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31st Aug 2020

Students to pay full college fees, despite lectures being online

Rudi Kinsella

college fees

Students will be asked to pay full fees, despite the major changes being made to college life.

The President of Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) has confirmed that the college won’t be reducing the price of fees, despite lectures being put online.

Speaking to RTÉ on Monday afternoon, Professor Willie Donnelly said that despite Covid-19 changes, the college’s staff costs remain the same, which account for 80% of overall costs, as well as overheads.

All WIT students were told last week that all lectures and tutorials will be delivered remotely (off-campus) for the academic year 2020/21.

Remote delivery will include live-streaming of lectures and other forms of remote learning platforms appropriate to individual modules or programmes.

Students were told that their level of on-and-off campus activity will vary depending on their programme.

Donnelly did address concerns over the importance of student’s social life, saying that it was a “main concern” of WIT, especially for first year students.

He said that management is currently working closely with the college’s student union to see how this is possible.

This interview comes the day after Minister for Education Norma Foley confirmed that colleges will be allowed to charge the full amount, saying there is no chance of mandatory reductions applying.

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