Can College *make* us pay in these Circs please? (long, sorry)

[medianewbie]

Ds attended College 2022/3 to do an HNC (Saas funded)
Last Sept he started Uni but got Covid really badly & had to return home & suspend studies.Uni was very helpful & didn’t charge us for the time there
(Sept – early Nov) so no Saas funding used.

It seems he may have had long covid as this July he went into Heart Failure from viral Myocarditis.He was in high needs ward in hospital & very ill.
His Consultant suggested he did not re-start Uni at this point & wrote a ‘to whom’ letter. Uni suspended (but I forgot to sort Saas in all the stramash)

Come Sept he felt a bit better & spoke to his old local College about doing a yr 1 HND to keep his brain going over the winter. They 'signed him up’ but only told him after that he's already done 50% of the course & there were only 8 students as College had tried to cancel it but SQA made them run it: a 'Cinderella' course

Sadly he’s become ill again. On Consultants advice he had lots of booster vaccinations & it set off a problem with his heart. He hasn’t been able to attend / study for last 5 weeks he can barely get down the stairs. 2nd cMRI on Monday.
I contacted College to ask for a meeting re his options. It took 2 weeks for them to reply & when we went in his Course Head had not bothered to come along with the ‘catch up plan’ as promised. His Head of Dept came instead & said:
‘we don’t think he can catch up at this point but we wondered if he’d like to volunteer to help the Tutor on his old course for work experience’.Well, maybe?but we've also been told that we’ll need to move his Saas funding from his Uni to the College to pay for this year as ‘he signed up for the course’.

I am reluctant for him to ‘spend’ a years funding on 3 weeks of lectures. It's not College’s fault he is ill again (or his, we could not have expected the advised boosters to have this effect or he would not have had them). College have not contacted him or offered any support (despite knowing that, as an Autistic & Dyslexic student he needed considerable DSA funded support before for HNC)

I need to call Saas & sort this out.
Do I have any option but to move the funding to College & ‘waste’ a year?
Thank you if you read this far. Any advice welcome.

I think I remember you, OP. What an awful situation.

I am not in Scotland so will not presume to advise. I hope someone who is, can. Also I wonder if SAAS has advisers who can help you with this?

In England DS would not be responsible for fees in this situation. But the formalities must be observed carefully. So (a) if he was attending it is reasonable that they signed him up, at least from what you have told us, and (b) he needs to Withdraw from the date he became unable to attend.

If you speak with someone at SAAS, I think these are the key points. DLA isn’t a key issue as I understand it, because sadly DS is too ill to make use of it. You will have a better chat with SAAS if you omit the side issues.

College may not be so interested in offering voluntary work experience if you win this, however. (I would like to be wrong on that)

Best wishes to you both

Hello @poetryandwine - I was hoping you'd see this! Thank you for your comments about how to approach/phrase this which are very helpful.
He has another (sedated) cardiac MRI tomorrow & all I've been able to think about is his health (nearly 6m now).

The College isn't interested (Ds himself said if he was a different student they'd be supporting him 100% & prob in local papers 'local rare heart issue student battles through with College support' etc but as it is his Course Head didn't show & the Head of Dept just gave us Finance Dept email. Really sad for him.
I suspect us using a years funding/ shelling out ourselves WILL be what makes the difference re 'work experience' offer (new Tutor on Ds previous course as old one fired for delivering only part of curriculum & whole cohort failed. One parent 'made a fuss'. College offered a repeat place to that cohort, plus current one, so about 50 students in a small room!)

I'll call Saas Tues, explain, tell them I've a letter from the Consultant. So I can end the funding for Uni. I guess the main problem is, if I don't ask to move funding to College they'll make us pay.
I don't want to 'fall out' with them, (apart from Ds hopes of 'work experience' I have a 2nd young person going there next year) but they're not interested in helping Ds academically.

I'll ask Saas advice but I feel I need to know 'what to ask for' too?

Is there a body in Scotland regulating payments to Colleges, OP? I think there should be a rule for this situation. One hopes it would favour your family in this situation.

Either way, at least it would be fair in that there would be precedent. It wouldn’t just be you against the College, there would be a formal structure to follow.

I am so sorry your family is facing all of this. Take care

PS You need to know about cancelling payments to uni and whether you owe money to College

@poetryandwine THANK YOU so much!!! I'll let you know (on here) how I get on xxx

Thank you, OP xx

@poetryandwine I finally had proper comms with the College Head of Dept.
We worked out that Ds attended for less than 4 weeks total. He is 'passing it to the finance dept who will contact me if any money is owed'. Fingers crossed.
I finally got through to Saas (closed for the day the last 5 times I tried!)
I called both Uni & Saas at the end of his week on high needs ward but Saas have no record. (I also emailed Uni but didn't email Saas as I should have). Saas say Uni have not notified them that Ds didn't start the course. So now I need to contact Uni to get them to contact Saas. Ds has to pay back the funds that have already been paid to him (not a problem just another thing to organise)
We'll get there I expect !

Hi, OP -

This sounds tiresome for you, but basically promising. At least, I think so. It sounds like the university was remiss but you’ve hopefully taken care of that. Fingers crossed, indeed

How is DS now?

Hi @poetryandwine thanks for asking re Ds health too x Saw Consultant late Oct as Ds was worsening again. Said he thought it 'largely Psychological' but would 'order another MRI to put our minds at rest although it won't show anything'. Still waiting formal report but his Sec has shared that scan shows Ds still has Myocarditis. So he needs a better medication regime & longer rest. Our local NHS is rubbish & he'd have been nearer a decent hospital in Dundee but he'd have had to have dealt with being long term ill on his own. No doubt he has not been well enough to study, poor lad. Next year hopefully!

Best wishes to you both, OP

@poetryandwine

Hi, I hope you are well? x

Just to let you know that Ds was emailed a red top FINAL NOTICE ; PAY IN & DAYS OR PASS TO DEBT COLLECTION invoice by College yesterday. He had a panic attack (he is still very unwell with his heart). The postie just delivered a 1st class 'signed for' copy too (I signed, Ds can't get out of bed atm).

I've told him I will pay out of my Carer's allowance (UC top up) if necess (he is really stressed). He can't pay it - it's hundreds of pounds and his loan was cancelled and he had to pay back his bursary too. He cant work and is very ill.

I think it's pretty awful of them. He was on a 50% timetable (had already done 50% of units the year before), there were only 8 kids on the course (college had tried to cancel it, SQA made them continue) and, when we went in for a 'catch up planning' meeting his Tutor didn't bother to show up. At that point he gave up.

I know you may not see this / have any response but I thought I'd let you know as you've been very kind in following his progress so far. I've been busy trying to get him medical help, so a Red Top notice 6m later came as a bit of a shock!

I am so sorry, OP. Do you have Citizen’s Advice Bureau in town? If so can you get there quickly for advice on this?

Can you go to the local paper and name and shame the college, or one of those money columns for a national paper? This is appalling and so disorganised that they've never even got back to you about it and now they're suddenly sending debt threats.

@poetryandwine @MiraculousLadybug
Just to say I emailed College. They replied to say: 'unware of any health issues. To rescind the invoice we will need an updated letter from GP'. GP says: '£95'.
So, this is what we are doing. (less than the College bill I guess!)

Hi, OP -

I was just thinking of you, wondering about the fees situation.

Do you think the GP will provide a suitable letter? £95 seems steep, I know, but it is a bargain compared to the fees.

Op if you continue to struggle with this it may be worth contacting your MP.

That’s a good idea from the @PrincessofWells

Or perhaps your MSP if in Scotland?

Who do you think should be paying his college fees?

@poetryandwine @PrincessofWells thank you x

@1SillySossij there shouldn't be a bill in the circs.

@medianewbie I hope it is ok to ask how is your son? A very close friend of mine has a DS who had this exact heart issue due to Covid from 2021 until very recently. She had almost given up hope of it improving and then it did. His latest scans show it has gone.

@BabalooDancing It's kind of you to ask and it's really encouraging to hear of your friend's Ds. Thank you x
Ds has had 3 MRI's now. The 2nd was worse than the first (scarring over 4 areas of the heart now, ejection fraction down both sides). We got the info just before Christmas and Ds Consultant and GP were both 'unavailable' for weeks. So we went to a private Consultant who said: 'Yes, Myo but also PoTS' and gave us a prescription for GP. GP went fruit loop ('dangerous to mix NHS and private') and NHS Consultant just said Ds should double the beta blocker he was already on. All this did was give him Braccycardia too. He now says: 'no other treatment suggested so you can try the private prescription if you want'. We are now waiting for this. Meantime, the 3rd MRI showed no improvement (he still has fluid & swelling in heart) but NHS Consutant says: 'no other treatment suggested as Myo is cured (eh?) if you still feel unable to get on with things you can try the private prescription for PoTS if you want. Meantime, he has made a Psychiatry appt for Ds. We are still waiting for the Physio rehab since Oct.
We did a SARS request & Ds notes are 'interesting' (he WAS treated for a heart attack in A&E when we were told he wasn't & many other things including a lot of heart rhythm issues and really high cholesterol for the last 6m). He is still unable to be out of bed for more than 2 hours each day so a long way to go yet. I contacted our local PALS who said that our local hospital is known to be 'really defensive' and suggests we make a formal complaint, possibly Ombudsman.
I just want my son to get better. Because he got Covid Oct 23 he's now 'lost' 2 years. I'm so encouraged by your friends' Ds improving though. THANK YOU.
Sorry for long answer - I really appreciate you asking xxx

Well, you've all been through the wringer in a big way. I'm sorry to hear about the angry GP and the wait times. My friend's DS also has some psych meetings which helped to some extent.
I really hope things turn a corner soon. I honestly wouldn't worry about losing time though, there's always time ahead and there's a lot of mature students who by virtue of the fact its not always been an easy road for them, do very, very well thereafter.

The college ran the course didn't they? Why do they deserve not to be paid?

When exactly did you get your empathy bypass?

OK:
Ds attended a course there the year before. 1st time they ran it. It was a mess.
Many students and parents complained. Ds 'taught himself' online. Got an A.
Became the poster boy (literally) for College (cynically I'd say as he is Autistic, although the Disabled student support, paid for by Saas never materialised)
The 2nd year they ran this course all students failed as the Tutor had not taught around 35% of the course materials (nor were they on the College website). A really upset parent went to the SQA. Tutor was fired. All kids were moved onto this next course (all 8 of them) College aggrieved as had wanted not to run it but SQA said they had to. So, this course was not the standard situation anyway.

He was asked to sign up for the new course before the modules were listed. He was then disappointed to see he'd already done 50% (a re run for the kids from the previous year. I thought it was good he only had to study 50% as he was still recovering). He was there for 4 weeks total. At the beginning of that time he was given a raft of extra vaccinations (GP had lost record, recommended to repeat all teenage vaccs). After that his health declined. He was wearing a heart monitor in College. No support at all from Tutor. He fell behind. We asked for a meeting to produce a catch up plan (remember this is a student with Autism, Dyslexia and in heart failure). It took weeks to arrange. His Tutor didn't show up.
He was not offered a deferral or any other options so he withdrew on health grounds. I had an email in Nov to say, 'any issues we'll contact you'. He got a Final Demand / Debt Collectors' email in March. Ds has no student funding now as he didn't attend long enough. He is no-where near well enough to work. Any costs (such as College or his £95 GP letter will have to come out of his PIP)

I think the facts speak for themselves. If you think they are 'not enough' as @Hoppinggreen says, perhaps you could add some empathy too?