My old university says that I owe them 3.5k

I got an invoice today for 3 and a half grand. My university says that the SLC never paid my final years tuition and that they’ve only just noticed (it was quite a while ago).

I did a 4 year course that included a foundation year, then took an extra year.

However the Student Loan Company says that I took a 4 year course (extended science foundation) and then swapped on to a 3 year biology course. Hence I wasn’t entitled to the plus one year. I didn’t, I signed up for a 4 year degree that included a foundation year and a 3 year degree in one (according to the UCAS application). The confusion has come from the fact that the first year was a lower cost than the second.

I’ve spoken to the SLC, I’m not going to hear back from them until January the 8th. In the mean time can anyone else help me not curl up in a ball and have a giant **** panic attack. My student overdraft is bad enough.

Can my university revoke my degree?

cheers

Have you spoken to the uni about it? I know where I am there’s a whole office of people that are there to pester the SLC and get them to fix their messes.

Ignore it.

Wait for them to sort it out.

You’ve no doubt got a certificate

Nahh they were closed when I read it.

I’ve got the certificate, I’m going put it in an apocalypse proof safe I think.

It’s not like they have any property they can actually seize – but could it prove to be a pain if I apply for a PHd? As in, if another university rings my old university to check my records are they going to tell them I don’t hold a degree as I didn’t pay for it?

Sounds like their problem, though that’ll be no comfort.

To put it in context, how long ago are we talking?

I graduated a couple of years ago

dunno, but id be tempted to use the phrase “jog on”

How long? If it is more than 6 years then get it statute barred

Unfortunately it wasn’t.

Anyone? Can the bastards revoke my degree if this doesn’t get sorted and I decide to ignore it?

They might get you via small claim court then they will send the bailiff to get their money back …

I think you just need to sell your body for pleasure now to repay them. The Uni will be your pimp in this case.

What’s the baliff going to get…. my clothes? My bikes hidden away where they’ll never find it (at a mates). I don’t have much and I don’t have a permanent residence.

I got temporarily kicked off my Uni course/locked out of the library etc for non-payment of fees but they backed down in the end.

I’d done a two year foundation degree then gone onto the final year of a Uni degree course to ‘top up’ to a full degree. They tried to argue that the course wasn’t a top up degree so I was classed as a new student and would have to pay the newly increased fees – £3500 rather than £1200.

I eventually found the original prospectus for my course where try described it as a top up course. They still wouldn’t back down until I threatened legal action. I’d just write them a letter/email clearly examining your position and that you consider that the end of the matter.

Your degree is safe. Speak to your university’s finance office about the money they alleged you owe them.

oldboy – Member
Your degree is safe. Speak to your university’s finance office about this.

But continue to sell your body just in case …

You’ll only get a bailiff if they claim through court, you loose, and don’t pay.. It’s then ccj and bailiffs to recover the money.. I guess this is a bit of a way down the road.

Sounds like it’s something the SLC and uni need to sort out….

Iirc the slc doesn’t pay your fees? They pay you x amount a year then you spend it on what you see fit. Sometimes you get a grant from your education authority, that is paid to the uni, but that’s nothing to do with slc?

Happy to be corrected?

Anyone? Can the bastards revoke my degree if this doesn’t get sorted and I decide to ignore it?

Probably not.

But to be fair “The Bastards” haven’t been paid for what they gave you. You can’t really blame them for asking for the money owed to them can you ?

These sorts of things normally get sorted out once you start talking to them about it.

I had something similar years after finishing uni, looking for about £700. I had signed a legal document apparently which meant failure to pay up meant I was a criminal scumbag.

I sent a letter back asking for an explanation how this came about, how the figure was arrived at and a copy of the documents I had apparently signed.
That was about seven years ago now, still waiting for the reply 😕 Tosserrs.

MartynS – Member
… I guess this is a bit of a way down the road.

There are plenty of zombies working in those institutions by the way, so a simple press on the keyboard their SAP computing system will initialise the paperworks …

No the SLC pay directly to the uni. They approved the loan so I took some extra modules to bump my grades on top of a few medical resits. So the bastards are the SLC, they actually paid the first instalment to the uni. Then asked for it back the January of that year when I could have sorted it and dropped a load of modules (recovering the money).

But no one thought to contact me.

So I’d like to see them **** try to get it back through small claims court.

They might send round the mind bailiffs who will suck everything you learnt in that year through a hole they’ll drill in your head.

They might send round the mind bailiffs who will suck everything you learnt in that year through a hole they’ll drill in your head.

Thanks for that

How long ago r we talking ?

See my earlier post ^^^^^^^

Ignore all the scary posts on here, just talk to the university’s finance office.

If its more than 6 years you may be able to get it cancelled

[quoteTom_W1987 – Member
What’s the baliff going to get…. my clothes? My bikes hidden away where they’ll never find it (at a mates). I don’t have much and I don’t have a permanent residence[/quote]

Top tip: NEVER post stuff like that on the internet. The world is a lot tighter than you can imagine
My lawyer mate’s advice is NEVER write (or type) anything you don’t want read out in court.

Mods, can you delete my post in regards to the advice above. And edit the above post?

I’ve been screwed over by SLC doing the same thing, I was in the advantageous position of working for the institution and knew the director of finance from union negotiations – it appears to be quite normal that this sort of thing happens – mine happened because I was switched from one course to another mid-course, not my choice and I had no say in the matter – SLC assumed that because I didn’t re-apply for a new course, and just asked to roll over the previous application, that I was no longer on the course – so they never paid.

I got a whole heap of pestering e-mails etc. from finance lackey’s etc. and generally told them to speak to the SLC and leave me alone – eventually, the SLC sorted themselves out.

In terms of can they take your degree away – once you have graduated, then the qualification is conferred on you – unless there is some kind of academic concern for your work – plagiarism, cheating in exams, then it’s yours – generally with fees, the uni will bar you from graduating and not award the qualification, since they have done that, then they have very little leverage with you.

In terms of Phd. – I wouldn’t give my university corporately as the referee, and give a specific tutor who has agreed to do it, dissertation supervisor is a good bet – they are probably unaware that you are being chased for the money, and are unlikely to mention it – it’s an academic reference.

Phew, I really REALLLY hope that’s true. Anyone else who is in the know care to weigh in?

SLC eh… Just today I had, for the first time in history, a completely satisfactory encounter with them. Worst company in the world.

(when I worked for the bank, we ran a pretty long campaign to try and aquire their business… They were so incompetent, after about 2 years, it got kicked up to board level and the head of business banking phoned them up and said “We’d rather eat our own heads than be your bank, **** off and die”. And this was HBOS, a company not averse to a bit of incompetence!)

Anyway. I have nothing particularily useful to add, other people have already made the point that unis usually use withholding graduation to collect funds, and you’re past that point. They have all the usual civil methods available to them but usually are not particularly well versed in it, or keen to use it. They will also be incredibly familiar with the fact that the SLC are a disaster area, so you can hopefully expect sympathy and benefit-of-the-doubt.

So I would encourage not panicking, speak to all concerned, get your complaint in writing with evidence off to the Shit Liars Company and escalate it as steadily and stress-lessly as you can as nothing ever happens until you’re past their first wall of incompetence-by-design.

Edit
That is really shit, nothing worse than an unexpected bill, but that is taking the piss.

Perhaps the only benefit of ageing is perspective. In your position I would have been awake at night worrying, now with the benefit of hindsight I can assure you not to worry. It will just be a box on a finance system triggering the letter. Once you explain yourself to both parties they will eventually sort it out. Don’t stress yourself about it.

Conversely, my old uni ‘found’ 150 quid they owed me from when I worked there, which they then paid me through PAYE. Bit of an issue seeing as I don’t live in the UK any more, and the SLC decided to stop my direct debit for paying from abroad for several months whilst they collected my loan PAYE from the UK. Only, aside from the 150 quid, I had no UK income. Apparently that was all my fault and I owed them four months’ loan repayments, despite them being in receipt of my UK bank details and a signed DD mandate instructing them to take payment.

I should add: the first I knew about any of this was a letter that arrived more than one month after it was dated, with postage only for the UK (I live in Oz, and they know this), demanding over a thousand pounds in late payments.