£136k: that’s how much the McClay makes you pay

Since 2011, QUB has taken a whopping £136,930 in library fines. 

A Freedom of Information request made by The Tab has revealed the shocking figures, showing McClay has raked in nearly £137k in under three years.

And it’s going up. From £51K, to £54K, to £30K already in 2013/14.

The current rate charges 10 pence per day for standard overdue books which can equate to a maximum of £10 per day. That’s not including short loan collection fines, which stand at 50p an hour. Last week The Tab also uncovered how the warnings many universities, including QUB, impose on students that they can’t graduate with unpaid library fines, may be illegal, and have been slammed as “laughable” by NUS watchdogs.

Put it back on time, or lose a significant amount of your student loan

Many feel the fines are too high and harshly enforced on students who are already financially stretched.

Second year history student Charlotte Atkinson said “students have enough worries trying to save money on books by going to the library and yet some are getting charged more than the original would have cost them.”

A third year Anthropology student at QUB also told The Tab “The amount they get from us in library fines is complete madness. No wonder we’re all so dirt broke. And with the money they get from us anyway… Have you seen how much the  new VC is getting paid?!”

We reported last week on the controversy surrounding the huge pay rise for new QUB vice-chancellor Patrick Johnston, who is to be paid a massive £250K. We can now reveal that the money taken in McClay library fines alone equates to 1/5th of Professor Johnston’s salary.

Another student told us “I was charged £9 once for 3 short loan books that had been overdue by three hours. They were one night loan books that I got out on 2pm on Monday and brought back on 5pm Tuesday, and the library said the 3 hour difference apparently meant two nights.

They don’t tell you it’s got to be the same time of the day? If they do I’ve gone 3 years without knowing that. Not major but fucking annoying”

You’d be crying in the library too if you had to pay out this amount of money

Currently there are fines 4,504 active accounts and these total a massive £16,549.70.

That could buy you a lot of printing credits.