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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION BY DEPUTY M. TADIER OF ST. BRELADE
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 1ST NOVEMBER 2016
Question
Will the Minister provide a breakdown of current fees (including tuition, exam and administration fees) for GCSE resits at Highlands College (where the College has already paid for the exam once), and will he state whether there have been, or are planned to be, any increases in any of the fees charged, including administration fees charged by the College, and, if so, how these compare to the previous prices?
Answer
When students enrol on a Level 2 or Level 3 programme of study at Highlands College and they have not achieved a GCSE at grade C or above in English and/or Mathematics, their programme of study will include one of these GCSEs. These students will already have had one publicly-funded attempt at their GCSE qualifications while studying in secondary school.
The cost of taking GCSE examinations while studying at Highlands College are covered by the following extract from the Student Handbook, which is published to students and available on the College website;
- Where they are relevant to the course and form an essential part of a full-time programme, there is no charge for the first attempt at an examination. However students should be aware if they fail to attend their examination at the required/advised time they will incur charges as detailed below for re-sit examinations.
- When a student retakes an examination a retake fee of £20, plus the awarding body fee, must be paid prior to the student being entered for the examination. Exemption from payment is only possible if extenuating circumstances apply to the first attempt and evidence, such as a medical certificate, is supplied.
Students enrolled at Highlands College therefore have a second publicly-funded attempt at their GCSE examinations before they are asked to pay for any further attempts to achieve these qualifications. Where payment for a retake might cause an individual student financial hardship, the College will facilitate payment over a period of time or may allow the student to access funding from the College Student Hardship Fund. Where a number of students are retaking an examination the retake fee (£20) which covers administration and invigilation may be reduced. There are no plans to increase the retake fee, which has not been increased for at least three years. The fees currently charged to Highlands College by the GCSE awarding body for 2016/17 are £55.60 for the English examination and £33.60 for the Mathematics examination. These fees are reviewed annually and agreed with the Department for Education in England.