exams, Trinity College Dublin is known for waving the fees. However, as part of an overhaul of the assessment process in TCD, Trinity students may soon have to pay for supplemental exams.
According to The University Times, Trinity College Dublin may introduce fees similar to University College Dublin (UCD) which charges €230 per resit module.
Although Trinity remains the only university in Ireland not to charge resit fees, Vice-Provost Chris Morash, a sponsor of the Trinity Education Project believes the current procedure isn't fair to students. At present, students who fail a resit exam in August have to repeat the entire year and pay for an entire year's tuition or prove that they were incapable of passing the exam due to situations such as illness.
To combat students having to pay for a full years tuition TCD may introduce “pay-per-module for repeats” to avoid students having to pay a yearly tuition. Morash told University Times that the decision needs to factor the cost of students repeating their exams on the college:
If we pitch the fee for Supplementals at the current UCD fee, we can offset the cost of introducing per-module billing, and thus do away with the situation of students having to pay a full year’s fees to repeat. Keeping in mind that the university as a whole is carrying a very large deficit, which we are working hard to reduce, we simply can’t bear the cost of losing the income currently produced by repeat student fees.
Morash believes the proposal is a fair solution and that if introducing a cap on the overall price for a “handful of students who sit a large number of Supplementals” would mean students are not financially burdened.
TCDSU President Kevin Keane is wary of any changes that would increase charges on students and the Union will be monitoring the issue closely:
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College’s proposed change to the charging structure for supplemental exams and repeated modules would represent a huge change in the way students interact with assessment. The Union is always extremely wary of any proposed new or increased charge on students, and so we are monitoring this issue very closely.
Keane sees the benefits of students having the option to pay for the repeats as a way of combating a full years tuition but extortionate amounts need to be out of the question:
It would place new financial burden on students who need to sit supplementals. In my mind, a fee similar to the level of the one in UCD is certainly unconscionable, and I would be extremely surprised if Council were to approve of anything like that.
As part of an overhaul of the examination process from 2018 onwards, the issue is due to be debated during the first meeting of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU).
The Trinity Education Project will radically overhaul the examination of undergraduate students from 2018 onwards. The project aims to be base student assessment on creative practices and fewer exams.
H/T: University Times
