Thousands of students have been warned that they could lose their library and computer access because of unpaid tuition fees. The deadline for payment has been extended to Wednesday the 20^th January.

Any student that has not arranged a tuition fee loan from Student Finance England will face a bill for a year’s worth of tuition. At the height of the crisis before Christmas nearly 3,000 students are thought to owe money for tuition, with the total debt amounting to £6.9million.

The university have insisted that everyone that owes money has been contacted, by letter, phone call and text message. If left unpaid, students will be billed for a full years worth of tuition.

UCLan Students’ Union are urging students to contact Student Finance England to check if they have arranged a loan to cover their tuition fees.

A spokesperson from the Union Advice Centre said: “We are concerned because we have only had around 30 students through our door about this issue.”

This means there are literally hundreds of UCLan students that will be affected. However, students are being told not to panic and to check their funding confirmation from Student Finance England.

All students will have a received a letter regarding their loans after applying, this will then state if whether or not a loan has been arranged to cover tuition fees.

“If you have been invoiced for your fees but you can prove you have applied for a tuition fee loan, the university have reassured us your computer access will not be removed.

“Students may have been invoiced because their online enrolment wasn’t filled in correctly. Another possibility is that their application is caught up in a backlog at Student Finance England.

“If any student is worried or unsure then please get in touch with the Advice Centre” said a Union spokesperson.

The Advice Centre is open 11:00-3:00pm Monday to Friday. You can contact the Advice Centre on 01772 894880 or e-mail suadvice@uclan.ac.uk.

UCLan has loaned more than £300,000 to hard-up students following national delays with student loans.

The Student Finance Department is dealing with up to 900 students per week to help resolve issues with Student Finance England (SFE) and its well-publicised backlog of loans.

In 2008/09 £234,600 was loaned throughout the entire year. Yet in just twelve weeks of teaching this academic year, £315,200 has already been given out, with the total still growing.

“At this stage of the year loan applications should be decreasing and not increasing” said Craig Austin, a senior administrative assistant for student finance.

This year UCLan has the seventh largest Access to Learning Fund allocation in the UK at £758,403. An additional £90,000 of unspent funds from last year has been rolled forward too, bringing the actual fund closer to £850,000.

A recent BBC survey found that three-quarters of universities have bailed out students, following delays at the Student Loans Company (SLC).

Fuelling the backlash, it was recently reported that SLC bosses will end the year with five-figure, bankers’ style bonuses. According to reports, three executives have received £21,000 each and a further seven received “at least” £10,000.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “It is totally unacceptable that so many students are still waiting to receive money, particularly first year students.”

Thomas Grainge, a first year student, had to wait until the beginning of November to receive his loan. “My parents could only help me for so long and it’s really not the way I wanted to begin University life with all the unnecessary stress.”

One of the most worrying aspects of the loan fiasco is that at this stage students are accumulating large rent arrears. After eight weeks of rent arrears landlords can legally begin eviction proceedings and there are a number of students already in this position.

Those with children applying through SFE have not received their childcare grants of up to £1,000 and it is important that the finance department are able to able to support them – otherwise they could lose their childcare places and ultimately be unable to attend University.

If anyone is facing financial difficulty, don’t hesitate to visit Student Finance in Foster Building or call 01772 892583.

By Lee Sentino

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