Lynch urges UCC to scrap ‘ridiculous’ graduation fee

A LABOUR TD has called on University College Cork (UCC) to scrap its plans to introduce a “ridiculous” graduation fee.

Deputy Ciarán Lynch said the university’s decision to charge students €65 to attend their graduation ceremony “beggars belief”.

“This €65 charge is an additional educational cost on students being introduced through the back door under the guise of an unprecedented graduate fee,” Mr Lynch said.

“Graduation is an essential part of the college experience for both students and their parents and the introduction of this conferring charge is unfair.

“I am calling on UCC to scrap the introduction of this ridiculous charge.”

His call came after the Irish Examiner reported how UCC’s student leaders are threatening to run their own graduation ceremonies this year to avoid the charge. And some 2,000 students – half the potential graduates – have joined the Abolish the UCC Conferring Fee on Facebook, which was set up by Cork Student News, the city’s first independent student news website.

A further 500 have signalled their intent not to pay and attend the ceremony anyway. Incoming student’s union president Keith O’Brien said: “I have every intention of attending the ceremony without paying the charge, and if they want to physically remove me on the day so be it.”

College authorities announced last week it plans to introduce the fee this year. It will allow the student and two guests to attend their graduation ceremony and the reception afterwards, at which tea, coffee and sandwiches are served.

Students who do not pay will be considered to have chosen to be conferred “in absentia” and will not be able to attend their graduation ceremony.

A university spokesman said the fee is being introduced as part of a major cost-cutting exercise. He said the university has always borne the cost of previous conferrings, which last year topped some €200,000.

The fee will just about cover the cost of this year’s ceremonies, college bosses insist.

But Mr O’Brien said the move is proof of the “Ryanair-isation” of Irish university education.

Student leaders are now investigating the possibility of running an alternate ceremony for students unwilling to pay the new charge.

They hope to offer a cheaper package deal for graduates that will incorporate gowns, hats, photos, ceremony and the graduation balls the union runs.