Can my uni throw me out immediately? Really upset pls help

[incrediblydistraught]

Late paying last installment for my masters degree, having some financial difficulty. I went in and spoke to them and asked if would be ok to finish paying by August followed up with call last week.

They have suspended me now and can't access any of my student accounts. I have called and am really distraught I can't fucking cope I have just spent £8000 and a whole year trying to make myself more employable AND THE WHOLE THING IS A FUCKING WASTE.

Nobody could say if they will let me finish. I don't know what to do I feel so misled as far as I knew it was ok to finsih paying by August and then suspending my email how the fuck can I communicate with anyone at the uni to even try t o resolve it????????

Shaking with fear no matter what I do how hard I try it all gets taken away from me I am a laughing stock. I have paid £8000 all for nothing, my grades are all good and its all for nothing.

@incrediblydistraught

I agree with other comments - your university will not want you to fail your course and will do everything they can to help you, however university staff can be notoriously slow in dealing with issues, especially over the summer when staff are on leave and it is understandable that you are feeling stressed having lost access to your student accounts.

The first thing I would do in your situation is to make a brief written record of who you spoke to, what issues you raised, when and how you contacted (eg face to face/telephone/email) and what advice was given to you by staff. If you have any written correspondence (eg letter, emails etc) put them all in a folder together.

Secondly, if you are still in the midst of classes and assessment try to let your tutor/lecturer know that you have been temporarily locked out of the system and hope this will be resolved soon. This will let them know that if they are uploading resources online for instance or sending emails to your student account that you don't have access to them and they may be able to set up alternative arrangements.

Thirdly if this situation continues to be unresolved get in touch with your student union - they may have encountered the same/similar issues in the past and be able to support you.

Nicci

OP.

Go to student services.

AND

Speak to your personal tutor or supervisor or whoever is responsible for your pastoral care within the department.

I understand that Panicky You is out of the box and rampaging round your head telling you that this is just the sort of thing that happens to you and there's no point in trying to sort it out. You need to tell Panicky You to get stuffed, because Panicky You is wrong. There are people at your uni whose actual job is to help you and you need to speak to them.

Yes please speak to your Academic staff as they really can have a lot of influence in matters. At this point in time you are just at a standstill, but please write down everyone you have spoken too.

Firstly breath! Getting worked up about it will not help.

This happened to me in my final year of my masters. I got in contact with my course supervisor (he was one of the lecturers) explained the situation and he sorted it from his side. Maybe talk to your equivalent?

I hope you get it sorted OP

That sounds like a plan. But, if it makes you feel better, do contact your tutor now. They will probably be apologetic that they didn't get involved, it is part of their job and you never kow what they can do behind the scenes.

OP, you are really freaking out for nothing. It's probably just a bureaucratic glitch. Most universities are totally shit at organising their own internal processes. It takes ages for the information to filter down from one place to another. Whoever you spoke to originally about your load probably a) did not have time to send a message to relevant people yet, b) forgot about it, c) sent a message but it was ignored, d) send a message, but there is a computer glitch and Ned who can sort is on annual leave. Etc., etc.

Call:

• your personal academic tutor (you should have one)
• the academic head for your programme of study
• student finance

If you do not know who these people are, call the switchboard in your department and ask.

You'll be fine. I have seen this kind of stuff a million times. It is really not in the interest of the University to have a student who does not complete the degree.

Ok. You need to get hold of the tuition fees regulations, programme regulations and student handbook. Ask to meet with student services asap, email your student course rep/student union. You need their support asap to get this resolved, they will help you with your options.

When was your payment (now late) actually due? It seems very odd to have been suspended from accounts quite so quickly, particularly as you are having conversations with the university staff. I suspect, like others have said, you have gone over an automatic time threshold and there wouldn't have been a mechanism and/or time for staff to override this.

I think i should wait for the woman to email me back with what is exactly the situation, before I contact my tutor.

No. Speak to your tutor now. They can help from their side.

Call student services.

Universities DON'T want people to fail or drop out, it makes the figures look bad!

Universities have a solid-gold way of encouraging debtors to pay up -- they don't release your final results or tell you your degree classification until you do!

So, cutting off email etc, I'd view as a stern reminder that you NEED to address this, either by paying OR agreeing to a scheme of payment. Ignoring it is not an option, that is what this denial of service thing is supposed to do as far as I can see, to MAKE you take action and do something to get it sorted.

Don't worry too much, happens all the time.

Draw a line under what you did last week or whichever week ago.

Go in afresh, talk to people, involve everyone who needs to know and who can help you. Get it resolved.

Focusing on who you spoke to last week that didn't achieve what you wanted isn't going to help with sorting out today. People are asking who you have spoken to today.

Nothing wrong with being angry and upset, but use that anger to power you to take constructive action now to change it.

Repeating: Contact your tutor, Contact Student Services.

Confirm the payment plan you are proposing with dates and an explanation as to why you cannot meet the original deadlines but you will be able to meet the revised deadlines. Send this in writing along with the dates of the conversations you had confirming that this would be acceptable.

I have to leave to go to a hospital appointment now, won't be home until later and by then hoping to have some response from the woman on the finance team.

We don't have a welfare team as such that you can call into in person (like at my last uni had large drop in centre that was very easy access) but I think there is somebody to email, who can signpost. Or else I will try somebody at the students union.

Hi OP, please talk to your tutor/supervisor/whatever they call it - they will have seen it all before and be able to direct you to where you need to be.
I am a supervisor at a uni, and we also have "hardship funds" that students can apply for - does yours do something similar? The student finance team will talk to students about what is available to them.

So you're personally paying this, as opposed to it coming directly from your student loan?

How much do you now owe, and have you defaulted on payments previously?

Pastoral care is for all students - not just young ones. Your tutor should be able to help and also try your students Union for support.

Stay calm, Go in and speak to someone again. Fingers crossed it's a mistake.
Is a loan for the remainder a option?

OP, this does sound extremely distressing, no wonder you are upset and panicked. Is there anyone that you can talk to in real life who will be calming and empathize with you?
I really hope that you can take the advice on here and resolve this situation.

I don't think I can call any academic staff it feels intrusive.

If I email them tonight is that in good time? I really need to focus on my appointment today I'm getting a new medical device and attending training how to use it, I need to focus 100% on getting that right and stuff this uni stuff to the back of head for few hours.

I think i should wait for the woman to email me back with what is exactly the situation, before I contact my tutor. Because at the minute I don't know how bad it is, this thread is saying not to lose all hope so trying to hold on to a small bit of hope.

You said you weren't avoiding things, but you are.

Right now your tutor's probably looking at an email from finance saying that you've been suspended for non-payment of your course fees, and they're wondering why the f* this is the first they've heard of it and why they've heard nothing from you about it since? Unless you want them to assume you're walking away from the course you're going to have to talk to them.

Every uni has a student services or student welfare office, even small satellite HE colleges out in the sticks have someone in this role. They have to have an arrangement for this.

How much do you owe? I am guessing about £2000. Most people owed money will loosen up a bit if you raise some. Could say come up with £500 now just to get them to carry on until you can make a bit more money? Have you tried finding additional work eg you might be able to get a full time weekend job sat - sunday?

This happened to me when I was doing a MSc. I changed cards so my payment was declined, they didn’t tell me, just froze my uni account. I had no joy speaking to anyone in finance, so I got the FDs contact details from their website and emailed him directly. He delegated it but it was fixed. I think as long as you show willingness to pay, even if it’s longer term and in instalments then they should behave reasonably.

Have you tried the student union?

Also you can now get student loans I think from the student loans company for post grad qualifications so may be you could get something from that. www.gov.uk/funding-for-postgraduate-study

Holding onto hope doesn't mean quietly, helplessly burying your head in the sand and hoping for the best.

I understand that Panicky You is out of the box and rampaging round your head telling you that this is just the sort of thing that happens to you and there's no point in trying to sort it out. You need to tell Panicky You to get stuffed, because Panicky You is wrong. There are people at your uni whose actual job is to help you and you need to speak to them.

This is great advice that I will be storing to tell myself in future.

You said this course was about rebuilding your confidence. Do you think a huge part of that might also come from changing the way you normally respond to upsets/setbacks like this and going out there following up on all the avenues open to you to get a good outcome? Proving to yourself things really can be different and you can influence that difference?

I just think it would be great if after this is sorted you can look back and think "I took charge of that, I didn't let it beat me or allow it to become a catastrophe - next time the universe tries to knock me down I'll know I can stay on my feet and be proactive in finding people to help me sort it out".

Instead of looking back thinking "the universe screwed me over again, there was nothing I could do but helplessly hope, luckily this time it turned out OK by fluke, but I bet it will keep happening"... Because that's just going to make you feel crap - but it doesn't have to be what you take from this experience. You want the outcome where you took charge and took control.