The Student Room Group

should i sue my uni?

I came up to Liverpool + started at LIPA in sep 2022 however very shortly after I started at LIPA I became unwell (out of nowhere) + was admitted to hospital. After a 10 day admission I went back to uni for 5 days (missed all of freshers) however I was once again admitted to hospital for an even longer period. To cut the admin, I've now had 21 admissions back to back for the same reason. During this whole time I kept my uni very much informed over what was happening and initially they were somewhat understanding about it. Soon enough we realised this could be a bit of a continuing issue, the atmosphere suddenly went very sour. I was pretty much forcibly withdrawn from my uni without being offered deferment or a leave of absence, I didn't sign any papers regarding my withdrawal either. This was in Feb of this year. My uni knew where I was the entire time (and had seen the evidence) but decided to tell sfe I had been attending until June of this year which now means I'm in 14k of sfe debt for tuition I never got.

The main person dealing with my case was the uni registrar. When I submitted a complaint about what has happened, the uni registrar was somehow allowed to do his own investigation on himself as well as respond to the complaint which was made against him. When I asked for a evidence letter for my benefits application (asked end of may), I received the letter in June with the date marked as the 21st of February. When I asked for a reason for this, it was claimed it was a innocent admin mistake (if a registrar is making that sort of date mistake should they be in their job?)

my uni doesn't really have an SU so I don't have anyone who i could of helped me fight this informally

Do I have grounds to sue my uni? bc this just feels very wrong + unethical tbh
(edited 6 months ago)
Reply 1
Original post by isabelmoore_x
I came up to Liverpool + started at LIPA in sep 2022 however very shortly after I started at LIPA I became unwell (out of nowhere) + was admitted to hospital. After a 10 day admission I went back to uni for 5 days (missed all of freshers) however I was once again admitted to hospital for an even longer period. To cut the admin, I've now had 21 admissions back to back for the same reason. During this whole time I kept my uni very much informed over what was happening and initially they were somewhat understanding about it. Soon enough we realised this could be a bit of a continuing issue, the atmosphere suddenly went very sour. I was pretty much forcibly withdrawn from my uni without being offered deferment or a leave of absence, I didn't sign any papers regarding my withdrawal either. This was in Feb of this year. My uni knew where I was the entire time (and had seen the evidence) but decided to tell sfe I had been attending until June of this year which now means I'm in 14k of sfe debt for tuition I never got.

The main person dealing with my case was the uni registrar. When I submitted a complaint about what has happened, the uni registrar was somehow allowed to do his own investigation on himself as well as respond to the complaint which was made against him. When I asked for a evidence letter for my benefits application (asked end of may), I received the letter in June with the date marked as the 21st of February. When I asked for a reason for this, it was claimed it was a innocent admin mistake (if a registrar is making that sort of date mistake should they be in their job?)

my uni doesn't really have an SU so I don't have anyone who i could of helped me fight this informally

Do I have grounds to sue my uni? bc this just feels very wrong + unethical tbh


Do you have grounds to sue - contractually no, as as they provided a place for you despite you not being able to turn up much, but ethnically/morally I agree they are in the wrong. Might be worth trying to persevere, or at least telling them that you plan to sue or take it forward some other way.
Reply 2
It's a fitness to sit issue and institutions are legally allowed to withdraw you because of your health.

Yes you'd like to think there would be a conversation about support etc, but they generally don't need to do that before withdrawal.

LIPA is a dump. Go enjoy yourself somewhere else with better infrastructure and support, honestly.
(edited 6 months ago)
Reply 3
Original post by gjd800
It's a fitness to sit issue and institutions are legally allowed to withdraw you because of your health.

Yes you'd like to think there would be a conversation about support etc, but they generally don't need to do that before withdrawal.

LIPA is a dump. Go enjoy yourself somewhere else with better infrastructure and support, honestly.

it was lowkey ***** how i didn't even get offered a leave of absence
im more ****ed bc they lied to sfe about the date when they did , they kicked me out in feb but didn't tell sfe until june (i tried to tell sfe but they insisted it came from my uni)
looks like im paying for their xmas party this year
Reply 4
Original post by isabelmoore_x
it was lowkey ***** how i didn't even get offered a leave of absence
im more ****ed bc they lied to sfe about the date when they did , they kicked me out in feb but didn't tell sfe until june (i tried to tell sfe but they insisted it came from my uni)
looks like im paying for their xmas party this year

Yeah, its not a good look for them. They do have a bit of a reputation for poor behaviour in terms of student support - I know that doesn't help you now, like.
Reply 5
Original post by isabelmoore_x
The main person dealing with my case was the uni registrar. When I submitted a complaint about what has happened, the uni registrar was somehow allowed to do his own investigation on himself as well as respond to the complaint which was made against him. When I asked for a evidence letter for my benefits application (asked end of may), I received the letter in June with the date marked as the 21st of February. When I asked for a reason for this, it was claimed it was a innocent admin mistake (if a registrar is making that sort of date mistake should they be in their job?)

If you've exhausted your university's complaints procedure, you could complain to OIAHE -- the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

You might want to look at their "Good Practice Framework" at https://www.oiahe.org.uk/resources-and-publications/good-practice-framework/

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending