Offers, courses being full etc. A lil thread.

Notwithstanding some legal disagreement over whether the same judgement works be reached today the settled view is that students who meet their offer have a legal right to be admitted. CMA agrees.

Clearly this presents a problem that can only be partially fixed by lifting caps and stretching resources thinly. If they went to court settled legal vote again is that students would get compensation.

Let's be clear - some money off your halls next year (that the uni will try to double count as APP spend if it has half a chance) is the HE sector equivalent of food vouchers for your next trip on Ryanair rather than actual compensation.

Now the government caused this mess and so naturally should fund the compensation. Will it? No chance.

The legal duty is on HEIs to pay it. Will they? Nah. They'll try and deal or no deal it with "bursaries" as above.

Can OIA make them? No. You can't use OIA as an applicant.

OfS? Doesn't do individual complaints and hasn't said a peep about this aspect of student rights.

So what will happen? Students won't get a penny. Everyone will blame everyone else. The odd family with a solicitor uncle will get a cheque. Everyone else will get shafted.

This is what I mean when I keep saying the system depends on students not knowing their rights, being unable to enforce them and being paid off before case law might help. Given the choice yet again the system will punch down, not up.

By the way if I was advising a student in this scenario I would a) not enrol this year anyway, it's gonna be awful b) get someone to write the letter and get a cheque c) go to a less packed uni next year