A friends University woes

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SpeedMattersNot

Original Poster:

4,506 posts

195 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
Not sure if this is in the correct forum.

My Hungarian friend has had a difficult time at University regarding student finance. Here's a summary of what's happened so far (this may be subject to change as he updates me, but it is mostly accurate);

- Moved to the UK 4 years ago.

- Started a 2 year foundation degree at a college, successfully applied for student finance as an EU student - no problem.

- Successfully completed foundation degree.

- Started a 1 year top-up to upgrade to a full BSc degree at a university, applied for student finance this time as a UK student, as a new application. The rules are if he had been here for 3 years then he could apply using the UK form, if he had been here for less than 3 years, he needed to use the EU form.

- Attended enrolment at the University, receiving his login information and student/library card. The status on his Uni application was fully enrolled, including financial enrolment too.

- Completed first semester and begun second semester.

- Mid March - received a letter from the university, explaining they had not received a payment from student finance.

- Phoned student finance, turns out, he needed to apply as a continuing student. They had not sent him any letters, or contacted him in any other way to let him know this application was unsuccessful.

- Applied for a continuation application, the process takes roughly six weeks. The uni were happy with this and so he waited.

- My friend took his exams and had completed all of his work and essentially finished at university - still not resolved at this point.

- Six weeks later, after phoning twice each week to check how it was going, he eventually got told it would also now be rejected as he had applied for it on the wrong form. He had filled out the UK application form as per last time, but they stated as it was a continuation from the foundation degree, where he had not been in the UK 3 years prior to that starting, he needed to have used the EU form!

- Results had now been released but the university has blocked his access to find out his result and cannot tell him.

- He has since been in contact with the uni, who have said that if he cannot provide the money within due course (no final date has yet been mentioned) then the debt will be passed on to a debt collection company.

- He had asked for more time, explaining the situation about the small errors with the student finance company and had sent off the EU application form, as a continuing student, as it all now should be.

- But this week he received a letter from student finance stating that they cannot process his 2015-2016 application and that he should have applied as a new student. He definitely used the 2014-2015 application form and had sent it with a cover letter by recorded delivery. Still, no success.



What advice do you have for my friend?

He has tried contacting people higher up at student finance but has had no luck. The university now have obviously stopped trying to help him and just want their money. He doesn't have any rich relatives who could support him. It really is an awful situation and I can't help that if the university had let him know that the September payment had not gone in, this would've been sorted out a long time ago.

Apologies for it being quite difficult to read, but I figured bullet points would be easier and shorter.

Any replies really appreciated.

P.s. I know this is kind of irrelevant, but he was always more capable than me and extremely talented at the core maths/science aspects of this degree, putting the majority of the classes to shame. If his final grade is not a first class honours, it'll be a very comfortable upper second class. He worked crazy hours to complete this work and he is really, really beaten by this. I've tried to keep him positive but now I'm running out of suggestions. frown

davepoth

29,395 posts

198 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
He needs to keep talking to Student Finance. There are several methods mentioned on the Government website.

https://www.gov.uk/contact-student-finance-england

Use all of them. I see there's a twitter especially for EU students, I reckon that would probably be the best place to start. If you get nowhere, consider a complaint - the details are also that page.

surveyor

17,768 posts

183 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
Sort of cock-up made for an MP I'd have thought.

I'd suggest the press, but given that he's an overseas student you can imagine where that would go.

Also Student Union?

SpeedMattersNot

Original Poster:

4,506 posts

195 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
He is in the process of writing a letter to his local MP. I had mentioned to him to try the SFE facebook page, but apparently he was given the normal "please call x number".

I had mentioned Radio Oxford, but as I'm not local I'm not sure if this is worth pressuring him to go further?

I will tell him about the Twitter page, thanks.

over_the_hill

3,185 posts

245 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
I would also suggest the Student Union / Student Guild. There will be people there well used to dealing with this sort of thing and they will probably know who to contact to get it resolved quickly.

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
Can he go to his MP's surgery? Kind of what they are there for.

Rangeroverover

1,522 posts

110 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
Try the honorary chancellor of the uni, they tend to be members of the great and the good, find an address from "who's Who" and write to them direct

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
Rangeroverover said:
Try the honorary chancellor of the uni, they tend to be members of the great and the good, find an address from "who's Who" and write to them direct
The chancellor may be of use, but a formal escalation via the university secretariat, with a request for an exceptional review at the University secretary level - or to the University pro-vice chancellor and/or university council, may be more effective (pro-VC is a bit more operational, chancellor tends to be ceremonial)- though exact terminology may vary depending on institution - as do their involvement in student affairs - and willingness to get involved as they often need to be at arms length. They will have contacts at the student finding body to help, though they may just pass the parcel.

OP - if you want to PM me, I have insight into this domain, but would rather do it off-forum at first.

wc98

10,334 posts

139 months

Monday 6th July 2015
quotequote all
well done for offering some help vaud, this must be an absolute nightmare for the bloke . would like to think it would be sorted out quickly,but knowing how our bureaucrats and bean counters work i will keep my fingers crossed.

SpeedMattersNot

Original Poster:

4,506 posts

195 months

Friday 7th August 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for all of your help, Vaud, I did PM you but unsure if you received it or not.

The good news is, his local MP has indeed managed to sort it out by getting SFE to process the correct application quickly and the Uni has now released his result, which I am pleased to say was a First class honours. Well worth the wait, now just to try and make sure he can make it to graduation!

Once he's confirmed the name of his local MP who helped, I'll edit my post to give a round of applause.

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Friday 7th August 2015
quotequote all
SpeedMattersNot said:
Thanks for all of your help, Vaud, I did PM you but unsure if you received it or not.

The good news is, his local MP has indeed managed to sort it out by getting SFE to process the correct application quickly and the Uni has now released his result, which I am pleased to say was a First class honours. Well worth the wait, now just to try and make sure he can make it to graduation!

Once he's confirmed the name of his local MP who helped, I'll edit my post to give a round of applause.
I did not receive your PM - just double checked spam folders - so a PH glitch... frown

But I am delighted that the MP has helped - and congrats to your friend!