Trinity has breached advertising regulations when publicising a Masters programme on its website, according to the Irish Independent. A complaint was made with regards to the advertising of fees for a two-year Masters course in Cognitive Psychotherapy.
According to the Irish Independent, the course details outlines that “fees for the Masters course in Year 1 are €9,779 (€20,507 for non EU students) and in Year 2 are €8,471”. The complainant observed that on the invoice, additional charges including a €120 Sports Centre charge, a Students’ Union charge of €8 and a graduation fee of €135 had been affixed such that the fees due totalled €10,042.
In correspondence with the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI), Trinity stated that the figure outlined on the website was tuition fees only and other additional charges could be found in the course handbook available online.
Although the figure of €9,779 is the cost of tuition for the masters programme for the 2016/17 academic year, the ASAI stated that College had breached four sections of Irish advertising regulations (4.1, 4.4, 4.22 and 4.23). The ASAI detailed to the university that advertised charges must encompass all mandatory payments.
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College did not respond to a request for comment from Trinity News.
