Dispute over mature student fees....

Gladys

Hi there!

If you ever wanted to explore this consumer issue Martin, I'd love to know whether I'm the only one with these experiences or whether there are hundreds of us out there, quietly nursing our frustrations and dissatisfactions...

I think my experience demonstrates that whilst universities are conscious of being monitored on how they perform regarding courses, they are not at all regulated on how they treat students beyond that. I would also go further and make a general observation that, whilst they insist they welcome mature students, they have neither the inclination nor the infrastructure to efficiently accommodate them.

Here's my story (sorry it's a bit long-winded)

I am a mature student (with husband and children) and I started a part-time degree at UCLAN in September 2005. At the end of the first year, I spent the summer weighing up whether to try and transfer to a university that was more accessible for me, whether to go full-time, or drag it out and stay part-time etc etc. Having phoned around to find out how much full-time fees would be, I established that to transfer to another university, I would be considered a new student and would be charged the new incoming fees of £3,000. UCLAN on the other hand, on two separate occasions,(sadly I didn't get it in writing) told me that, as an ongoing student, I would be charged the old tariff which would be £1,200. On this basis, I decided to bite the bullet, go full-time and finish the course over the following two years.

In October I received an invoice from UCLAN for £3,000. Events after that went something like this:

* First UCLAN sent me to the LEA telling me that the LEA had to tell them what they (UCLAN)were meant to charge me. The LEA sent me back saying that it was UCLAN who decided what they can charge me- not the LEA.

* A very helpful chap at the University info. desk tried to intervene saying that it was ridiculous for me to be charged as a new student when I was clearly an ongoing student. The finance department told him that they would "make a decision" and let me know. They didn't.

* I chased them up whereupon I was told that regardless of what I may have been previously told, the £3,000 stood. I asked them to put this decision in writing. They didn't.

* I contacted the Student Union to find out if they could help. About a month later they emailed me back saying that they couldn't influence university fee policy.

* I wrote a letter of complaint to the Director of Student Affairs. His PA sent it straight back to the Finance Department, without even acknowledging to me that it had been received or dealt with.

* I telephoned the PA to find out what was happening with my letter. She apologised for not letting me know what was happening and then emailed me to say that I would shortly be hearing from someone from Student Finance.

* I received an extremely curt and offhand letter from said person, the jist of which was "you've been charged £3,000, this is why... If you want a loan you can apply. If you think you've been misled, sorry." No acknowledgement of being misquoted, no apology for being messed around, nothing.

* I went back to the PA of Director of Student Affairs and asked that said director be informed about this complaint and to say that I was unhappy with the response I had received.

* She emailed me straight back and said she'd advise the Director and come back to me within a week. That was half way through December and I have yet to hear from her.

* Just before Christmas I spoke to the President of the Students Union for UCLAN, asking her a) if the National Students Union should be addressing a clear flaw in the current fee system whereby ongoing students transferring from part-time to full-time are being charged as new students and b) if she could get UCLAN to properly address this misdemenour. I told her I didn't expect a response before Christmas. We're nearly at the end of January and I've not heard from her either.....

* I've reverted back to part-time because I refuse to pay the £3,000. As an ongoing PART-TIME student, I am charged the old tariff. I have since received a bill for the part-time fees which I have paid, on a "without prejudice" basis. In going back to part-time, I was doing too many modules, so have had to drop a module for which I was paying childcare, travel and parking costs.

Apart from the Students Union, I have tried to find out if there is an outside agency which can deal with this matter as the internal complaints system appears to be either non-existent or completely flawed. The LEA were unable to direct me elsewhere and the only other organisation- the OIA (Office of the Independent Adjudicator) pretty much said that they didn't usually get involved in matters such as these as they couldn't appear to be "telling the universities what to do.. they couldn't be seen to be interfering... universities have to be self-regulating..."

So here I am, still being classed as both a new and an ongoing student, depending upon which pocket you put me in. Let me finally direct you to the UCLAN website which is very quick to tell you how generous they are to "new" students.... It's always the same isn't it.. beware of the smiling wolf, for his breath may be sweet, but his stomach stinks!


Has anyone else been through the same? RM

melancholly

what a nightmare!

i can only say that it's not just mature students that they mess about with finance. as a postgrad i have been to collect a stipend cheque on several occasions and been told that my grant has finished and i'm not entitled to the money (3 more years left on the grant!).... very annoying when rent is due the same week. took major shouting at people to get it sorted.

finance works fine for everything that is 'standard'. as soon as you try to do something slightly different then the system crumbles. i think it has something to do with how few people work in the finance department and i used to just think that they were overworked. given my fun and games in the last year or so i have changed this to thinking they are either grossly incompetent - or (more likely) they just don't care enough to make anything a priority so you have to harass them lots to get any answers.

in your position, i would write a formal letter to your head of department to inform of quite how bad their systems are. at least that way someone who has direct contact with students may take an interest...... i've never managed to see anyone in finance face-to-face. it's always the poor people at student services who have to deliver bad news, even though they have nothing to do with the background mess.

Gladys

I think you've hit the nail on the head. They just don't care - they don't HAVE to care. You'd think that, in these competitive times, universities would be trying to improve services across the board. We're always being asked about the quality of the course, the tutors etc, but noone ever ventures into questions about the (abysmal) infrastructure.

big_pimple_0000

It seems the same in any industry, its the numbers through the door that count and new "sales" that companies (including uni's) prioritise on. IMO there is a customer service problem throughout any industry where joe public is concerned. Nice rant though, your feelings of frustration will be shared by many who have been in similar circumstances. BTW, I too am a mature student. Best wishes and hope it all works out. Hopefully someone on here will offer some expert knowledge/ advice.

Impet_Limpet

thats awful!

I'm a part time student at UCLAN too (a mature one). Maybe you could get the issue into the pluto magazine, then if others agree they have had simliar problems maybe they could start to take you more seriously

Gladys

Funnily enough, I did think about doing that. I didn't in the end because I wasn't sure who produced it. Unfortunately, if the Uni produce it, I wasn't convinced they would print a complaint about themselves and if the Students Union produced it, I have discovered that the Union is a complete waste of space.

Thanks anyway for the suggestion and now you've raised it, I will look into it further.

berec1

Hi there,

Saw this a day after you posted, maybe it will still be useful to respond.

I'd suggest treating the way you were treated as an official complaint - that way they have to do something about it. If you make an official complaint following the specified procedure, and the university don't respond adequately at any stage, you can then escalate it until it goes beyond the university and to the independent adjudicator. Since your complaint does not relate to your course itself but to administration, it would not impact on tutors' attitudes towards you in any way so should not affect your course & study itself.

See http://www.uclan.ac.uk/quality/sscomp/index.htm and also http://www.uclan.ac.uk/quality/sscomp/comp_proc.htm which lists the general procedure - in your case it seems you've possibly already gotten past the informal stage.

I'd suggest contacting everyone you've been speaking to at UCLAN and informing each of them that you don't feel your enquiry & subsequent complaints were dealt with appropriately; that as far as you can see these were informal complaints under their complaints procedure and you will therefore be escalating this to a formal complaint against each of the people who in your opinion are most at fault for the way you were dealt with (or if you haven't done enough to fulfill the informal complaints procedure, I'd send a letter to each person headed "Informal Complaint" detailing what you were dissatisfied with, so you're covered if they again fail to respond properly).

This has two effects - firstly it makes them all realise that an official complaint is in the works if they don't treat you properly this time; secondly because you aren't indicating exactly which people you will be complaining about, merely hinting that it will be any of those people who have behaved badly, they feel they still have a chance individually to treat you properly and avoid a complaint being made against them.

Obviously if they then ignore you, turn it into a formal complaint. It's the only way to show them sometimes.

Good luck.

Gladys

That's really constructive and comprehensive advice, thank you. When I initially spoke to the PA of the Director of Student Affairs, she said that she was following the usual complaints procedure when she sent my letter back to the department about which I was complaining about!!!! It's a very strange procedure in the first place. One would have assumed that if someone has gone up to a higher level, the complaint would be dealt with there.

She also went on to say that if someone were to complain to the Vice Chancellor, it is extremely unlikely that he would respond to it, as the procedure is such that the complaint is passed right back down the chain again. Terrible....

flufff

I just wanted to wish you all the best as I'm starting part time as a mature student in 08.
I cant imagine all this stress is helping you study or helping your family either.
I would demand as a matter of urgency they resolve this for you as all the tooin and froin simply isnt fair.Keep records of everything in writing.Record verbal or dont bother with it.Send everything recorded.Good luck.I would imply to them that your looking into claiming for undue stress and your time that theve exasperated.May make them sit up and take note if you threaten to go to local press.College may then offer to assist.