University Additional Charging Policy

• No additional charge is made for compulsory aspects of learning. The University only charges for a retaken module when it has  initially been failed overall.

• The Library provides access to necessary books, papers and other materials; lecturers may advise on textbooks for optional purchase in some cases.  The MyReading project in the Library will make all material on reading lists freely available electronically to all students, obviating any remaining perceived need to purchase texts.

• Optional aspects of activity are charged for where a significant field trip is involved and in the case of materials where the norm is for the student to retain the product – indeed where the student should be retaining the product to use with potential employers, clients etc or for sale.

• Optional aspects of activity are normally not charged for where the product is retained by the University, esp. where the product is a result of group work, or where it is not meaningful for the student to retain the ‘product’ (e.g. a final performance or concert).

• The chief exception to this relates to paper, printing, copying and small-scale consumables associated with written, recorded etc coursework.  To subsidise these from overall student income to the point of making them free to students would be uneven and unfair in its impact on the overall student population and would encourage wasteful use of these items, against the spirit of the University and Student Union’s environmental policies. 

• In this connection, the University attempts to provide access to extremely competitively priced materials and services for students to purchase.  For example, the University ensures that it is consistently amongst the best value in the country for printing and copying costs (with the result that average monthly spending on printing is well under £1). As appropriate, the University is moving toward increased use of electronic submission for work previously submitted on paper, disk etc., removing remaining aspects of this cost.

Where a single optional item or activity supplied through the University costs £150 or more, the School will signal this to students at least 4 term-time weeks in advance, or by the end of induction week if that is later, and will look at ways of making available the option of paying off the charge in monthly instalments (although it is mindful of the dangers of students becoming debtors, given the unavoidable sanctions this brings and their possible impacts).