Tuition fees for a missed year - Urgent help required

Tenunz

Hi everyone, in a bit of a stressful situation at the moment, and hoping that somebody here can help me out!

Basically, trying to keep it as brief as possible, I started my second year back in Spetember (09), but after attending just 2 seminars had to withdraw due to personal circumstances and things going on in my family. It was all quite a crazy time, and I emailed the person I was required to inform, stating this and that I was having to put my second year off until next year. I noted that I did not have internet access for the next few weeks and if there was a problem to please contact me, leaving a contact number. Upon hearing nothing, I presumed everything was fine. Perhaps too much assumption on my part, but there was a hell of a lot going on at the time. Point to note; I was down to pay my own tuition fees for the year.

Months later, in about April I received a number of letters off different people. A couple concerning my attendance, or lack of, and a couple concerning my tuition fees for the year being overdue. I emailed the contact email given in the letter (accounts) and after about 2 weeks of hearing nothing, resent the email, and finally got a reply about another week later.

They're basically saying, when they actually bother replying/contacting me, that they didn't get the email and that I'm liable for the entire tuition fee amount. Due to how long ago the email was sent, I have no record or this saved myself. This is obviously a large amount that i wasn't expecting to have to fork out at this point, and most importantly I have no idea where this leaves me when it comes to continuing my studies in October.

Has anyone any experience in any of this that they could help me with? Is it a definate that I'll have to pay the tuition fee amount? And if so, is it the kind of thing that can be sorted with a payment plan, meaning I could carry on with my studies in October, providing I kept to the plan? Or is it something that the LEA could help me with, despite the year having already been 'completed'?

Thanks in advance for any help/advise.

Graham

stephyt23

Unfortunately I don't know of anyone having been in this situation but I really hope you get it sorted, it's not your fault they never received your email, clearly it's a problem their end as you mentioned you had to send another one a couple of times before you eventually got a reply.

All the best and I hope this gets resolved without you having to pay anything

melancholly

speak to student services. check your course handbook to find out what the official procedure should have been. speak to your personal tutor.

MrsManda

Did you email them using your university email address? If so, is the email you sent not in your sent folder?

Did you check your university email at all between September and April? Did they send you anything via email before sending you the letters?

As Melancholly said, you need to check your course and university handbooks to see what the procedure for withdrawal should have been and whether you followed it. Also speak to your personal tutor about the situation.

Have you provided your university with any evidence of the circumstances surrounding your withdrawal to claim for extenuating circumstances?

The university may be able to provide you with a payment plan - again speak to your personal tutor about it as they're there to help you. As you were supposed to be paying your tuition fees yourself anyway (Is this because you're not eligible for SF support?) I don't see the LEA paying for them now.

Oldernotwiser

I would have thought that unless one of the parties can find the email, there is no proof that it was ever sent.

7891368

Tenunz wrote: »

Perhaps too much assumption on my part

You didn't chase up a reply? Anything like that you need on paper, if you can sort a payment plan, make sure you get a cop of the arrangement and keep it really safe.

Taiko

If you only attended two seminars, you won't get fee support from the LEA regardless. This is because you must be in attendance 3 months after the first day of the academic year.

dave_phoenix

Hi Tenunz, personally if i were you I would contact your course leader (over the phones/ in person) and see if there is anything you can do.
Failing that, contact student services.
I would have thought that if you were going back this year they may let it slide... but who knows

nimbo

hi,


at my old university they would not allow you to enroll at the beginning of the next year if you owed them any monies at all...

so much so that when one of my housemates tried to enroll for the second year they sent her around the whole of the university to try to find someone from finance (everyone had been pulled out to help wth enrollment) and after approximately 1.5 hours of hysteria on her part they discoved she had a library fine of less than £1...

i hope it works out, but you need to get in touch with them ASAP....

redpete

stephyt23 wrote: »

it's not your fault they never received your email,

But it is your fault for not checking that they recieved the email.

fridge_raider

^Well he was clearly in the middle of an emotional time. Plus, if the email wasn't returned by his mail client, why would he have a reason to think that they had not received the email? It seems to me as if they have just deleted or not bothered with the email and are now trying to lay the blame at his door.

I can't really help with this problem as such, but I have had an experience with a rent contract dispute that may help. My dispute was resolved simply by what I believe was my own persistence. I was writing letters on a regular basis - lengthy letters displaying all the valid points and requiring detailed replies. I would request to speak to someone higher up the ladder each time. It appeared after about 5 months that they simply got bored of me. They seemed to drop the matter because they couldn't be bothered dealing with it any more, and I was released from an unjust £4000 payment that they had me tied to.

This is the only thing I can recommend really.