Course cancelled after offer made- now what?

[horsemadmom]

DS's probable insurance offer just emailed him that they cancelled the course and offered him an unsuitable alternative. This was a very well regarded course at a very good uni (top 20 for the subject).
Why did this happen?
Can he apply for another course even though the UCAS deadline has passed?
The big problem is that the original course didn't require stellar grades but was keen on applicants with practical experience in the field and the right combination of subjects.
How should DS proceed?

Can he discuss it with his tutor to get some advice? Has he had offers/responses from his other options yet? Is UCAS Extra an option? Tbh, his best option would be to discuss it with his tutor at school/college, they will have experience of this and will be best placed to advise him individually too.

Friend is a lecturer & this happened to him (cancelled under his feet).
Short answer is they didn't get enough applicants to make it financially viable. Normally the Uni will be very keen to keep his interest & should be able to suggest similar alternatives at same Uni. Sorry I don't know answers to rest.

I'll speak to Head of 6th form on Monday.
UCAS Extra might be an option but it is an obscure subject and not many unis offer it in the format that DS wanted. Finding 5 courses to fill his UCAS form was quite difficult. He has offers from all but one (still waiting!).
If he gets the grades for his likely firm, it won't matter. It was just nice to know that he had a viable back-up.

If the course has been cancelled, he is allowed a substitute choice - phone UCAS asap on 0371 468 0 468

Thanks. DS looked at possible alternatives but didn't find anything suitable. He has firmed his 1st choice and doesn't have an insurance. He's feeling ok about this.

If he has four offers, can he not choose another for the insurance? Why did he choose them in the first place if they were not good enough or suitable? Would choosing another university help? Presumably you have already trawled through all the options, so what will be the outcome if you do it all over again? The course he chose cannot be well ragarded if not enough applicants want to do it, by the way. It obviously was not ludicrously oversubscribed like lots of courses and was appealing to a small niche of people by the sounds of it.

It drives me mad that universities cannot make offers by the end of March. Why is anyone still waiting?

The course was probably cancelled because it required very expensive equipment wich needed to be updated every year. The technology budget would be 50k+ per anum at minimum and they can't have so many students that they won't get enough hands-on time. Simple economics.
All of the courses DS applied for have low student numbers for this reason and he wouldn't have looked at anywhere he suspected that 1st years would be unable to access the tech until the middle of the night.It makes the course worthless. His firm choice only takes 12 per year for this reason.

MillyMoly lots of 'well regarded' courses are undersubscribed. Look at the entry requirements for MFL - they are low because Unis can't fill their courses with higher tariff students. Places like Bristol only ask for ABB (inc French) it's incorrect and a bit snobby to suggest the courses are no good . .

Point taken. However Bristol does get 1000 plus applications for French for 256 places. So it is not necessarily undersubscribed and they know a lot of their applicants will be Oxbridge rejects. Very many students at Bristol will have better than ABB. The lack of decent MFL students across the whole university sector is a problem and some universities have cut numbers. Others have reduced offers to maintain a thriving department. In unusual subjects it may be that there should be perhaps two centres of excellence if the course is expensive to run. Less choice for the student, but at least the course will not be cancelled.