problems with fees!

freebie_junkie

am i teh only one whose had problems with making teh lea cough up teh fees for teh last three years? this year im full time and when i took my finance form into uni teh woman wrote down £1200 for fees so thats how much i borrowed in my fees loan, until today when i got a threatenign letter from uni demanding £1800 extra within teh next 14 days so have to go down to the lea office and fill in a form to borrow teh extra £1800 (like i need to borrow more!) apparently, teh woman in the student office thought id be under teh old system becuase i did my first year full time, but im not, im under the new system. i get a threatenign letter and soem woman being rude to me down teh phone coz they made a mistake! the worst thing is that theyre not payign teh fees, im borrowign the money from them to pay them so theyre gettign it back plus interest! rah!

teh two years before thsi year i was part time and as i was getting incapapcity, i got my fees paid and a small grant each year. both years the lea didnt pay on time and i got threatenign letters, down to a final demand threatenign to hand it on to a credit agency and send round bailifs! once again, i had to sort out the mess when id filled in my forms correctly (i always get the peopel at teh lea office to check for me because of my dyspraxia/dyslexia) and teh mistakes were on teh part of teh uni or teh lea.

thsi si so stressful for me, especially with my ocd, why cant they talk to each other, why do i have to sort out their messes?! :mad:

studentphil

Which fees system about you under anyway?

1200 quid old one

or 3000 quid top ups?

It sounds like you should still be under the 1200 quid old one as you are not a new student. But as you have gone FT from PT they may treat you as a new student, so will be under top up fees.

If you are under the old system then you do not owe anymore if 1200 fees have been paid!

Do not worry if you need a bigger fees loan then you will get one!
Your uni will not kick you out if you do not pay in 14 days. They like to issue threats but they are most often meaningless.

Try to talk to this woman in person at your uni and explain

zenmaster

We have just had the same thing with my son. We notified the uni and they called back within half an hour to say it was a !!!!-up and not to worry about it.

They had had several similar complaints.

freebie_junkie

i rang teh uni and they were next to usless, teh woman told me that i was told back in august taht i was under teh new system - i wish that this woman had told teh student support officer who filled in my form with £1200 coz that page isnt filled in by us students is it? its filled in by teh uni! she basically re-issed teh threats in teh letter and told me it was my problem and not hers!

i went into teh lea office and the woman was really helpful, they know i have ocd, dyslexia, dyspraxia as i get a dsa so she dictated a letter fro me to write to teh student loans compnay and i had to fill in a form. she said that shed put it through today and i should get a confirmation from teh slc in 5 days so hopefully thsi will all be sorted before christmas. i know i shouldnt worry but with ocd you cant help it! i was in tears this morning, that letter was so threatening and teh peopel at uni were usuless, happy to take your cash but rubbish at helping you when things go wrong.

apparently the confusion has arised as the finance office at uni had me down as a new student as the first year i did full time wa smore than 2 years ago and the student office staff had me down as a continuing student as according to their computer system i was. i cant believ it, teh student office is seperated from teh finance office by one door!

studentphil

It is the way unis are, good at demanding, not much good at helping.
They always come up with a good excuse when things go wrong.
Well done on taking such prompt action over this!

freebie_junkie

studentphil wrote:

It is the way unis are, good at demanding, not much good at helping.
They always come up with a good excuse when things go wrong.
Well done on taking such prompt action over this!

thanks, i was so worried yesterday, i though that was nearly all my isa gone then! at least ill only be paying my student loans back bit by bit, its gonna take ages though coz im gonna owe them about £22,000 by the time i finish my PGCE! this new system really screws teh poorest people doesnt it? when i was full time in first year, i got my fees paid and a loan, now i get a grant, a loan and a fees loan. the max grant is £2700 but teh fees are £3000, no wonder the poorest people arent bothering with uni nowadays (and im one of them!)

studentphil

freebie_junkie wrote:

thanks, i was so worried yesterday, i though that was nearly all my isa gone then! at least ill only be paying my student loans back bit by bit, its gonna take ages though coz im gonna owe them about £22,000 by the time i finish my PGCE! this new system really screws teh poorest people doesnt it? when i was full time in first year, i got my fees paid and a loan, now i get a grant, a loan and a fees loan. the max grant is £2700 but teh fees are £3000, no wonder the poorest people arent bothering with uni nowadays (and im one of them!)

On the figures I have seen the poorest students can get up to 8k a year funding, okay, you will get a lot of debt at the end, but you should have loads to live on whilst at uni!