Regulations for taught students: Section 3

Section 3: Student Finance Regulation

 

If you are unclear or require support with the information listed below, contact the Students’ Union Advice Centre (SUAC) who provide free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities by emailing advice-centre@hud.ac.uk.

 

3.1 Regulation introduction

3.1.1 This section applies to all students whether you are full-time, part-time, undergraduate or postgraduate, though it may not apply to students enrolled on an apprenticeship with the University.

3.1.2 In this section, the term ‘Home Students’ means UK students only, including ‘Island’ students, such as the Isle of Man. The term ‘Overseas Students’ refers to students from any other country, including the EU.

3.1.3 You should read the whole of this section carefully as it contains important information.

 

3.2 Payment of tuition fees

3.2.1 You should pay your tuition fees when you enrol. You can either pay the fees yourself or provide us with evidence that your fees (in part or in full) will be paid by a sponsor. This sponsor must be one which we recognise as acceptable, for example, the Student Loan Company, your employer or your government embassy.

3.2.2 If we do not consider your proposed sponsor acceptable, you will be required to pay your fees in the first instance. When we receive payment from your sponsor, we will reimburse you directly for the fees you have paid.

3.2.3 If you are sponsored and your sponsor subsequently fails to make payment as per university regulations we will cancel the invoice to the sponsor and invoice you directly. You are liable for the fee if your sponsor doesn’t pay.

3.2.4 For home self-funding students, instalments can only be paid via Recurring Card Payment (RCP) as set out below:

• For courses starting in September: 25% or 50% prior to enrolment and subsequent payments of 25% in November, December, and January, or 50% in January. 
• For courses funded by Master’s Loan/Doctoral Loan: payment of a third each term in line with SFE loan disbursement.
• For all other start dates, instalments follow the same five-month pattern as above.

For Distance Learning students, instalments can only be paid as set out below:

• 50% prior to enrolment and 50% by 31st January

For courses funded by Master’s Loan/Doctoral Loan:

• Payment of a third each term in line with SFE loan disbursement.

For Distance Learning short courses payment must be received in full prior to commencement of the course.

3.2.5 For Overseas self-paying students, instalments can only be paid as set out below:

• For courses starting in September: a minimum of 50% prior to enrolment and 50% by 31 January Payment of the second 50% of the fee can be made in one lump sum or in multiple ad-hoc instalments, ensuring that the fee is cleared in full by the January deadline date.
• For courses starting in January: a minimum of 50% prior to enrolment and 50% by 31 May 
• Payment of the second 50% of the fee can be made in one lump sum or in multiple ad-hoc instalments, ensuring that the fee is cleared in full by the May deadline date.
• For all other start dates, instalments follow the same five-month pattern as above.
• Overseas students who progress to a further year of study are required to make tuition fee payments as per standard instalment terms above; that is payment of 50% of the fee at re-registration, with further payments within five months. 
• If an overseas student has a UK bank account, the student can choose to set up Recurring Card Payments.

3.2.6 If you have applied for funding via Student Finance England (SFE) and your tuition fee loan is not approved at the point of enrolment, the Student Finance Office (SFO) may request ‘consent to share’ with SFE. If the SFO are given verbal confirmation of funding from SFE, we will offer you the choice of whether to enrol or not. The risk and liability of this decision sits with the student. If SFE subsequently refuse funding, you will be liable for the fee, and the SFO cannot be held responsible. Verbal confirmation of funding does not constitute an approved loan with SFE.

3.2.7 If you do not pay at least 25% (or 50% for overseas students) of your full tuition fee or provide proof of acceptable sponsorship, you may not be permitted to enrol. If you are exceptionally allowed to enrol without immediate payment and subsequently do not pay, the university has the right to withdraw you from your course of study for failing to meet enrolment requirements with immediate effect. If you do not comply with our payment terms, as set out above, or with requests for payment reminders, you will not be permitted to access your account with Computing and Library Services. This means you will not have access to your University email account or other online facilities including the virtual learning environment. This may have an impact on your progression or award and graduation.

3.2.8 If your access to your account with Computing and Library Services (CLS) is blocked you should contact the Student Finance Office immediately. Whilst your account access remains blocked you should:

• Continue to attend all timetabled sessions and swipe your student campus ID card to record your attendance. If you do not have access to your timetable, you should contact the timetabling team who will provide you with a copy of your timetable.
• Continue to work towards assessment submission deadlines, however, if you are unable to submit your work or you feel this has adversely impacted your ability to submit or prepare, you may consider submitting an extension or EC claim. 
• Your student campus ID card will still record your attendance, however, if you miss an exam or are unable to sit an in-class test due to non-payment of fees, you may consider submitting an EC claim..
• However, please note that for an EC claim to be considered, you are required to provide supporting information as to why your circumstances led to non-payment of fees. 
• If you miss a submission and/or cannot complete an assessment due to non-payment of fees and do not have an approved EC, you will receive a 0 non-submission.  

3.3 Settlement of outstanding tuition fees and consequences of non-payment

3.3.1 You are expected to pay your outstanding tuition fees promptly. If you are experiencing financial difficulties, you should discuss your circumstances with the Student Finance Office as soon as possible, as it may be possible to agree an instalment payment plan

3.3.2 When the Student Finance Office (SFO) is notified of suspicious activity on a student account, the student will be required to attend a formal meeting to provide evidence of legitimate payments. During this time, the SFO will restrict access to online payment platforms, and all future payments must be made in person using a debit or credit card in the student’s own name. If there is evidence of repeated suspicious activity, the SFO reserves the right to withdraw the student from the university with immediate effect.

3.3.3 If your tuition fees remain outstanding six months after the end of the month in which you enrolled, we may withdraw you from your course. For example, for students enrolling in September, the deadline is 31 March.

3.3.4 If we withdraw you, you have the right to appeal the decision. 

 

3.4 Withdrawal due to non-payment appeal procedure

3.4.1 If you decide to appeal the withdrawal decision, you must submit your appeal in writing to sfo@hud.ac.uk for the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) for taught students, or the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation & Knowledge Exchange) for research students to review, within 10 working days of the date of the withdrawal letter. 

3.4.2 You must submit supporting information to support your appeal. If there is a delay in obtaining the supporting information you should still submit the appeal no later than 10 working days from the date of the withdrawal letter and tell us what your supporting information consists of and when you expect to provide it to us. 

3.4.3 If you submit your appeal later than 10 working days after the date your withdrawal letter was sent to you, you will need to provide independent documentation to explain why you could not have submitted your appeal to us any sooner. This is in addition to the supporting information required to support your appeal. If you do not send us appropriate independent documentation to allow your late appeal to be considered, your appeal will be rejected on the basis that it was submitted late. No further details of your appeal will be considered.

3.4.4 You can only appeal on the following grounds:

• There has been a procedural irregularity in the way we have processed your account; or
• You can demonstrate, with supporting information, that you had personal Exceptional Circumstances which meant you were unable to respond to requests for payment.

3.4.5 The decision of the Pro Vice-Chancellor will be final, and you will be issued with a Completion of Procedures Letter within 20 working days from the date you submitted the appeal.

3.4.6 If your appeal is upheld:

• You may be permitted to re-join your course. 
• You may be required to repeat a period of study, and if so you may be subject to repeat charges. The University reserves the right to ask for payment of fees to be made upfront if you have previously been withdrawn as a debtor.

3.4.7 If your appeal is not upheld:

• You may wish to discuss the outcome with the Students’ Union Advice Centre who can independently guide you through the decision.

3.4.8 You may request an independent review of the decision (please see below).

3.4.9 OIA: Independent review of the withdrawal appeal decision

Our appeal decision is final and there are no further appeal stages within the University. If you wish to request an independent review of our final decision, you should contact the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) within 12 months of the date of the completion of procedures letter.

 

3.5 Outstanding tuition fees

3.5.1 If your tuition fees remain outstanding, we will:

• Refuse to re-enrol you in a subsequent academic year;
• Withhold the award of your degree;
• Not allow you to attend your graduation ceremony; and/or
• Refer your debt to an external debt collection agency, which may result in additional interest and collection charges being applied to your account.

3.5.2 If you are an Overseas student with a Student visa and your tuition fees remain outstanding six months after the end of the month in which you enrolled, we will report this to the Home Office. It is a breach of your immigration conditions, and the University will take steps to report your withdrawal to the UKVI who will curtail your visa.

3.5.3 The above sanctions will apply if you are personally liable for your tuition fee or if your sponsor has initially agreed to pay and then reneges on the agreement. This includes cases where the sponsor informs us that they are not responsible for settling your account.

3.5.4 We will not apply these sanctions where an organisation such as the Student Loan Company, government embassy or other recognised sponsor is clearly responsible for settling your account.

 

3.6 Award of credit for students withdrawn through non-payment of fees

3.6.1. If you are withdrawn because of an outstanding debt, we will not consider you for the award of any credit you may normally have been entitled to. This applies to the credit that you would have achieved in the current academic session affected by the debt. We will normally award any credit you have achieved prior to the year in which you were withdrawn, if applicable. 

3.6.2 If you are withdrawn due to fraudulent activity, you will not be considered for any credit you would normally have been entitled to in the current academic session. However, where applicable, we will normally award any credit you achieved in academic years prior to your withdrawal.

3.7 Repeat module fee charges

3.7.1 If you are required to repeat a module because you have not passed it, you will be charged the appropriate module fee, this includes the exceptional dispensation provided by Registry to repeat a failed module in full without attendance. However, repeat without attendance will result in suspension of funding from Student Finance England as you will not be in attendance at the University. You may still be liable for the cost of any modules taken without attendance. You are advised to contact the Student Finance Office to discuss your particular circumstances.

3.7.2 If you are taking a repeat module, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of and make arrangements for the payment of fees with the SFO, even if you are repeating without attendance. If you enrol to repeat a module and subsequently choose to not attend, you will still be liable for a fee if you haven’t formally withdrawn/suspended from your course. Liability for fees is as below, subject to start/end date of module (if the module completes within a term, the full module fee is due).

 

3.8 Resumption of studies after a period of interruption

3.8.1 Students are liable for fees for every year of study unless they are referred/deferred in modules. If you interrupt at any point in an academic year, resumption in a new academic year will incur a full year fee charge. Any exceptions to this must be confirmed in writing by the course team and SFO prior to enrolment.

 

3.9 Tuition fee refunds

3.9.1 If you are required to pay tuition fees and you withdraw or interrupt your studies for the remainder of your academic year, we will charge a proportion of the tuition fee for your course. The amount charged will depend on when you originally enrolled and when you withdraw or suspend. 

3.9.2 Please note that it is your responsibility to notify your academic school in a timely manner if you wish to suspend or withdraw from your course. You are also responsible for ensuring that the appropriate official suspension/withdrawal documentation is completed and received by your school. Failure to do so will result in you remaining registered on your course, and liable for tuition fees until your record is updated. 

3.9.3 If you are an Overseas student who has paid a non-refundable deposit and you leave within an academic year, any non-refundable deposit will be lost.
For undergraduate taught students and students on courses with prescribed tuition fee fees leaving in:

• First month – no charge
• Term 1 – 25% of fees
• Term 2 – 50% of fees
• Term 3 – 100% of fees

For Postgraduate taught students, Postgraduate research/Doctoral students leaving in: 

• First month – no charge
• Term 1 – 33.33% of fees
• Term 2 – 66.66% of fees
• Term 3 – 100% of fees

 

3.10 Ancillary charges

3.10.1 We may charge you for ancillary costs and services that are provided, in addition to your tuition fees. These services may include:

• Field trips;
• Library fines;
• Equipment lease and hire;
• Consumables (including but not limited to printing and photocopying charges);
• Requirements related to healthcare courses such as non-attendance at pre-booked vaccination appointments.

3.10.2 If you do not pay these ancillary charges, we will consider this as a debt to the University. As a result, we may:

• Refuse you access to the library (in the case of unpaid library fines);
• Not invite you to your graduation ceremony;
  Refer your account to an external debt collection agency until the debt has been paid in full.