Brookes students confused by charges for ‘additional modules’ during pandemic

Oxford Brookes emailed students yesterday to tell them about the additional modules they are being charged for, causing confusion among students who had never heard of these charges before.

The email in question discusses how “charges have been added” to students’ accounts on the student portal, as student loans “cannot be increased to cover additional module charges”. The email explains how “standard tuition fees cover the cost of up to 8 single module credits in an academic year” so there are additional charges if “your current programme registration contains more than 8 or equivalent”.

Speaking to The Tab Brookes, one student said: “I just don’t think it’s fair we should have to pay now…my argument was on behalf of others who I know have retaken modules this semester and have not been able to attend many lectures and have still been charged.”

This Brookes student isn’t the only person that is angry about additional modules charges. Cassia Prigg, an adult nursing student, told The Tab Brookes: “I got an email from them saying that I needed to pay extra for an additional module. I’m doing adult nursing and I’ve asked other people on my course and they haven’t received the email. I haven’t needed to retake anything and haven’t failed anything, no one else has received the email.”

Needless to say, this email from Brookes is somewhat confusing for some students, especially for those like Cassia who haven’t taken additional modules.

The Brookes Union President has said that “for context, the emails are automatically generated when tuition hasn’t been paid. The union released a statement regarding tuition fees on Monday”. In the statement, Brookes Union says they agree that students should be provided a fee rebate and “have written to the 13 local MP’s who represent Oxford Brookes students, calling for the government to fund a sector wide fee rebate.”

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