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Students call for university fee compensation following year of remote teaching
Three students from Screenology, located in the centre of Bristol, are leading a campaign to get their students debts written off following a year of “poor quality education”.
Scott Weavers, Jamie Cross and Lianna Denwood started Write Off Right Now (WORN) to rally students across the UK and demand compensation for the past year of university teaching.
Students have had to study remotely since March 2020, allowed to use libraries and only occasionally being allowed to attend in-person seminars and one-to-ones.
is needed now More than ever
“Being a small university, we felt very in the dark about what was happening for students during the pandemic,” says 21-year-old Lianna, president of WORN.
“We wanted to help. We hope to achieve compensation for students and be seen and heard by the Government. We want to support and highlight the issues with the higher education system.”
The students are encouraging others to email their MP and post on their social media in a bid to apply pressure to the Government.
They say that charging full fees for those studying remotely during the pandemic has meant that their university education, which costs £9,000 a year, has not been adequate.
In early 2021, education secretary Gavin Williamson wrote to the Office for Students, the regulator of education in England, recognising that some students were worried about the quality of their tuition, saying that “swift action” should be taken where “quality and academic standards have dropped”.
Lianna Denwood studies at Screenology. Photo: Write Off Right Now
The Government has said that it had worked with the Office for Students to make available an additional £50m of hardship funding, taking the total funding made available for student hardship to £70m this financial year.
This, however, is to be used by higher education settings help for students facing additional costs arising from having to maintain accommodation in more than one location, as opposed to compensating for university fees.
WORN want the Government to go further, fully compensating students for the “poor” quality of their education since March 2020.
“To people that are sceptical about the cause, I understand why you might be sceptical but look at it like this: we as students who pay for a service, that service isn’t being given or to the quality that we were promised, we want compensation,” says Lianna.
“Students have been ignored during this pandemic, with the government creating so much confusion for students with the rules and regulations. We want to be heard and feel like we are getting the value of money that we are paying.”
Main photo of Scott Weavers, Lianna Denwood and Jamie Cross: Write Off Right Now
Read more: ‘Bristol having 60,000 students so generous with their time? This is something to celebrate’
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