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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to sneak into uni lectures even though i'm not a student

407 replies

Lecture · 24/02/2016 13:53

I am in fact a SAHM Blush. We live in a university town and every Wednesday my DM has the baby for the morning so I get a break. About a month ago I ordered a book from waterstones and picked it up from the university branch. I'd never been on the campus before and couldn't believe there was no security or need to show any student ID. After i'd been to Waterstones I got a cup of coffee at one of the cafes and had a wander round the grounds.

Its lovely there, lots of (cheap) restaurants and cafeterias and you don't need to show ID to use them Shock

The next week I went there for lunch and looked around the library for a few hours.

Today I was wandering around and sat on the bench outside the lecture hall. There were hundreds of students milling around and the lecture schedule on a big flat screen TV on the outside wall. Anyway i watched them going in to each room and there were loads of spaces in the halls (big double doors open so i could see in). Then I was looking at the schedule and there were lots of interesting sounding lectures on. It suddenly occurred to me that i could probably just go in and sit in on one without being noticed by anyone. There were quite a few mature students so I don't think i'd stick out too much.

Now i'm home I think I might be being a bit mental (and possibly a bit post natal) to consider essentially stealing lectures I haven't paid for. I haven't told DH or DM i've been hanging around the uni Blush

AIBU (or do you think I could get away with it)

BTW, can't believe the username Lecture wasn't taken!

OP posts:
Cel982 · 24/02/2016 16:45

What shovetheholly said, basically. This is what a university is supposed to be about. I can't think of any person - lecturer, student, administrator - who could genuinely have a problem with you attending. Which is beside the point because there's no way they'll find out in the first place.

I went to a city centre university that had hordes of tourists streaming through at all times, occasionally a stray one would wander into a lecture by mistake, which was always enjoyable Grin

wheatchief · 24/02/2016 16:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jux · 24/02/2016 16:49

Definitely do it. Great way of keeping your mind working, and may lead you to something really life changing. (If it does, remember it, and maybe one day donate some money to the Uni Library or something.)

ScottishProf · 24/02/2016 16:50

Go ahead! As long as your presence isn't keeping a registered student out, the marginal cost of having you there is zero and learning is what universities are about. If the room is crowded and a registered student might have trouble finding a seat, you should leave of course.

My department makes as much of its material available online as we can, including videos of lectures, and anyone is welcome to use it. What we won't do is answer loads of questions, mark your work or give you a certificate!

If it would make you feel better, approach the lecturer and ask: you're very likely to get the same answer I just gave.

Cel982 · 24/02/2016 16:52

Just pondering, is attending a lecture for a course you have not paid for ethically that different from not paying your fare for a train journey?

But you're not getting remotely the same experience as the paying students. They get lectures, tutorials, essays set and marked, exams set, invigilated and marked, libraries, computer facilities, sports, societies... and a degree at the end of it all. If the OP was somehow going to wangle all that for free then the train journey analogy might be apt. But it's not.

RhodaBull · 24/02/2016 16:53

Another one annoyed at VagueIdea's point that anyone who is not an undergraduate just wouldn't understand . Ho ho ho. I freely admit that physics is not my strong suit, but I think I'd give any undergraduate anywhere a run for their money on English Literature. (Especially dn at a RG university who had never heard of metaphysical poets, WH Auden, TS Eliot or even Pam Ayres! I simply couldn't believe it.)

shouldiblowthewhistle · 24/02/2016 16:55

I came on to post but found out Cel982 had covered it already. You should absolutely go for it, with a coffee, and enjoy every bit of it.

It's not stealing because you aren't getting the full experience. If I could get my degrees from just attending I'd be delighted but they are a hell of a lot more work that has to be marked and graded

Quodlibet · 24/02/2016 16:55

Do it! Yes there are students who have paid for those lectures...and lots of those paid-for students also CBA and have stayed in bed. There is a massive entitlement amongst students nowadays: 'I've paid for it and therefore I will use/ignore the provision as I see fit'.

Why let the opportunity of education go to waste?

JessieMcJessie · 24/02/2016 16:56

OK, I think that the train travel (on a half-empty train) without a ticket situation is different because:

  1. Train company budgets are based on projected sales and they will already set ticket prices knowing that not all trains are going to be full. So your ticket is revenue they are relying on. In the University scenario they fill all the places available with actual students but there are still some free seats in the lecture hall.
  1. On the train the ONLY service the company is providing is travel from A to B. You are receiving 100% of their service and paying for nothing. Whereas attending a few lectures is consuming only a tiny fraction of what a paying student pays for and, arguably, you are getting something of minimal value.
ScottishProf · 24/02/2016 16:57

About the train ticket analogy: I haven't rt(whole)ft but I think the key difference is that universities don't sell single-lecture tickets that you're evading paying for. You accept, I think, that you don't have a right to be there: if someone on behalf of the university asked you to leave you'd do so. It would be easy enough for universities to make lecture theatres card-access only, and we don't do so, and many academics here have said that dropping-in students are welcome. So the expectation that it's OK is a reasonable one, in a way that an expectation it was OK to travel free on a train wouldn't be.

GruntledOne · 24/02/2016 17:00

A retired relative of mine who lives in Oxford regularly goes to their lectures, and it seems almost to be official. He is an Oxford graduate, though, which I guess may make a difference.

LeaLeander · 24/02/2016 17:00

I don't think most professors would mind and it's really up to them.

You aren't defrauding the university or doing anything unethical because you are not earning or claiming any credit for being there. So whether or not actual students are paying lots of money for those lectures is irrelevant. They'll also have a degree at the end of their course.

OP, you really sound like you have an admirable thirst for knowledge. Perhaps sitting in on some lectures will spur you to join as a student in time, for a degree (or another if you already have one.) I don't think any true educator would begrudge you some time sampling the lectures.

summerainbow · 24/02/2016 17:01

Go to reception and sign the visitors book and get a pass that way .

Jellybeam · 24/02/2016 17:02

OP, the uni you've described sounds like Essex to me.

Nataleejah · 24/02/2016 17:05

The uni where i attended most classooms were small, and everyone was on first name basis. Even though there was no security patrolling or any ID checking, but a stranger who didn't belong would have been spotted immediately.

As for ethics, those students who pay thousands, receive a DEGREE!

LeaLeander · 24/02/2016 17:05

I was fortunate to have a paid fellowship a few years ago at a university, for one year. It was related to my occupation and we had use of all university resources, but did not have to do any of the coursework. It was delightful; I sat in on classes ranging from botany to Portuguese to horror films to accounting and marketing. Some for fun, some to take back new knowledge when I returned to my job. Not having the pressure to produce anything made absorbing the information so pleasant and enriching.

As a courtesy I spoke to professors ahead of attending their classes (some were large lectures, some discussion groups) and none of them had a problem. Granted I was officially a fellow, at least for that year, but if I were just a member of the neighboring community most of them probably would have been as welcoming. As long as you aren't preventing an enrolled student from attending there is no harm.

IoraRua · 24/02/2016 17:05

Absolutely do it. When I was in secondary school and taking tours around college campuses the lecturers advised us to do exactly this, to test out whether we'd like the course or not.

TwistInMySobriety · 24/02/2016 17:07

I'm an academic and I have a little old lady who's been coming to one of my classes for fun for years. I'm very fond of her, the only bummer is it means I have to come up with a new set of texts to work on every year...

AlpacaPicnic · 24/02/2016 17:08

Thank you op, because of this discussion I have discovered not only the list of public lectures available at my local uni but also that they have a planetarium that they do a public show in once a month!

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 24/02/2016 17:10

I don't think you should ask though. The lecturer is unlikely to mind but there may be a university rule forbidding it for reasons of fire safety or profit or something, so they won't feel able to give permission.

Original poster
Lecture · 24/02/2016 17:13

Jelly. It's is absolutely completely not ever been Essex. Ever. No no no.

OP posts:
dontrunwithscissors · 24/02/2016 17:17

I'm a lecturer and wouldn't mind. The only place anyone is asked for ID is to get into the library. I'm not sure about fire regs within university buildings. They're open to the general public (eg there are various exhibitions). What difference does it make? Students are paying their fees to (hopefully) get a qualification. Sitting in on a lecture would be fine with me.

In fact, it's lovely to see people who are engaged or even just awake

paintandbrush · 24/02/2016 17:20

YANBU! pfft, "ethically dubious". Who are these people? I would absolutely do that if I thought I could get away with it. Sitting in on a lecture is like reading by the light from someone else's window. Nothing wrong with that. Nobody will notice unless it's a really small class.

ricketytickety · 24/02/2016 17:22

I wish I could go back to uni. Wasn't ready for it first time round and didn't appreciate it.

Do you think you're in danger of stepping it up after a few lectures and telling others you're a student?

Ringsender2 · 24/02/2016 17:32

I would do it. The "real students pay good money" arguments are totally specious. Security issues on a campus are potentially an issue. However, when I visit lecturers / students at uni I am not required to carry round ID or sign-in. All staff lick their rooms even when leaving for a few minutes because Unis are so porous and open to thieves. I attend open "lunchtime/brown bag/evening" lectures all the time. I haven't sat in any taught classes but I probably could and would.

Is there a topic/subject of particular interest to you? You could look on the departmental notice board for open lectures (the times may not suit you, however). Otherwise, just float around the different buildings and see what you get - lucky dip!