University charges extra for someone to read your essay
Your degree includes feedback. Eye contact is another matter.
SATIRICAL FUTURE NEWS · Imagined events for 7 Oct–13 Oct
1 MIN READ
A university began charging students extra to have their essays read by a person this week, describing the service as an exciting return to something it used to do.
The entirely fictional University of Lower Expectations introduced Human Plus after moving routine marking to an AI system. For an additional fee, a lecturer would open the document, follow the argument and occasionally write something that referred to it.
The standard package still included a grade, three encouraging sentences and a suggestion to develop the analysis. The suggestion also appeared on a submission consisting entirely of a bus timetable.
Human Plus customers received a handwritten comment and proof that the reader had reached page four. A premium appointment allowed students to watch the lecturer frown in real time.
The university insisted the upgrade did not buy better marks. Early subscribers confirmed this after discovering that a human could dislike their essay in much greater detail.
Complaints arrived from students who thought the tuition fee already covered reading. The accounts department explained that tuition covered access to learning opportunities. Being noticed was now an optional extra.
One student requested a refund after her human marker recommended a book. She had paid to have her essay read, she explained, not to be given more reading.
What actually happened
The Guardian reported debate over AI-assisted university marking.
The Guardian · 28 September 2026
Reported debate, not a new sector-wide policy. The fictional university and paid human-reading service below are invented.
What we’re calling next
An Australian higher-education provider launches an optional paid human-marking tier for coursework otherwise assessed using generative AI, charging students separately for a human to read and assess the submission. Human review already required by policy, ordinary tuition, tutoring and routine re-mark fees do not count.