Cardiff University to introduce £100 penalty for students missing 9am lectures

Cardiff University is introducing a £100 fine for students who miss 9am lectures and seminars without an approved reason.

According to a leaked email thread, the university will be charging students £100 if they oversleep or choose not to attend early lectures, in an attempt to “hold students accountable for their own learning” and avoid lecturers “wasting their time”.

This comes after it was announced that eight Welsh universities, including Cardiff University, have a combined deficit of £116 million. The fines, which are forecast to amass over £100,000 per week, will be put towards paying off the universities’ rising deficit.

The new fine applies to all university contact hours – lectures, workshops, labs, seminars, and so on.

Attendance will be monitored using the Cardiff Uni app’s QR code system, meaning all skipped lectures will result in an immediate fine. As part of re-enrolment, you can choose to link your bank account or have the fine added to your student finance, resulting in increased interest.

Thankfully for graduates, the new fine will not be implemented until the start of the new academic year. Freshers, however, will have a hefty bill to pay after three years of skipping early contact hours.

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In the email, Cardiff University said: “This initiative aims to address the ongoing issue of low attendance in early morning sessions and will be assessed across specific schools and departments before a full rollout in September 2026.”

A second-year Cardiff University student told The Cardiff Tab: “I’m absolutely heartbroken. I never would’ve gone to university if I had known this would be a rule.

“We’re already buried in debt. Why are we now being financially punished for making mistakes like oversleeping? Going out and having a good time is as much a part of the uni experience as attending lectures. Missing the odd lecture shouldn’t equal an additional hundreds of pounds being stolen from us each year.”

You should probably check the date, you April fools!

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