KCL student represents herself in legal action after being quoted £25,000 to fight wrong grade

A King’s College London student is representing herself in legal action against the university after being given the wrong grade three times, facing approximately £25,000 in legal fees if she had sought professional representation.

Ceana Agbro, a business management student, was supposed to graduate in 2024 with a first class honours classification, but she has been unable to due to her work being misgraded on three occasions.

King’s College has maintained it conducted a “robust investigation” into Ceana’s case, which “reached a conclusive outcome.”

Speaking to The King’s Tab last year, Ceana explained she had achieved first class marks in multiple modules and that her KEATS account displayed a mark of 70, making her entitled to a first class qualification.

Yet three days before her graduation, her grade was suddenly dropped from a first class to a 2:1, which the university explained was because of a peer review.

However, Ceana claims she was unable to access the university’s peer review portal, despite other students reportedly being able to assess her contribution.

In May 2024, she also logged on to King’s College London’s online portal KEATS and was able to see her module grades and calculated she had achieved a first.

However, on 9th July 2024, she logged back on and noticed her grade had been incorrectly inputted as 67, changing her grade from a first to a 2:1.

She emailed a member of university staff and said they confirmed that her c-score had been miscalculated, and they would correct it, meaning she would still achieve a first.

Ceana then received an email from the university saying she “did indeed receive a 70 for the group report – apologies for the error.”

Yet Ceana claims the grade did not change and that she contacted the university multiple times to which they replied saying that this was an error caused by a “system update.”

Three days before the ceremony, on 29th July, she said the university’s programme manager emailed, contradicting their previous message.

According to Ceana, the programme manager said her module grade was supposed to be 68 rather than 70, and that the 70 grade did not “include peer review.”

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A King’s College spokesperson said the university has “sincerely apologised for the error in email correspondence” but maintained “this error is separate from and does not affect the outcome of investigations.” They expressed confidence the university’s “robust investigation of the matter has reached a conclusive outcome.”

Ceana has since completed multiple appeals against her grade with the help of lawyers, but after being unsuccessful through the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education, she is now taking legal action and representing herself, as she was advised the legal fees would cost approximately £25,000.

Ceana, who is currently a television development intern living in London, said: “I want people to understand this isn’t even about the grade – it’s about the process and it’s been unjust.

“I’m doing this for the students before me and after me – I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

Ceana now has a rescheduled graduation date of July 2026 and previously took to LinkedIn to share her frustration, saying: “My graduation cannot be delayed again. I will have to graduate this year whether or not my grade is corrected. Being made to accept a grade I did not earn, simply because I ran out of time and options, is not justice.”

She added: “No one should have to work this hard, come this far, and still have to fight for basic fairness.”

She has also since started a GoFundMe with a target of £4,000 to help raise funds for the legal fees.

A spokesperson for King’s College London said: “We take all matters relating to student grades and academic appeals very seriously to ensure fairness for all of our students and we have sincerely apologised for the error in email correspondence that occurred, however this error is separate from and does not affect the outcome of investigations.

“This matter has been investigated thoroughly, firstly through our own robust and objective appeals processes and then secondly by the independent, external adjudicator, who upheld the university’s position.

“We have engaged fully with the appeals process pursued by the student, and are confident that this robust investigation of the matter has reached a conclusive outcome.”

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Featured image via GoFundMe