Student Hall's Fee's been Charged an entire term, only stayed 1 week and left due to COVID

sebslee123

If you mean what university campus, then it was the Glyntaff campus, but it was done entirely through the USW website and payment made to them, and they're wanting more payment saying I've  when my contract only says for this term, of the payment that has already been taken, so it's as if they've now come out with a new figure and changed it but it doesn't say the 'new figure' on my contract and saying i've underpaid which is also from USW, at least that's what all the emails are from, and as far as I can see it's all to do with USW

tooldle

 With it being Pontypridd, they may well still own and manage those residences. Is there a clause in your contract that talks about the room being re-let? What duration does the contract cover and does the cost for the number of weeks of this term match the amount already paid? 
Working it backwards and assuming a 40wk contract. You paid 1400, which would make your weekly rent 105. Is that higher or lower than the weekly cost stated in your contract?

gettingtheresometime

Would love to know what restrictions the OP found so restrictive that they chose to change universities.

As far as i am aware, the only restrictions placed in Pontypridd is that you shouldn't enter or leave the county without reasonable excuse & pubs are closed at 10pm as well as not being able to buy alcohol in the supermarket either after 10pm.

Yahoo_Mail

Disinclination to study at a University is not a valid cancellation reason.  Suck it up and do it at the Uni you signed up to. Do you really think Plymouth is going to be better in a month?

gary83

sebslee123 said:

Joined the University Of South Wales (USW) in student halls, went up expecting a 'normal'ish' uni life with covid rules considered, however didn't expect it to be that tight on restrictions, and that worrying for my own health, they got tighter a few days before I was due to move up, and continued to worsen during the time I was there, so I was up there for 1 week before I decided it wasn't for me and the whole situation and lack of things to do and also the worry for my health I decided to return home to Exeter and switch universities to Plymouth, and the USW have charged an entire term for £1,400 and have also now emailed me also saying I may have underpaid because them this term up until december is longer requesting another payment of roughly £250, I feel this is entirely wrong to charge someone that amount of money considering the time I was there for, let alone a student during these times, my contract did state this, however also considering the COVID situation, lee-way should've been given to anyone, let alone a student who is now struggling for money after paying £1,400 and now they're wanting more, I feel this is entirely naive and unsympathetic of the times we are in and the life of a student financially, completely ludicrous and disgusting from the University Of South Wales to expect me to pay such a huge amount, of money, asking for who I can get in touch with to help with this matter as I don't want to pay anymore money to USW and feel I should be refunded pro-rata to the time I stayed at the accomodation the £1,400
 

You decided to go to Cardiff, you signed a legally binding contract saying that if you were to leave you’d have to pay the remainder of that term, you then made the decision to leave the university & switch to Plymouth & think the university should just forget about the contract you signed? Unfortunately that’s probably going to be one of those life lessons you’re supposed to get at Uni, as far as the uni’s concerned if they refund you, even as a gesture of goodwill they’ll set a precedent and have to refund all the others that decide “It wasn’t for them” & go home, they can probably ill afford to do that.

we’ve had a lot of students on here saying something along the lines of “but It’s Covid, the contract I signed for accommodation should now be ripped up” Ignoring the fact that the contract both sides agreed was there to protect both parties - the student can’t just walk out and leave the uni out of pocket in the same way the uni couldn’t kick the student out on the street if they had a better offer. 

Despite the last 6 months, legal contracts still stand, It’s not an apocalypse,   no matter how much you want those legal obligations to be forgotten about if that suits you

*funny we don’t get so many posts, from people wanting legal obligations forgetting about when it doesn’t suit them? (I’ve yet to see a post saying anything like ‘“I was made redundant today, we’ve agreed the company wont pay me redundancy because of COVID-19, I’d be entirely naive, unsympathetic, ludicrous and disgusting to expect that”

mattyprice4004

You chose to leave, the accommodation was still there for you to use.
Anything else isn’t really relevant - there’s a lot of 'in an ideal world’ thinking in your opening post... but this isn’t an ideal world. 

HampshireH

sebslee123 said:

the terms of my contract just state that the term you leave you have to pay the remainder of that term, however considering COVID they should be making a more considered decision and that I only stayed for 1 week, that the cases were worse in Wales during my time, just seems as thought some lee-way could've been given, and now they're asking for more payment as the term is longer seems ridiculous, 

Covid wasn't new when you turned up in Wales.

Could you not have made a more considered decision before going in the first place.

If you had they may have resold your room.

Unpopular Post  /point  maybe but Wales didn't suddenly  just go into lockdown. It was on the cards and covid is being documented in the media with constant reports of affected areas well in advance of lockdowns.

I do however empathise. That said they are running a business. The advice to approach student union is good.

The additional payment I would definitely challenge if it doesn't add up on your paperwork 

Anamox

You won't get any sympathy here, the forum dinosaurs exhibited above would be insisting your parents have to pay for the term if you turned up to uni and died on day 2. 

This happens all of the time and as a student ambassador for a certain field of study in the UK I often hear of this on other forums, of those who update us it seems fairly half and half who gets anywhere with waiving the charges. The contracts are often weak and leave plenty of leeway for you to exit without penalty if you're crafty. A common one is ill health, does your contract state anything about what happens if you are too ill to attend uni? If so, I'm aware people use their mental health (genuinely and not) to get out on this clause. 

The most common way to find yourself no longer owing them money is if your old room can be re-let and occupied fairly quickly. I'm not sure how busy it was at uni when you arrived but presumably, like every year, there were people who wanted halls but didn't get in - they can now hopefully take on your room and take on the payments. That said, can you post anywhere online or do you have any contacts there to see if you can find someone interested in getting into halls (assuming they're full, which I don't know during COVID) and liaise with them/halls to get them into your room?

tooldle

To be fair to the OP she has come to Wales from England. In Wales our social distancing is 2m rather than the 1m+ in England. We also have a law requiring social distancing to be maintained in the workplace. This is a contributing factor to why only essential staff are on campus at any given time, to make space for the student population. 
 It does take time to adjust on top of the normal upheaval of starting University.  
On the flip side there is a constant stream of comms around campus life with Covid in our institution, and its likely to be the same at USW. Fore warned is fore armed etc.

JamoLew

Anamox said:

You won't get any sympathy here, the forum dinosaurs exhibited above would be insisting your parents have to pay for the term if you turned up to uni and died on day 2. 

This happens all of the time and as a student ambassador for a certain field of study in the UK I often hear of this on other forums, of those who update us it seems fairly half and half who gets anywhere with waiving the charges. The contracts are often weak and leave plenty of leeway for you to exit without penalty if you're crafty. A common one is ill health, does your contract state anything about what happens if you are too ill to attend uni? If so, I'm aware people use their mental health (genuinely and not) to get out on this clause. 

The most common way to find yourself no longer owing them money is if your old room can be re-let and occupied fairly quickly. I'm not sure how busy it was at uni when you arrived but presumably, like every year, there were people who wanted halls but didn't get in - they can now hopefully take on your room and take on the payments. That said, can you post anywhere online or do you have any contacts there to see if you can find someone interested in getting into halls (assuming they're full, which I don't know during COVID) and liaise with them/halls to get them into your room?

some valid points - BUT teaching our youngsters to use something as serious as mental health to try and avoid their legal responsibilities is not one of the life lessons that they should be learning
Taking responsibility for their actions and decisions should be - after all, they keep saying they want to be treated as adults (or is it only when it suits?)