It's OK - it's just a clerical error
I had cause for concern this morning when I opened my morning post (why do I still call it that when there is no other kind any more?) and was accosted by a demand for €9600 for fees, to be paid immediately.
Could I have mistaken the yearly amount quoted to me only a week ago for a single semester payment? Taken as correct, could I swing the difference between my County council contribution (generous already) and the full amount? Well, no, not when there would be the Venice trip and extra travel expenses for research, books etc to take into consideration. No, I would have to pull out, pleading poverty - but how had no one explained to me how expensive it was going to be? Nearly 10,000 euro is no small amount for anyone to find. Even my better-off friend on the course would baulk at this payment. So she wouldn't be there either. I began to think of alternative ways to spend my next year.
By this time I had already called the mature student advisor and left a largely incoherent message for him. I finally navigated the switchboard to the fees office, where they informed me that as I was not a EU student, I had to pay up.
I pointed out that I was a Brit and resident in Ireland for 17 years. She insisted that I had paid fees last year and full registration. I insisted that I had had free fees paid by my local county council. She, a foreign national herself to judge by her perfect but accented English, went away again to check. You have paid €103.50 this year, she said triumphantly. Yes, I replied, that is the amount I was told to pay for registration. I had been assured that my County Council contribution was more than adequate for the fees of approximately €4800 and there would be no balance to pay.
Suddenly, she agreed. You can just ignore that thing, she assured me, her English deserting her with the stress of such clerical errors surfacing. It's an error? I pressed. Yes, she reluctantly admitted, just ignore it.
I felt quite queasy with the topsy-turvy start to my day. Welcome back to the UCD world of administration cock-ups.
Could I have mistaken the yearly amount quoted to me only a week ago for a single semester payment? Taken as correct, could I swing the difference between my County council contribution (generous already) and the full amount? Well, no, not when there would be the Venice trip and extra travel expenses for research, books etc to take into consideration. No, I would have to pull out, pleading poverty - but how had no one explained to me how expensive it was going to be? Nearly 10,000 euro is no small amount for anyone to find. Even my better-off friend on the course would baulk at this payment. So she wouldn't be there either. I began to think of alternative ways to spend my next year.
By this time I had already called the mature student advisor and left a largely incoherent message for him. I finally navigated the switchboard to the fees office, where they informed me that as I was not a EU student, I had to pay up.
I pointed out that I was a Brit and resident in Ireland for 17 years. She insisted that I had paid fees last year and full registration. I insisted that I had had free fees paid by my local county council. She, a foreign national herself to judge by her perfect but accented English, went away again to check. You have paid €103.50 this year, she said triumphantly. Yes, I replied, that is the amount I was told to pay for registration. I had been assured that my County Council contribution was more than adequate for the fees of approximately €4800 and there would be no balance to pay.
Suddenly, she agreed. You can just ignore that thing, she assured me, her English deserting her with the stress of such clerical errors surfacing. It's an error? I pressed. Yes, she reluctantly admitted, just ignore it.
I felt quite queasy with the topsy-turvy start to my day. Welcome back to the UCD world of administration cock-ups.
posted by ruth @ 3:25 AM
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