I've just completed a foundation degree year, which went well, so I transferred through clearing to a better university to start a 3-year BA. I told SFE I was doing this at the time and all seemed fine. However after a full 3 months and maybe 20 different conversations with them, they have just told me that they are refusing the tuition fee because transferring after the start of the semester means this year counts as two years (one for each university I attended in the academic year), even though the transfer went though after only a few days. They say this means I'm 'repeating the year'. It will be impossible to raise that tuition fee money, I would have to drop out and my degree would be over.
This was never even raised as a possibility before by SFE - obviously I would not have transferred if I'd known this was the case. However they can't point me at the relevant DfE rules and SFE officers have made mistakes when talking to me before (I raised a complaint on another matter which was upheld and I received an apology). Is there anything I can do? Apparently an appeal is a possibility. I'm incredibly stressed out by this. It seems crazy unreasonable and unfair, plus I can't seem to find other similar cases online. Grateful for any suggestions.