Are uni fees covered by sale of goods and services act?

lateandlive

Sorry, I'm confused.

You think the Uni should be charging you £9000 but their offer letter, and so far the fees you've had imposed on you, have been less than £4000 - and you see this as an issue?

Like people have previously said, you have a letter confirming your course details and fee, and they've taken the first years instalment in line with that fee.

jumpedtheshark

OP, you say you wouldn't do the course if the full fees were imposed. BUT at the time of applying, you thought you'd be charged the full £9k, not the £3.75k. Unless you have good evidence that your financial circumstances changed dramatically between applying and receiving the offer, this argument doesn't look to be a strong one.

Optimist

lateandlive wrote: »

Sorry, I'm confused.

You think the Uni should be charging you £9000 but their offer letter, and so far the fees you've had imposed on you, have been less than £4000 - and you see this as an issue?

Like people have previously said, you have a letter confirming your course details and fee, and they've taken the first years instalment in line with that fee.

I too, but given the OP hasn't been back I fear we are going to be left in confusion.

pinreme

arcon5 wrote: »

Op -- contact the university and confirm the price and make your payment. If you have confirmed a price, had it in writing, signed a contract -- even if it was a mistake I think they would struggle to find legal grounds to recind the contract as they had many opportunities to realise the mistake and review the application (assuming you have supplied all correct information).

I have two letters, from the university stating the price is 3375, and it price they are charging me is 3375, and I have started to pay that. I assume that my acceptance of my place on the course is equivalent to signing a contract. I'm a little bit afraid to contact the university, I don't want to point out the mistake if they have grounds to rectify it - I simply can't afford it.

lateandlive wrote: »

Sorry, I'm confused.

You think the Uni should be charging you £9000 but their offer letter, and so far the fees you've had imposed on you, have been less than £4000 - and you see this as an issue?

I don't have a problem with the fact I may be being undercharged, the issue is that if the uni can change what they are charging me, and charge me the higher rate, then I will be forced to drop out as, like I've said previously, I can't afford the higher rate. I will then have wasted a year of my life, not to mention the money I spent on this year's fees, plus lost earnings for this year as I can no longer work fulltime.

jumpedtheshark wrote: »

OP, you say you wouldn't do the course if the full fees were imposed. BUT at the time of applying, you thought you'd be charged the full £9k, not the £3.75k. Unless you have good evidence that your financial circumstances changed dramatically between applying and receiving the offer, this argument doesn't look to be a strong one.

I didn't think I would be charged a higher rate at the time of application. I thought I would be charged £3375, and all the communication I had from the university confirmed this. It was only once I had accepted my place and actually started upon the course that I realised that I may not be paying the right amount.

Perhaps i shouldn't have mentioned SoGA in the thread title, was a little bit confused. I know that if a shop advertises a product at a certain price they do not have to stick to that price until the sale has gone through. My concern is merely that this doesn't for some reason apply to the case of a university selling an education.

hcb42

pinreme wrote: »

I don't have a problem with the fact I may be being undercharged, the issue is that if the uni can change what they are charging me, and charge me the higher rate, then I will be forced to drop out as, like I've said previously, I can't afford the higher rate. I will then have wasted a year of my life, not to mention the money I spent on this year's fees, plus lost earnings for this year as I can no longer work fulltime.

.

If you are worried about this, it would be worth speaking to them - before you waste any more years...or is it just a one year course, in which case, I dont think I would worry too much

tehone

The_One_Who wrote: »

As per the Equivalent & Lower Qualifications (ELQs) policy, higher education institutions will not receive the government funding subsidy for that student, and so most universities charge the non-subsidised fee (what international students pay). There are some exceptions to that though, and it may be that the OP falls under one of these.

Exactly - what a university charges is up to them - what the student may or may not receive [from the govt.] is irrelevant to the question in hand.

International fees are *NOT* the same as unsubsidised fees - that's not how university's business models work - it may be that a large amount of university's charge an amount of fess that happen to be equivalent to the fees that they charge to international students - but it doesn't have to be the case.

What we really need to know for the OP is which university they are at and then we can look at their fee structure, and try and see what the situation might or might not be. Additionally (I would hope) a university if having been given all the correct information at the start of the course makes an error it would honour the arrangement it had make with the student concerned.

melancholly

perhaps try the student board for specific advice? (in general, ONW is spot on, as ever. although there may be some specific situations where that advice doesn't hold, for most situations and without any specific information from the OP, that's the best advice that can be given). OP - speak to someone in student services face to face. best way to make progress!