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sean-doherty
7th March 2013

Competition gives students chance to win a year’s fees

Manchester Business School student sets up speed-typing competition with a prize of tuition fees
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A University of Manchester student is launching a free to enter online contest which gives students the chance to have a year’s tuition fees paid for them.

Jake Davis, a second year student at the Manchester Business School, and his friend Luke Shelley, a third year at Regent’s Business School London, have created the website WinMyFees which features a competition where the winner will get their fees, up to a value of £9000, paid in full.

To enter the competition, which is open to any current UK student, contestants will need to speed type a specific sentence. The pair is hoping to fund the prize through advertising revenue from student-friendly companies.

“We need students to help us to help them, the more users we get the more fees we can pay out,” said Davis. “We could be changing loads of student’s lives.”

The website www.winmyfees.com will soon go live and the competition will begin when 100,000 have registered online, with 15,000 registered so far.

The duo said they seek to capitalise on a student population which is constantly looking for ways to save money. Mr Davis believes the contest will have a wide appeal, stating that “students like to get offered things for free”. He also feels that by targeting a group with a “restricted income” that the website offers the chance to “help the community while making money”.

As well as word of mouth and viral marketing through the WinMyFees Facebook page, Davis said they plan to create publicity through links to student club nights.

They hope that the attention generated by the first competition and its lucky winner will allow them to continue with subsequent contests, giving more students the chance to take the money saved on fees and spend it on something memorable (or something they won’t be able to remember).

Whilst the main focus of the website will be the chance to have fees paid for, there will also be other free to enter competitions on the site, offering the chance to win merchandise from a range of companies.

The competition will presumably be particularly popular with first year students who have to pay far higher fees. The rise in maximum tuition fees last year saw a 7.7% overall decline of applicants to British Universities. MMU had one of the largest course vacancies of any universities in the country this year and University of Manchester saw its applicants fall 10% from the previous year; as a result three halls in the Owens Park residence are vacant this year.

Second year Geography student Declan Wagstaff said, “My little sister’s 14 and she still wants to go to uni but the rise in fees has definitely put off some of her friends who’d worry about being in that much debt. The chance to have her fees paid for her would definitely help. I’ll be entering the competition at least.”

Sean Doherty

Sean Doherty

News Editor

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