Additional fee's after finishing course!

[jo5ephedward5]

I wonder If anyone has any thoughts.

 

I’ve just successfully passed my post graduate diploma in architecture [RIBA Part 2] and today have received a letter from the university [of Greenwich] stating that I owe them over £500 still – I found this odd as I pay my fees myself and I paid them upfront in September as you basically have no choice and are booted off the course if you haven’t paid in full by December.

 

So I contacted student finance and they state I haven’t paid for and 'extra' 20 credits.

 

A little background – the diploma is 240 credits and it paid for on a per credit basis – the University had a major shake up half way through the course and we had a new Dean of school who basically came in, sacked all the tutors, brought in new ones and turned the course on its head.

 

Whilst this was disruptive I seemed to get along fine with the new course structure but the problem is the balance of credits has been changed around so when I started the course was structured something like this:

 

Yr 1 80 credits

Yr 2 100 credits

Yr 3 60 credits

 

The reshuffle came about after Yr 1 with further adjustments to after yr 2 so what I ended up doing was:

 

Yr 1 80

Yr 2 80

Yr 2 100

 

New students do 3x80 credits but somehow with the re-shuffle of the course one of the units that is key to the course is now worth more credits than it was when I first stated and as a result has to be tagged onto my final year…

 

…basically I’m not happy that they want £500 for the ‘extra’ credits that I didn't sign up for and had no choice but to do because they decided the final year is now worth more...ts essentially the same as it was when i started but now its 'worth' 20 credits more than it used to be.

 

I can’t just ignore it as I still have to go back and do a further course to become an architect and they won’t let me register for this until the balance is paid in full!

 

I've spoken with the head of finance and the people that assign the credits – they won’t budge.

 

thanks

J

[citizenB]

Is there a contract ?

[jo5ephedward5]

not to my knowledge, you register on line it says this is the fee pay it now to be registered and that's he end of it...or so i thought.

[citizenB]

Hmm, IMHO if you signed up to something and it is changed mid way through, then I think there must be some protection for you in that they must advise you of any changes and give you the opportunity to pull out if you wish ?

 

I will send out an S.O.S for you.

[citizenB]

I'm sure it's not fair and is wrong but, if OP wants to complete their final year and come out with the Architect's Degree, the Uni may hold all the cards.

 

 

 

I wonder if the Student Union has any help to offer.

 

 

Or is there any Regulatory Body which sets out the basis on which Uni Fees are set and payable, etc.

 

Does this help ?

[jo5ephedward5]

In regards to the above post / quote – the university does indeed hold the cards but I think they are doing so unfairly – I’ve paid over £15k in fees to this university over my degree and diploma, all out of my pocket not student finance and not from my parents - all my own hard work so I’m unhappy that the school is behaving like this, especially when I’m waiting to pay them a further 2k to complete my professional qualification! – it’s like getting to the end of an 8 year loan and then being told that you owe more because they changed the terms half way but they didn’t inform you.

 

I have been through the university’s finance department and got nowhere, they don’t even respond to emails although they did reduce the balance from £500 to £330 as they said they had applied the wrong cost-per-credit to my account.

 

As suggested I have passed this on to the students union today to see if they can escalate the complaint, I’ve also found out that the university should be governed by the ‘QAA’ [Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education] but I don’t think they have any say on fees – it does say they are meant to ensure that students get value for money thought so it might be worth making contact.

 

I guess first port of call is an official written complaint to the university with a follow up to the QAA if they fail to respond.

 

Any other insight into this will be gratefully received as I feel like I’m banging my head against the wall!