How do you spell NGNGNGNG?
I have just discovered that I am expected to pay nearly double the fees of my classmates for my course at Oxford Brookes. Why? Because I'm a foreigner. I could scream!
The enquiry process leading up to my application took nearly 3 months. At no point did anyone mention this. In fact, I have an email stating in black and white that my fees would be £310 per module. On the basis of this, my employers agreed to pay half my fees. All good so far. I later saw the page on the website indicating this amount and stating that international students had to pay £590. I didn't think that applied to me. I thought that applied to people not actually resident in the UK, coming in especially to study at Oxford. I even commented on the irony of the fact that every single one of those people was coming in from a country with a weaker currency.
From the time of my enrollment, I have been asking for an invoice. A month ago, my course started and I once again asked for an invoice. Instead, on Saturday (four weeks into the course) I got a Student Payment Instruction form, indicating a per-module fee of £590. Talk about your average bolt from the blue!
I contacted the university to point out the mistake. No mistake, they tell me. That's the fee for foreign students. No amount of explaining that I have lived here for over 7 years, that I pay taxes here, that the only home I own is here, that the NHS provides me with free medical without expecting any levies because of my nationality... none of that made any difference. It matters not that I have already made a major contribution to the learning of my classmates and that I am probably the most motivated student in the class. My passport says South African. End of.
I am now down to the fact that they quoted me a fee of £310 in writing and fighting that corner tooth and nail. C'mon all you praying types - this wall needs to come down. I have seen other bureaucratic walls come down in the face of prayer (British Embassy Pretoria, 1999, just for a start!). Let's do it again.
The enquiry process leading up to my application took nearly 3 months. At no point did anyone mention this. In fact, I have an email stating in black and white that my fees would be £310 per module. On the basis of this, my employers agreed to pay half my fees. All good so far. I later saw the page on the website indicating this amount and stating that international students had to pay £590. I didn't think that applied to me. I thought that applied to people not actually resident in the UK, coming in especially to study at Oxford. I even commented on the irony of the fact that every single one of those people was coming in from a country with a weaker currency.
From the time of my enrollment, I have been asking for an invoice. A month ago, my course started and I once again asked for an invoice. Instead, on Saturday (four weeks into the course) I got a Student Payment Instruction form, indicating a per-module fee of £590. Talk about your average bolt from the blue!
I contacted the university to point out the mistake. No mistake, they tell me. That's the fee for foreign students. No amount of explaining that I have lived here for over 7 years, that I pay taxes here, that the only home I own is here, that the NHS provides me with free medical without expecting any levies because of my nationality... none of that made any difference. It matters not that I have already made a major contribution to the learning of my classmates and that I am probably the most motivated student in the class. My passport says South African. End of.
I am now down to the fact that they quoted me a fee of £310 in writing and fighting that corner tooth and nail. C'mon all you praying types - this wall needs to come down. I have seen other bureaucratic walls come down in the face of prayer (British Embassy Pretoria, 1999, just for a start!). Let's do it again.
posted by karynr at 11:13 am
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