Advice needed: Uni withholding Certificate

Adymole

Long story short:

When i was 18 (i'm now 27) i attended a HND course at my local university. Because my mother was a single parent and earning less than £25k i was told my course would be paid for me. So i filled out the form and sent it off. I was accepted on the course. After the first year i was sent a letter by the uni saying that i needed to pay £1300 for the first year. I was confused and horrified. The university said they received no original application for funding and i had to pay. I said i couldn't afford it so they said i could not do the second year. I was then contacted 2 weeks into the second year by my head lecturer who wanted to know why i wasn't in uni. I explained my situation and she said that i was on the register so i should come in. So i did.

Fast forward to the end of the second (and final) year and i now receive a letter from the university asking me to pay £2600 for the course. I declined. Disputes back and forth and then debt collection got involved. I was then given a CCJ. I should of handled it differently but i was a stupid 20 year old. The debt collection tried and tried to make me pay but i moved addresses several times and they stopped chasing the debt.

Fast forward 8 years later and i have been granted a place at a good university to get a degree which will open doors to a great career (something that i really want, as life is pretty !!!! right now!). But the University wants to see my certificate for my HND 8 years ago, in order to accept me.

The big problem is that my old uni never gave me my certificate because of the situation we were in regarding payment of the course.

I have a few options:

1) I send the uni a request to have a duplicate cert sent to me (i have done this 2 days ago and i am waiting on their reply).

I'm fully expecting them to decline - However, don't debt collcetion agencies BUY debt, so in regards to my old uni, my debt with them is settled (but not with the debt agency)??

2) I get in cointact with the uni/debt agency and discuss paying it off in a settlement. If so what percentage should i suggest? How low can i do it with an 8 year old debt of £2600 (probably £3k+ with the debt agency charges)?

I have until the end of August to show my new uni the certificate so luckily i have a bit of time to sort this mess out.

Thanks for any advice.

moohound

would this be statute barred now anyway?

Adymole

Yeah more than likely but the tricky thing is, they still have something that i'm desperate for.

[Deleted User]

I thought you could just ask the provider to give you a copy and pay the required admin fee.

I.e. The exam board?

I did this for some of mine, however I don't know if you used the same providers, but I'm sure they all operate in the same sort of terms?

Errata

You won't get a duplicate certificate, certificates are only awarded if all fees have been paid (by whoever). That means no original certificate exists than can be duplicated.

[Deleted User]

So does that mean the Uni haven't paid the exam board? Or ... do you qualify and then buy the certificate as such (well the UNI do this for you if you have paid them like normal)?

Surely the exams must have been paid for, so that the OP could sit them? Or do they pay to mark and not sit?

happycamel_2

Unis set their own exams, there is no board (for degrees anyway, not sure about HNDs).

ValHaller

Adymole wrote: »

Yeah more than likely but the tricky thing is, they still have something that i'm desperate for.

It is, I believe, statute barred both ways. Their time for taking you to court has expired and your time for taking them to court to get the certificate awarded has also expired. A mexican standoff.

theoretica

If they won't give you the certificate they might send you a letter saying 'we won't give you a certificate because you haven't paid the fees'. It would be worth seeing if the new University would accept that as proof you passed the course.

Owain_Moneysaver

They can refuse to provide a certificate, but they cannot refuse to provide a transcript of your course results (if they still have them) if you pay them a £10 fee as a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act.

And they are likely to still have your results as universities should keep student records for the expected natural life of the student, in case there's ever a query over what you studied and whether you're professionally competent or qualified.

debtmummy10

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

They can refuse to provide a certificate, but they cannot refuse to provide a transcript of your course results (if they still have them) if you pay them a £10 fee as a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act.

And they are likely to still have your results as universities should keep student records for the expected natural life of the student, in case there's ever a query over what you studied and whether you're professionally competent or qualified.

i agree a transcript is proof enough, i lost my degree cert for my 1st dregree and all i had to give in was my transcript to prove it. it costs between 10 and 12 quid and they have to send you this by law if you request it.
hope this helps:cool: