Free AU Alumni Membership via an Online Application Process

Our idea has two key benefits over the current system.

Firstly, that the AU alumni membership should be free, as with other university graduate benefits. Whilst we understand that this £45 covers admin fees and insurance, alumni have been paying £9,000 per year to the university for a minimum of the past 3 years, totally over £27,000. £45 per year over 5 years only comes to 0.83% of that £27,000. Whilst £45 may not seem like a huge issue for a graduate in employment, this is also in addition to the club membership fee and may end up totalling over £200 per year, or £1,000 over 5 years. To add to the blow, alumni, as we've found out the hard way, are only able to pay for this membership in person during the 9am-5pm Mon-Fri opening hours of the union shop, hours that are usually spent in graduate employment. There some members simply are not physically able to pay for their membership, which leads onto our second key benefit.

Due to issues signing up to the associate (alumni) membership, we also propose that the process is carried out online to allow for alumni full-time employment hours. We suggest this can be carried out by the alumni uploading a copy of their ID and signing some terms and conditioning. We also expect an eligibility to live in the UK confirmation may be required. Many employers use a similar process when taking on applicants. Alternatively, if this is absolutely not possible, application via an agreed appointment time between the alumni and a union representative could be employed.

To add to this, this would also bring in more money to the AU and university through the paying of extra AU club memberships.