Bad news for St Hugh’s

A prospective student is suing St Hugh’s college, claiming that the financial guarantee which the University requires postgraduate students to sign is unlawful.

Last year Damien Shannon received an offer from the History Faculty to read for an MSc in Economic and Social History and was later allocated to St Hugh’s College.

‘The College…would not allow me to take up my place…’

“Fast forward some seven months later, and that initial achievement, which held with it so much promise to transform my life, was undone.

Not because I could not pay my fees. Not even because I could not fund my living costs. The reason given was because I did not have what the University deemed to be sufficient funds to meet the costs of living in Oxford for the duration of my course.”

The college requires postgraduate students to have a total of £12,900 available for living costs per annum, £7,250 of which is for accommodation. The fact that Shannon had negotiated a tenancy agreement which was several thousand pounds less than the figures estimated by the University was judged to be irrelevant.

It is not unlawful to take a prospective student’s financial situation into account when considering their application, provided that the means employed are proportionate and there is a reasonable justification for doing so.

Shannon is convinced that these projected costs are not proportionate or reasonable and feels so strongly about the situation that he has decided to fight the case himself, and take it further if necessary: “I am prepared to appeal as far as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if I need to. I am prepared to go as far as I need to.”

When asked if he would still be prepared to accept his offer to study at St Hugh’s, Shannon said that although he would be tempted, “my impression of the University has changed since the College, by instructing a hugely expensive barrister and seeking its costs, is fully intending to try and bankrupt me.

For a suppodely [sic] liberal institution, it resorts to quite authoritarian behaviour when its privileges are threatened. This will inevitably affect any decision I take about future study.”

‘Bad news for St Hugh’s…’

A spokesperson from St Hugh’s has defended the college: “The requirement that postgraduate students provide a financial guarantee in order to take up their course place at the University of Oxford is made clear to potential applicants.

“The university and college have both made fundraising for postgraduate scholarships a key priority.”

However, Maryam Fayaz-Torshizi, a DPhil student at St Edmund Hall, said  “There shouldn’t be a cap based on your life style. It’s actually ridiculous because with that the University is insisting on admitting only the rich.”

She did, however, admit that her annual spend was similar to the figures estimated by the University.

Shannon is sure that this case will have a negative impact on the reputation of the University: “[Oxford] operates an open and undenied ‘selection-by-wealth’ test for graduate entrants and it makes virtually no effort to mitigate the effects of this with need-based funding.

Accordingly the case is [justifiably] likely to re-inforce perceptions of the University as elitist and out of touch.”