The University of Sussex will not refund tuition fees for COVID-19 pandemic

The Pro-Vice Chancellor For Education and Students insisted that online teaching was of “high-standard”.


The University of Sussex will not be refunding tuition fees for students, despite the closure of the university campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been announced.

In an email to students, Kelly Oates, the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students, announced that the University did not plan on reimbursing students for the closure of the university: “the normal tuition fee arrangements still apply.”

The email asserted that “the University is continuing to provide all of its students with their courses”.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor also told students: “We’re doing all we can to ensure the education and learning you’re receiving remains at a high-standard. We are also working hard to ensure you are able to achieve the learning outcomes of your course.”

One second year Sussex student told the Sussex Tab: “Honestly this doesn’t even surprise me.”

They went on: “The University is allowing their VC [Vice-Chancellor] to happily sit there on his £300k a year salary whilst the rest of his staff have to strike for decent pay and his students are having to pay out an entire term of student fees after missing weeks and weeks of contact time, with no access to key resources. I know the pandemic couldn’t be helped but making current students suffer is unacceptable.”