DD2 reapplying for university. Really angry with her current university.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

So DD2 started at her first choice university last September. Three weeks in, her personal tutor died suddenly, and another tutor left before Christmas. None of the classes that these two were teaching were replaced, which meant that DD2 got minimal lectures.

Her new personal tutor told her repeatedly that he wasn’t her personal tutor, and she had no-one to go to. It wasn’t until she emailed the head of faculty that he saw her, grudgingly. He has failed to turn up for one to one meetings and only responds to emails if she complains to the head of faculty.

DD2 asked in January what was happening with the missing classes. She was consistently fobbed off, and finally told that she would be able to do the missing classes with next year’s first years.

At this point, she decided that enough was enough and she was going to go elsewhere to study. Despite getting a solid First in every one of her assignments, all of the universities she has applied to have said that due to the missing classes, she can’t go into the second year, and will have to start again (it’s a practical art course; it’s not like she is missing a few essays).

So she is starting again in September. But she’ll still be charged for the piss poor and non-existent tuition she’s had this year. She’s not the only one to leave - three dropped out during the course of the year and others have reapplied elsewhere. And since the university closed, she’s received no online tuition at all. She has a project to finish, but that’s it. She’s pissed off and disillusioned by the whole mess of it, and particularly the utter disinterest shown by her tutors.

Well it's really good that she has been decisive and got a place elsewhere.

I dropped out of a course once and wrote a letter explaining exactly why and asking for my fees back....and back they came. If your daughter did not get what she was supposed to in terms of lessons/ tuition then why should she pay?

Tell her to go through the formal complaints process, then if no joy she can take it to the OIA. They can force the uni to make her a fee refund.

That’s really helpful, thank you! What is the OIA?

Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

has she done some research on the new place she wants to go to.
don't want to be into the frying pan.
the reviews by present and recent past students can be very revealing.
ignore the institution's own PR.
good luck.
just a thought, since it's the art world, does she really need to go to university for her future career, unless she wants to be a school teacher.

Alex - yes, she has. I think the current place would have been fine if they had bothered to replace the two lecturers and deliver the course. The place she really wants to go to, she didn’t put as one of her choices last time as they asked for AAA, and she knew she wouldn’t get the grades. They’ve given her an unconditional offer on her unstellar grades (although she did get A for art).

I think that's worth an official complaint. She might get something back. It's worth a try.

The university should have its complaints procedures on the website. Beware, it will take a long time to resolve.

Absolutely worth a complaint via the University complaint system, pressure them and encourage her to do this with her peers to make this a weighted complaint. Her SU should have course reps and VP Education (or similar) who can help to add pressure too.

I am surprised the university haven't done more, the death of the tutor is sad and unfortunate but it is surprising and odd that they let a course drop entirely and so many have dropped out.

There is also nationally the Office for Students who could help if you wish to raise higher as they regulate HE for student value for money and over see the National Student Survey.

And if the complaint gets nowhere might even be worth suing as it doesn't seem as if they delivered much of £9250 of course at all never mind the rent (if she doesn't live at home) incurred in wasting a year which presumably is a resulting lost expense.

Definitely worth asking the university for a rebate based on the fact that they did not deliver the course as contracted, but bear in mind that VERY few art graduates will pay back their student loans, so the loans for the first year should end up being part of the lump which gets written off 30 years after graduation.

You have to go through the University complaints process before you go to the OIA. I'd suggest your DD refers back to the course description and shows how the promises originally made were not met, which is a breach of her consumer rights. It's likely that any refund will be paid directly to SFE rather than your DD, so she will have a reduced debt, not a cash sum now.

By coincidence, DSs tutor also died on the first week of his first year. His replacement is clearly not interested in doing the job, and has been largely absent for 2 years now. She only popped up again after my son put in a formal complaint.

Fortunately, I don't think the lectures were affected.