Finance Office - Fees
Graduate Research - Postgraduate Research Students:
Fees:
The DCU academic year commences in late September of each year. All postgraduate research students are required to register in September, prior to the commencement of Semester 1. For students not on a scholarship, 60% of all research fees must be paid on or before registration and the balance in January of the following year. Students on a scholarship will have their fees transferred internally (unless they happen to be paying their own fees in which case the above rule applies).
Current research fees for academic year 2009-10 can be obtained from the relevant faculty at:
http://www.dcu.ie/finance/fees/schedule.shtml
Registration Grace Period
Students who commence their research from 1st April onwards each year register as normal but because they are registering during DCU’s registration grace period, this means that they will not be liable for any research fees until the start of the next academic year. Students who are paying their own fees will however be liable to a non-refundable deposit of €1,000, which will then be deducted from their fees in the following academic year.
NB: Students who register during the grace period (April to September) will register as Year 1 students but they must also register again as Year 1 students in September/October for the next academic year (even though this will have meant registering twice in a short period of time). Such students will only be liable to the 1st year full-time or part-time fee applicable to the new academic year.
Submission of research theses /€150 Card Fee
DCU requires all research students to register by the start of Semester 1 in each academic year. Only students registered for the current academic year can avail of the Card Fee. The application for the Card Fee must come from the student’s supervisor.
The conditions of the scheme are as follows:
1. Continuing students who have registered at the start of the academic year and intend to submit to the Registry the first soft bound copy of their research thesis by Tuesday 1st December (inclusive) may, through their supervisor, request derogation from the appropriate research fee for that year and instead pay a Card Fee of €150. Only students who have not previously availed of the Card Fee or any write-up fee are eligible to apply. Students who applied for the Card Fee in a previous academic year but did not avail of it are eligible to apply again.
2. Registered students who submitted the soft bound copy of their thesis in the previous academic year but will not sit their viva until the current academic year (ie. on or after 1 October) may also, through their supervisor, request derogation from the appropriate research fee for that year and instead pay a Card Fee of €150. Only students who have not previously received the Card Fee can avail of this.
3. Registered students who submitted the soft bound copy of their thesis and sat their viva in the previous academic year (i.e. on or before 30 September) but have yet to submit the revised/hard bound copy of their thesis may also, through their supervisor, request derogation from the appropriate research fee for that year and instead pay a Card Fee of €150. Again, students in this position must have registered and must not have previously availed of the Card Fee or any write-up fee.
Registered students who successfully avail of the €150 Card Fee in any given year must submit the hard bound copy of their thesis by the end of that academic year or else be liable for the appropriate full research fee in the subsequent academic year.
To avail of the Card Fee the supervisor should submit an email on or before Thursday 1st October to Prof Gary Murphy, Director of Graduate Research and cc this to Mr Jonny Hobson in the Graduate Research Office, outlining the terms under which the application is being made (as above). Applications from research students themselves will not be entertained.
Students who fail to meet the submission deadline of Tuesday 1st December must immediately pay the full research fee pertaining to that academic year, less any monies already paid. The student will be unable to graduate until the relevant fee has been paid in full.
NB: No exceptions to the above deadlines will be entertained. The Graduate Research Office will confirm after the 1st December deadline, through an email to students’ supervisors, those students who have availed of the Card Fee.
In addition to the above the following criteria also apply:
Full-time Masters students (students who intend to graduate with a masters) must have paid at least 2 years full-time fees
Part-time Masters students (students who intend to graduate with a masters) must have paid at least 3 years part-time fees
Full-time PhD students (students who intend to graduate with a PhD) must have paid at least 3 years full-time fees
Part-time PhD Students (students who intend to graduate with a PhD) must have paid at least 5 years part-time fees
Part-time students are welcome to avail of the Card Fee as long as the above criteria have been met.
Any exceptions to the above criteria should be directed in writing to the Director of Graduate Research and will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
The Card Fee can only be availed of once.
Change of registration status
If a student makes an application for and is granted a change of registration status, from full-time to part-time for example, research fees must be paid at the equivalent full-time/part-time level that the student is now entering. For example a 4th year full-time student transferring to part-time status in the next academic year must pay year 5 part-time research fees. No exceptions will be entertained.
