Prince William has been given a hefty discount on his fees for a special course at Cambridge University, a media report said on Sunday. William, 31, is paying around 10,000 pounds to study agricultural management but the Mirror quoted sources as saying that they had expected the cost to be higher because the crash course has been especially organised just for him.
The 10-week study stint is to prepare him for when he inherits the Duchy Of Cornwall from Prince Charles. Student leaders on Saturday attacked the cut-price deal, which comes as ordinary undergraduates struggle with 9,000 pounds annual tuition fees and leave university with an average 25,000 debt, the report said.
"It's not as though the Queen has had to remortgage Buckingham Palace to help him through university," National Union of Students (NUS) vice president Dom Anderson said. "There are surely more deserving postgraduate students in Cambridge than the heir to the British throne who will inherit a 400 million pounds estate. Many feel the Royal Family receives quite enough of a subsidy as it is," he was quoted as saying.
Sources were quoted by the daily as saying senior members of the Royal household believed William's aides were naive to accept the discount and "openly score an own goal". William started the tailor-made course on January 7. It comes under the university's School Of Technology which has Prince Charles as its patron. He has 20 hours of teaching a week, including work in small groups, plus one-to-one tuition and sits with ordinary students in other classes.
William's decision to study at Cambridge angered some students even before the discount was known about. Student newspaper The Tab claimed William had not met the usual academic requirements, saying: "Conveniently though, his father is the registered benefactor of the department he will be studying at." "The course is being funded privately so therefore I can't comment any further," Kensington Palace said.
A university spokesman refused to discuss the financial arrangements, but said: "These courses are designed and developed for senior executives and leaders in business and, in this case, for a future king."
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