University life for our soon to be Year 2 undergrads (2019 intake): social bubbles (bursting?), the new normal and hopefully no second wave

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Did anyone see the article in the Sunday Times reporting that some students have received tuition fee refunds from their university for loss of teaching and services during the strikes and also uni closures from March onwards? Apparently the ombudsman ruled that refusals by universities to consider tuition fee refunds were “unreasonable”

It wasn't a huge amount though was it @Baytreemum? The only figure that I recall is £250?

I couldn’t read it all because of paywall, but even £250 would be welcome to a lot of students!

It didn’t sound like many universities had offered anything and students need to make a complaint to be considered, I think it said they had till 16 July.

I’ll have to read the article again.

Dd has said she thinks she will take a year out. All teaching will be online until at least Jan and she can’t stay motivated. From March to now all the “teaching” she had was instructions for projects being emailed out (she’s an architecture student). No lectures, no online teaching at all. She misses studio time, doesn’t feel creative in her bedroom and is struggling.

I don’t blame her.

She is currently furloughed from her part time Job in a gym with no indication when that might start back. But hopefully it will and she can pick more hours up. Of course the danger is that the gym goes bust and she has no job, no uni, can’t find another job.

I think the amount was capped at £500 but this is still a step in the right direction I feel.

Anyone know which unis paid out?

UCL defo mentioned but I did scan the article very briefly so I may have missed mention of others.

DD also going back in August to shared house. I'm wondering whether this intake will lose contact with home friends moreso than previous years as it's been harder to meet up - if you're following social distancing guidelines.

@WhenCoronaWasALager (great name!) where we are there is more contact between people who stayed home and people who went away because they have been home so much due to strikes and virus. The good weather has meant they could meet in parks with SD and they have been doing weekly pub quizzes on Zoom.

Hi all. Dd got £150, I think she said, back from Uni of York for the strike etc. Hope that’s helpful. She cleared her stuff from her college last week and she’s back again Sunday to collect keys from her landlord and to deposit everything she doesn’t need over the summer.

@Dunlurking, what did she have to do to get it?

Just looking at The Times article it mentions UCL compensation capped at £500.
Leicester has reopened a complaints procedure where students can submit a complain until 17th July.
They didn’t mention any other university.
It did say ‘that in 2019 the Office of the Independant Adjudicator for Higher Education received a fifth more complaints to a record of 2400. It upheld about a quarter of complaints and some awards of £5000 were made, the total amount paid was about £640,000.’
May be worth claiming for students who did have a lot of lectures cancelled due to strikes.

My DD and DS had just about all of theirs cancelled

My two DDs lost lectures, practicals and tutorials but they lost much more than that - no libraries, no contacts, discussions, societies, sports, live hustings, meetings etc. etc. How much is that worth?

I think the universities were more willing to consider refunds for strikes than they are for coronavirus. This is an article about strike compensation - www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/university-strikes-students-compensation-tuition-fee-refunds-ucu-lecturer-a9395481.html

There may be some good FOI data.

@bigTillyMint sorry I meant to ask dd last night and forgot, and she's at work now for the day. I know a group of students petitioned the university until they agreed a process whereby the students had to document all the missed lectures and tutorials. There was a deadline, (possibly in May, but I can't remember now) and she has received the money.

@Dunlurking, glad your DD got some money. It seems Bristol have ruled out refunds

I had a quick search for any indication of how DS could apply for a refund for strike action for UEA and found it to be a bit of an impenetrable fortress (which is presumably what they want!).

It looks like DD was in the minority here in that she was completely unaffected by the strikes.

Thank you to whoever recommended the Harvard summer courses. My DS signed up for Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies. He will have to study for 6 weeks and do an exam to get the Harvard Certificate and he is really enjoying it. Its given him a bit of focus, and something to do other than basketball and gaming all day. It cost $100 but will look great on his CV.

I also got my DD on a short course in animation at the University of Arts London. This is to support her application to an American university, which she is considering. They have just delivered loads of lovely expensive art materials for her, so she is happy.

@minesawine I tried to get my DS to sign up for one of the Harvard courses but he didn’t go for it.
I discovered Yale also do courses, infact I’ve signed up for one for myself 😊

Well done itscold I think they are great. I have sent the Yale details to my DS, but I may be pushing it asking him to do another.

Well my DD is nearly at Durham to collect her house keys and move her stuff from college to her house. She’s driving the family big car - 3 hour journey from home. Her Tesco van driving job has made me much less stressed about her driving all that way on her own.

@minesawine Well done to your DS. That will look good on the CV.

@mum2eim, my DS is going with his housemates tomorrow - one of the girls is driving them up. It’s worked out perfectly as he got a job, but it’s only Mon to Thurs!