Hello,

Looking for a general consensus if possible. I've just had my PhD thesis corrections accepted, which was a fantastic feeling, right up until the printing services quoted me £215 to print three copies of my hardbound dissertation. To break that down a bit, that's £92 for two B&W copies which are *mandatory* by the University for submission and £125 for one colour copy which I had hoped to keep for myself.

I managed to reduce the fee to £175 by removing my supplementary files - but holy crap that's so much money! I was instructed that under no uncertain terms would the University help with the payment (Queen's University Belfast), and I would need to pay for it out of my own pocket. I can understand the University not covering the personal copy (although you'd think with how much money they rake in they would allow you one personal copy), but surely they should be obligated to pay the £94 which is mandatory for completing a supposedly "funded" PhD?

I will be able to pay, but this made me think about students who might not be in a financial position to afford this, surely this policy is discriminatory?

Would anyone from Universities who do offer the printing of library copies (I know there are quite a few from a little research), have any advice on how they got this service? I feel like this is something that should be changed for future students.

Thanks,
Katie