University possibly revoking unconditional after after I’ve already moved to Uni?

Long post but would appreciate any advice and help.

I am in such a stressful situation and I haven’t done anything wrong. I applied for Uni last year, and applied for Applied Science with foundation year at a few different universities. Now admittedly I didn’t have the required number of Ucas points points because due to some unfortunate circumstances which meant I had to leave college midway through my final year, but still decided to apply as I still have two diplomas in applied science. Anyway thankfully I did actually get a few offers including an unconditional from my preferred uni.

I accepted and everything was fine. Two weeks ago I moved into my student accommodation, however I noticed I still hadn’t enrolled and had been trying to do so prior to moving. I was told by staff just to be patient and I will get an enrolment email before my course start date. Anyway the majority of people on my course had enrolled so I went into the university student service department today and explained that I need to enrol as obviously I have rent etc to pay and need my student finance, course timetable and everything else.

Anyway the lady I was speaking to phoned the admissions team to see why I can’t enrol, and she came back and said that I hadn’t got enough UCAS points.

Obviously I was bewildered and explained to her that all my qualifications are listed correctly on my ucas application, that I had received an unconditional offer which I had accepted, that the university knew I didn’t necessarily have the required points because before they made me the offer the asked me to send a photo of the certificate so they knew exactly what is was. So I logged into my UCAS in front of them and shown that I had received and accepted the offer, showed them the acceptance letter and everything else.

I even called UCAS today and told them of the situation and they confirmed that they shouldn’t have made me an offer if they weren’t willing to place me and that they had made a legal agreement when they made me an unconditional offer and to complain to the highest people necessary if indeed they do revoke it.

The admissions team is scheduled to call me tomorrow with an update but I’m starting to fear the worst. Can a university just do this? Back track on an offer literally less than a week before I’m scheduled to start??

I live several hours away, I’ve quit my job and obviously based my life around this offer. I’ve moved into my accommodation and everything else you do when you’re committing to study at university and now I’m scared they are gonna revoke my offer when they have no reason to do so? They’ve know what qualifications I have had since I first applied.

They’ve known since day 1 I didn’t have enough UCAS points but made me an offer anyway, I declined other universities to come here, spent hundreds of pounds moving 3 ours away from where’s I live amongst 101 other things. I’m in shock that they are even contemplating doing this. I’ve contacted several of the university departments but they don’t offer much other than “we will speak to the admissions team” . My parents are of course going mad as well as they have sacrificed a lot to help me go to uni. I have accommodation rent due next week and if the uni backtracks then what am I meant to do. It has to be the worst and most unorganised place I’ve ever dealt with.

What should I do if worse comes to worse?

Long post but would appreciate any advice and help.

I am in such a stressful situation and I haven’t done anything wrong. I applied for Uni last year, and applied for Applied Science with foundation year at a few different universities. Now admittedly I didn’t have the required number of Ucas points points because due to some unfortunate circumstances which meant I had to leave college midway through my final year, but still decided to apply as I still have two diplomas in applied science. Anyway thankfully I did actually get a few offers including an unconditional from my preferred uni.

I wonder whether dropping out of the college course had anything to do with this. Although the offer was 'unconditional', it was based on your application at that point, which involved studying at college. As you didn't go on to get the qualification, the circumstances had materially altered. I wonder just how 'unconditional' an unconditional offer is and, if the circumstances change, is the university entitled to rescind it. @PQ might know this.

Did you inform the university with whom you were holding the unconditional offer that you'd dropped out of college?

I had already finished college at this point. I finished college in 2016. I applied for Uni at the start of this year. I do have the qualification that is listed on my ucas. I am 20 years old so finished college a couple years ago. The qualification listed on my UCAS is exactly what I have.

I had already finished college at this point. I finished college in 2016. I applied for Uni at the start of this year. I do have the qualification that is listed on my ucas. I am 20 years old so finished college a couple years ago. The qualification listed on my UCAS is exactly what I have.

Get in touch with your student union - they’re there to help students when there’s problems with the university (the cheap beer is an added extra).

Let us know what they say tomorrow. Unless they can prove that you lied on your application (which they can’t ) they will have trouble justifying withdrawing your offer at this point.

Make sure to take the name and job title of the person who rings you (and ideally record the call). If it’s not good news then let us know and tell us which university it is - we’ll be able to help you find the right person to escalate this too. Even if they did make a mistake when they made your offer it would be completely unreasonable to withdraw it at this stage.

I’ve never known unorganisation like this. I didn’t receive a call back so I called them and got told they’d have an outcome at 2:30pm. An ‘outcome’ doesn’t exactly sound promising, it’s almost as if they are treating the situation as a “should we let them study or not”, I don’t think they realise they are playing with peoples future here. I’m sat here stressed out of my mind and every time I try and get some clarification on the subject I’m getting told just to wait and I’ll get a phone back later. I’m almost at the point of getting my parent to ring in and seeing if they get anywhere because I can’t. I’m supposed to have a health and safety talk about my course at around 2:30pm anyway, the course I haven’t even be able to enrol on so I likely won’t be able to answer the phone. It’s Northumbria University by the way, the most unorganised place on earth.

Definitely get the Student Union on the case - they'll know more about the organisation and how to get answers Or if there's anyone from your course you can speak to to help force an answer.
@Northumbria University Undergraduate - can you help with this - it's really not acceptable to treat new students like this

Definitely get the Student Union on the case - they'll know more about the organisation and how to get answers Or if there's anyone from your course you can speak to to help force an answer.
@Northumbria University Undergraduate - can you help with this - it's really not acceptable to treat new students like this

Last online 3 weeks ago (makes sense, Sept tends to be the off season). If OP wants it sorting, they're gonna need to do something urgently.

I have no idea what is gonna happen regarding my student accommodation. Even though it’s booked via the University, It’s privately owned and my rent is due next week. How am I going to be able to pay that without enrolling. This is all such a unnecessary stress.

Just had an email from admissions stating that they have updated my application and that I should receive an enrolment email tomorrow, obviously good news. I shall await that email and then hopefully I can put the matter to bed and actually focus on my studying. It’s been stressful but thanks to everyone who replied with valuable information. I will update as I get more news. Cheers.

Unconditional offers are frequently revoked when the student quits their course. 'Unconditional' means that the offer is valid with whatever grades you get, not that the offer is valid regardless of anything you do. If it was that way, as soon as people got their unconditional offer they could just quit their Sixth Form immediately and not have to do any exams.