www.thecourieronline.co.uk Monday 24 February 2014 Issue 1286 Free
The Independent Voice of Newcastle Students
SQUEAL OF FORTUNE Forget Paul the Octopus, we have Babushka and Fizziwig p.37
BOW DOWN TO ME p.26
Est 1948
GETTING THRIFTY WITH YOU p.15
Stan Calvert 2014: Lucky number seven?
Government clampdown on uni fines By Anna Templeton News Editor More than 170 universities and higher education institutions have been contacted by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to warn that the practice of denying students’ right to graduate due to non-academic fines could be a breach of consumer law. Non-academic fines include late library books, accommodation charges, damage fines and childcare services, and higher education centres commonly stop students graduating if these fees are unpaid. A complaint by the National Union of Students (NUS) prompted an investigation by the OFT which found that approximately 75 per cent of institutions
had provisions to prevent students from graduating or moving on to the next year of their course over unpaid nontuition fee debts. The regulator has now written to the
with more than £100 of debt are prevented from attended the graduation awards ceremony, but not “prevented from graduating.” When asked about whether it is fair
“It is unfair to the wider community of students to retain books and increase University costs, and so reduce the budget for new books” institutions urging them to review their rules and practices and revise them where necessary. A spokesperson from Newcastle University explained how the University provided information about debt regulations to the OFT and are now reviewing future practices. Newcastle students
for students to be penalised for nonacademic debts in light of rising tuition fees, the University responded: “Clearly not, but equally it is unfair to the wider community of students to retain books and increase University costs, and so reduce the budget for new books.” However, the OFT has said that the
“blanket use” of academic sanctions could be a breach of consumer protection law. They also expressed particular concern “that some terms allow the university to impose sanctions on students even when they owe small amounts or a debt is disputed.” Emily Waller, Welfare and Equality Office in the Students’ Union, told The Courier she felt the punishments are too harsh.“The sanctions are completely disproportionate. Stopping students from graduating because they haven’t paid library fees, for example, when they’re already thousands of pounds in debt from tuition fees, is ridiculous.” Recent Newcastle graduate and MA student Tom Nicholson said how he felt the sanctions were trivial, adding that “given how much I gave to the University, in monetary and contributory terms,
I can’t believe they would be so petty to stop people having their own individual day of glory.” Nisha Arora, from the OFT, said some universities had different approaches to the issue and others needed to change their approach: “Preventing progression or graduation not only affects students’ educational experience but could also significantly harm their future employment prospects and ability to pay off their debts.” A Universities UK spokesman said the organisation would “work with the OFT to build a fuller understanding of the concerns they have raised”. NUS, which took the complaint to the OFT in July last year, said it welcomed the move. Continued on page 4