does this seem fair? MA application...

skintstudent84

I have applied for 2 part time MAs at a very good university which shall remain nameless! The first course I applied for required an admin fee of £42 to be sent with it, which I sent off. Within 24 hours of my application being sent I was told that I had an interview, but i realised almost immediately that I had made an mistake in my course choice and rang them up asking if I could withdraw my application and reapply for another course- they said yes and that my £42 would be refunded. I applied for this other course for which I have an interview next week and enclosed a covering letter telling them I was withdrawing my previous application as per the telephone conversation and how did I go about getting my £42 back. I received an email inviting me for an interview, but nothing as to the fee. I rang them today to be told that it is non-refundable as I didn't withdraw my application in time and that fee secured my place at interview- completely different to what I had been told before. I even told them that I hadn't had time between sending off my application and receiving notice of an interview to contact them and did at the earliest opportunity. Is this fair? Should I pursue it further? I really want a place on the other MA so am worried trying to get this off them will put them off accepting me- what does anyone think? Thanks

BigBouncyBall

I'm not quite sure how you managed to apply for the wrong course, however if you have proof (email or letter) somewhere that says they will refund you then thats it. Just photocopy the letter and send it off to the PG Admissions office and that should be the end of it. They would be extremely unprofessional not to offer you a place because of you asking for your money back.

Voyager2002

The people who make decisions about which applicants to accept are completely different from those involved in collecting money. So asking for your admin fee back will have no impact on the outcome of your application (so long as you don't go as far as burning down the finance office!).

G-G_4

Voyager2002 wrote: »

(so long as you don't go as far as burning down the finance office!).

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I hope you get it sorted out, seems very unfair if they said you will get it back and now they are saying otherwise...

Voyager2002

Since you are applying for another course, the simplest solution would be to transfer the admin fee to the second course. Have you asked them to do that? Have you already paid a second admin fee?

Incidentally, I have never before heard of a UK university charging you a fee to apply. When I explored studying in the USA, the application fees that US universities charge were a major reason why I did not explore the matter further.

BigBouncyBall

it's standard in the USA, i think Oxford and Cambridge (and therefore Warwick and Durham ) charge for applications fees. It's a bit of a disgrace really. The university already pays admissions people to deal with applications why do applicants need to pay for the privilege of applying - especially when the fees for PG courses are astronomical at these places