Why doesn't the union petition overpriced graduation attire?

Egle Katilauskaite submitted on

Wednesday 20th March 2019

Complete

I'm graduating soon and the price of the robes is absolutely ridiculous. It's around 40 pounds to rent the attire for a 1 hour ceremony. I know for a fact that there are students who don't have enough money to spend on such expenses but it's implied that the robes are a must. All the students I have talked to agree that the robes are too expensive to rent. Why doesn't the union represent students and make university change their pricing policy? 

Answers

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Samuel Dedman submitted on

Thursday 28th March 2019

Complete

Hello Egle,

Updates appear to have come fairly quickly for this issue. The Student Support Fund have confirmed that some money will be set aside and this will be promoted by them in the coming weeks - keep an eye out for more details about that. 

I have also been able to secure confirmation from the University's Exams, Awards & Graduation team that Student Rep(s) will be involved in the tender process next time we look at our robe supplier, ensuring that students at Southampton get value-for-money. This is potentially going to happen within the next year or so, and so while it is a bit of a long-term fix should at least reassure you that the Union is set to lobby on the cost of graduation at Southampton. 

I'm going to mark this You Make Change submission as completed, but please let me know if you have any more questions. 

Thanks for the submission, and best wishes,

Sam Dedman (SUSU VP Education 2017-19, vpeducation@susu.org)