gair rhydd
FREE
CARDIFF'S STUDENT WEEKLY
freeword - EST. 1972
ISSUE 926 MAY 31 2010
Unpaid fees cost Cardiff
Comment Synthetic life just became scientific fact - but what does it mean for us all? >> page 8
Politics
How do you solve a problem like Korea? Politics takes a look. >> page 11
Features
Features spends a night in the life of a Cardiff Nightline volunteer >> pages 12-13
News CARDIFF UNIVERSI
TY
WRITTEN-OFF TUIT
ION FEES
2004/5: £94K 2005/6: £124K 2006/7: £203K 2007/8: £261K 2008/9: £268K TOTAL: £950K
Jamie Thunder News Editor Almost £1 million has been written off in unpaid tuition fees by Cardiff University since 2004, gair rhydd has learnt. In total, the University has accepted that £950,000 of outstanding tuition fee debts will not be recov-
ered – the equivalent of 300 undergraduates’ tuition fees for one year. In 2004/5, only £93,000 of tuition fees were written off. But last academic year that figure was up to £268,000, having increased in each of the last five years. The University did not break the figures down into fees owed by overseas and home students, but home undergraduate students are un-
likely to have been included because their top-up fees are not written off until 25 years after the end of their degree. A Cardiff University spokesperson said: "Most fees are written off because the University's collection agency has been unable to trace a student owing outstanding tuition fees." They added: "Data is not readily
available on a case-by-case basis and the release of such information would impinge data protection regulations." A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said that as higher education institutions have responsibility for their own administrative affairs, the Assembly had no powers to intervene in this sort of matter.
Looks at the impact that latest cuts will have on university places in 2010/11 >> page 4
Sport Previews of Wales v South Africa and Blackpool's rise to the Premiership >> pages 26-27
Opinion Liz Blockley laments the death of chivalry in her rant about truelad.com >> page 9