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silvercar

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

What is a replacement year?

Assume a placement year ie a year spent working.

silvercar

mmrsepp wrote: »

So I have ended up in an unfortunate situation where I have a problem with Student Finance.

Long story short: I went on an replacement year and didn't advise the SFE I was going because my uni told me it is not necessary. Once upon my return to finish my studies I checked with my uni again whether there was anything I needed to do before I can continue my studies including anything regarding my funding and they advised me no everything will continue automatically. So I studied for the whole year and completed my course. At the end of May my uni sent me an invoice for almost £9k tuition fee for my final year. That came to me as a surprise because I was under the impression everything was sorted and I was being funded by SFE. Unfortunately it was too late to apply for funding then because more than 9 months had passed from when I started my studies on my final year. Now I am in this unfortunate situation where I'm not able to graduate because I have an outstanding balance.

I would really appreciate it if someone could advise me how to do a successful appeal with the SFE as I have a letter from my uni supporting my statements and them stating that I was misinformed. I am afraid that SFE will not accept my appeal based on the rhetoric that it is every student's responsibility to ensure funding is in place in time.

I am thankful for any sort of advice!

What happened to your maintenance loan for this year?

Savvy_Sue

silvercar wrote: »

Assume a placement year ie a year spent working.

You're probably right, but it might depend what the agreement was for that year. I wondered if it was an 'I dropped out for a year' year ...

silvercar wrote: »

What happened to your maintenance loan for this year?

very fair question.

Also - and I could be wrong here - my memory is that each year my sons had to complete SOMETHING to confirm they were continuing with their studies and to confirm whether or not they wanted to claim means-tested maintenance loan or just the standard loan. There were emails or forms posted every year.

What does your original agreement say?

Were other students misled? If not, I'm afraid I'm not convinced you have any grounds for appeal.

Have you spoken to the students union about your situation?

mmrsepp

I never got maintenance loans

mmrsepp

a replacement year was essentially a gap year that was in my study programme. I did not drop out for a year. I was always an active student. I was sent the conformation form as well but my uni advised me that it was not necessary to fill it out as the replacement year was tuition fee free year and such did not relate to SFE. Where can I find my original agreement? No other students to my information have been mislead. I have a letter from my university which proves that I was misled and it was their fault. Contacting the student union seems like a good idea. I will give that a try. Thank you everyone for you responses!

Starrystarrynight1

I'd like to help but I really can't figure out what a replacement year is. If it was a year away from your studies, but not a suspension or a withdrawal, then I don't understand why your university is charging full tuition fees. If it was a placement year, ie a year out working in an associated job, then the university should charge reduce fees.

Savvy_Sue

mmrsepp wrote: »

Where can I find my original agreement?

Well, if they posted it to you it's wherever you keep important documents, and if they emailed it to you it's somewhere in your email system. No?

Starrystarrynight1 wrote: »

I'd like to help but I really can't figure out what a replacement year is. If it was a year away from your studies, but not a suspension or a withdrawal, then I don't understand why your university is charging full tuition fees. If it was a placement year, ie a year out working in an associated job, then the university should charge reduce fees.

From what the OP has said, no fees were charged for the 'replacement' year, but fees were charged for the final year, and it is those which have not been paid.

Although it's unusual in my (admittedly not recent) experience for no fees to be charged during any official part of a course.

I'm not optimistic here: partly because I'm astonished if the University only realised in May that your fees were outstanding. When I was in a University registry, you would not have been allowed to sit ANY exams if any fees, library fines or accommodation charges were outstanding. Was it really May before you heard anything about this, or were you ignoring emails / letters because you didn't believe there was a problem?

I'm also surprised if you were treated differently to anyone else, yet you say no-one else was misled.

sheramber

It would seem that student finance ceased when the replacement year started (because the OP didn't complete the confirmation form?( but was not reinstated for the final year.

The University indicated that funding would stop and start again automatically and it didn't.

Savvy_Sue

so possibly a claim against the university for giving incorrect information, but I still find it hard to believe that there was NOTHING from SFE to the OP setting out what to do each year in order to continue to receive funding.

I remain pessimistic, but let's see what the SU says.

Egreen19

Hi, I dropped out of uni last year after being there for a month and not enjoying it. However I have been told by student finance i am to pay the majority of the loan back now. However I don’t earn over the certain amount of money each year to pay it off as usual students would. I am currently doing as they advised but I am still not sure whether or not this is correct!