University charges

rog2

Don't know if this is correct place, but if not would appreciate if someone could point me in right direction.
My daughter is in 4th year of University - her third year was spent abroad. Anyway, she went to register yesterday, and was told that she could not register. Apparently, she should have paid a partial fee for year abroad (which neither she nor we were aware of) and the uni have been charging her a non-payment fee of £50 per month, for last year.:mad: :mad:
Apparently the uni sent a reminder to her previous student home (no mail has ever been forwarded to us).
The upshot is that she can not register unless she pays this charge of £900.00. She has also been told by Uni that they will NOT accept any part payments.
Anyone had a similar experience, please, and if so how did you tackle it?
I really don't want a third uni run in as many weeks.:rolleyes:

cattie1

my goodness thats disgraceful. i can't help i'm afraid but wanted to give you a bump! ####BUMP####

KatrinaC_2

rog2 wrote:

Anyone had a similar experience, please, and if so how did you tackle it?
I really don't want a third uni run in as many weeks.:rolleyes:

Not exactly similar, but i needed to pay some money before I could graduate. Has she spoken to a Union advisor at her university? Every Uni has different rules on what is and what is not acceptable and the Union (normally!) will have a financial/welfare advice office for students.

Kat

rog2

KatrinaC wrote:

Not exactly similar, but i needed to pay some money before I could graduate. Has she spoken to a Union advisor at her university? Every Uni has different rules on what is and what is not acceptable and the Union (normally!) will have a financial/welfare advice office for students.

Kat

Thanks - She is going to see her tutor tomorrow. I have looked on uni website and it does mention, on there, that fees can, normally, be paid in three instalments, by direct debit, but she was told that was not possible.
The University (Manchester) does have our home address - indeed some letters were sent here whilst my daughter was away (nothing to do with payments). I am just surprised that, not having had any replies from mail sent to her old house, the uni did not write to her c/o home.

Numpty_2

KatrinaC wrote:

Not exactly similar, but i needed to pay some money before I could graduate. Has she spoken to a Union advisor at her university? Every Uni has different rules on what is and what is not acceptable and the Union (normally!) will have a financial/welfare advice office for students.

Kat

Thats a good idea. I used to be a part time sabatical at my university whiclt studying, and anything that they felt was unfair they would definitely help. I would suggest she goes in and asks to speak to a specific sabatical officer who deals with finances or similar and ask for his/her advice

Numpty_2

Get her to pop in here - http://www.umu.man.ac.uk/advice/

The union are separate to the university so will help impartially

corsanita

My old uni tried something similar. However I got different responses depending on who I spoke to in the department!! I'd speak to a few people in the finance dept (keeping track of names, times & the content of the conversation). You also say that the website indicates installment options - there should be a student handbook also detailing these and also a process should there be questions. It may well be online...can she check? I second the poster who said contact the student union/NUS/student welfare officer.

I also think it's a bit odd that an institution that deals with young people who by the nature of being a student (esp languages) means you move a lot would overlook that fact. Because clearly it's common sense to write to a person knowing they are studying abroad at the time...

Good luck!

postingalwaysposting

rog2 wrote:

Thanks - She is going to see her tutor tomorrow. I have looked on uni website and it does mention, on there, that fees can, normally, be paid in three instalments, by direct debit, but she was told that was not possible.
The University (Manchester) does have our home address - indeed some letters were sent here whilst my daughter was away (nothing to do with payments). I am just surprised that, not having had any replies from mail sent to her old house, the uni did not write to her c/o home.

i would have thought that uni's would send two letter - one to they 'home' address and one to there uni address, rog i hope you get it sorted, thats discreacefull...

rog2

corsanita wrote:

I also think it's a bit odd that an institution that deals with young people who by the nature of being a student (esp languages) means you move a lot would overlook that fact. Because clearly it's common sense to write to a person knowing they are studying abroad at the time...

Good luck!

Yes I agree, particularly when she was in regular contact with her tutor.
However - I think the 'Office' people are totally different from the teaching staff - probably don't realise that students move around;)
Anyway, I will look at the student union website, as opposed to the uni website, and I hope her tutor can give some advice tomorrow - we shall see:mad:
Thanks anyway

annie-c

From experience of having worked in an 'office' role in a college previously, my guess is that the university has standard procedures in place in an attempt to manage the increasing problem of students who do not keep up payments on their fees. The chances are that the people whom she spoke to at the registration desk were not very senior in position and were just following the procedures without any flexibility or understanding that there had been a communication problem. In saying this I don't mean to imply anything negative about either your daughter or the Uni staff - I'm just guessing that it is the way it is. :rolleyes:

Hopefully, your daughter's tutor will be able to help get things resolved quite quickly. If not, then getting in touch with the Student Union is a good idea. If necessary, I would also recommend that either you or she might want to escalate the matter and ask to speak to the University's Head of Finance (or equivalent). That should have the equivalent effect of writing to the manager of a store that has given poor service, and prompt them to resolve the matter. I don't think anyone will intentionally want to drag this out, but if you deal with Uni staff at lower levels, they will be busy with the high workload that consumes everyone around enrolment and they may move more quickly to resolve this if you/your daughter raise the temperature a little. If your daughter is willing, then I would recommend that you step in yourself - an indignant parent can work wonders in these matters - believe me, I have been on the other side of the fence and have moved heaven and earth to get an indignant mum off the phone in order to get on with the rest of my work... Again - no offence to you intended, just a hint as to what works....

Annie

annie-c

PS - The bottom line with universities is that they end up sending out hundreds of cases to debt collectors each year to deal with the hard-line can't-or-won't-payers.... with varying degrees of success. They don't want to do this and it brings in little revenue. If you get in touch and explain the misunderstanding then my guess is that they will happily waive the non-payment fees and allow your daughter to make the arrears payments in sensible payments over the year. This might not be what their policy states, but it is probably an arrangement you can come to. (The policies are intended to make a firm stance at the outset to discourage students from messing them around - they will understand very quickly that you are not someone who needs this 'firm' handling!).