Special Issue November 2012 Tuition Fees and Attendance Processing (Full Time Students) Academic Year (AY) 12/13 This document aims to provide additional guidance for HEIs on aligning termly fee charging with the maximum amount of fee loan borrowed The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) wish to introduce changes to the current process involving attendance confirmations and payments of tuition fee loans and grants to HEIs. The Student Loans Company (SLC) are making changes to the current systems and processes to support this change. The key changes are detailed below and will come into affect in AY 12/13. This bulletin replaces the bulletin issued in October 2011 covering tuition fees and attendance processing for full time students in AY 12/13. Summary of the change Tuition fee loans and grants 1 will be paid to HEIs in 3 instalments. The first payment will be made early in the AY with the remaining 2 in line with current dates. Currently, students become liable for the full tuition fee loan 3 months after the start of the AY. This will now change to students becoming liable at 3 liability dates. The students liability for the fee loan extends at each liability date becoming liable for the full amount if in attendance at the third and last liability date. This means that HEIs will have to confirm attendance to SLC at each of the 3 liability dates to receive payment of each instalment. Students affected by the change The change applies to new and continuing full time English, Welsh and Northern Irish students studying at any UK HEI, full time English distance learning students (commencing courses from 1 st September 2012) and new and continuing EU students studying at institutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For England, it does not cover full time students eligible to apply for the Fee Grant and Fee Contribution Loan (i.e. students who generally started their courses in the 2005/06 Academic year). England, Wales and Northern Ireland have agreed to a common approach to administration of tuition fee payments to institutions. The change is also being introduced to returning students to ensure consistency across all administrative processes relating to tuition fee loan and grant payments. 1 Where this document refers to tuition fee loan, for Welsh domiciled students, this can be a combination of tuition fee grant and loan. Page 1 of 7
Please note that even though this change applies to both new and continuing students in respect of how and when SLC will pay tuition fee loans to HEIs, the revised basic and maximum rates of tuition fees only apply to students commencing courses from 1 st September 2012. As the Regulations come into force on this date, students commencing a course in August 2012 cannot be charged the revised basic and maximum rates. HEIs may wish to consider rescheduling any pre-september course starts in line with this policy. Welsh students and EU students studying at a Welsh HEI will only be liable for a maximum tuition fee loan of 3465. The difference between this and the amount being charged by the institution will be paid as a fee grant to the HEI. Payment of Tuition Fee Loans and Grants and Student Liability There will be 3 liability periods throughout the AY and these correspond to the HEI term start date for that course. First liability period Start date of term 1 to end date of term 1 Second liability period Start date of term 2 to end date of term 2 Third liability period Start date of term 3 to end date of term 3 HEIs will be expected to set term dates in line with existing guidance. The liability date is the start date of each term / liability period and if the student is in attendance on this date (or in the case of a full time distance learning course, the student is undertaking the course on this date), they become liable for the corresponding portion of the tuition fee loan. HEIs will receive: 25% of the annual tuition fee in the form of a loan if the student is in attendance at the first liability date; a further 25% of the annual tuition fee in the form of a loan if they are in attendance at the second liability date; the remaining 50% of the annual tuition fee in the form of a loan if the student is still in attendance at the third and final liability date. SLC will pay the HEI once attendance has been confirmed. Attendance cannot be confirmed (and therefore a liability date will not occur) any earlier than 1 st August, 1 st January and 1 st April. Interest will be applied to the students account when each portion is paid to the HEI. Once a liability date has passed, the student is only liable for the tuition fee loan paid for the term. For example, if a student is charged 9000, they will only be liable to repay 2250 in loan for the first term. They will not be liable for any of the remaining 6750 during that term. Note that for Welsh students and EU students studying at Welsh HEIs the fee loan liability is reduced due to the fee grant element. Page 2 of 7
It is the intention that payments for AY 12/13 will be made at the earliest on the following dates: 3rd Wednesday in October 2012 1 st Wednesday in February 2013 1 st Wednesday in May 2013 This is in line with a course which starts in the Autumn academic quarter and a similar pattern will follow for courses which start in other quarters. These are the earliest dates SLC will make payment. If an institution does not confirm a student in time to be included in these funding runs, then the process in place currently will be followed and institutions will be paid on the following Wednesday. The Government has announced that no eligible students will have to pay for the costs of their tuition up-front in 2012/13. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills therefore expects HEIs to align their termly fee charges with the maximum amount of loan a student can borrow for that term. Attendance Confirmation Procedure HEIs will be required to confirm attendance at each of the three liability dates in order to receive payment. The existing Student Information Service (SIS) on the HE Portal will be used for this purpose. Students will be presented on the Attendance Worklist on each of the liability dates. The current liability date of 1 st December (and subsequent dates for other AY starts) will no longer exist from AY 12/13 onwards. The liability dates will be the start date of each term. When the HEI confirms the student is in attendance the corresponding portion of the tuition fee loan will be released and paid to the HEI on the relevant payment date. HEIs will be able to continue to submit attendance confirmations by using the worklist screens and/or the export / import facility. There may be occasions when confirmation is outstanding for more than one liability period. This could be where the HEI omitted to provide a confirmation for an earlier period or could also arise where a late application was made and we require confirmation that the student was in attendance in earlier periods. The existing file format and layout can only accommodate one attendance code and in discussion with IT Suppliers and HEIs, a file change cannot be accommodated in time for AY 12/13. This will be considered for AY 13/14. In the meantime, SLC will apply the attendance code submitted to the earliest outstanding period for that student. Best practice suggests HEIs should try, as far as possible, to clear outstanding confirmations from the Attendance Worklist before the next liability date. Where this has not been possible, HEIs should use the new liability date and period filters to submit a code for the earlier period before confirming for the current period. Page 3 of 7
Combined Registration and First Attendance Confirmation In order to minimise the extra workload required a facility will be provided where SLC will release payment of the first instalment only of the tuition fee loan on the payment date if we receive a positive registration confirmation from HEIs. To facilitate this, registration confirmations, which release loans and grants to the student, will move from the ELP site to SIS. HEIs will be provided with a new Combined Worklist and will be able to confirm students registration using the worklist screens and/or the export / import facility. The export will be in the current SSAR file format and the import will be in the current SSAC file format. When HEIs provide registration confirmations through the combined worklist only then SLC will apply an A code to all those students and schedule payment of the first instalment. After the busiest period of registration has passed, HEIs will be expected to submit Change of Circumstances (CoCs) to correct any incorrect information on the students record (fee, course etc) prior to the second liability date. If HEIs confirm registration and attendance using the Combined worklist, students will be removed from the separate Attendance and Registration Worklists. If HEIs use the separate Attendance and Registration worklist to confirm attendance and registration then this will remove the student from the Combined Worklist. There are some HEIs who may still prefer to work on the registration and attendance confirmations separately and if this is the case then HEIs can use the separate Attendance and Registration Worklists to do so. If an HEI chooses to use the Registration Worklist instead of the combined then they will be able to confirm students registration using the worklist screens and/or the export / import facility. The export will be in the current SSAR file format and the import will be in the current SSAC file format. Change of Circumstance For full time students, the process of submitting Change of Circumstances (CoCs) will remain largely as is. SLC are planning system changes to ensure that where possible, the following CoC categories will be automatically reassessed and passed back through to SIS: Fee changes Withdrawals Course changes within an institution before the start of the first term Any CoCs submitted with notes will have to be viewed by an assessor and will fall outwith the automated process. These will be worked within the current target of 20 working days maximum (this applies to SFE students only). Please note that the automated process will only apply to students assessed by SFE. The automated process is not available for students assessed by Education and Library Boards in NI or Welsh Local Authorities. CoCs submitted to these bodies will be worked as is the current process. Page 4 of 7
The process for sending notifications to SAAS for Scottish students will remain as is. If any CoCs are submitted which effect a previous liability period, the reconfirmation will be required for this period in order to ensure the correct amount of tuition fee loan or grant is scheduled and paid. There will be no change to the bulk import xml file. HEI Discretion A student can increase or decrease the amount of tuition fee loan they wish to borrow before a liability date has passed. After a liability date has passed: The student can only increase the tuition fee loan for that term, not decrease The student can increase or decrease the amount of tuition fee loan requested for the following terms where the liability dates have not passed yet Where for example, a student withdraws from their course or suspends their studies, the HEI can always apply discretion as is the case just now and reduce or waive the fee charged to the student by submitting a CoC. This in turn reduces the students loan liability for the term. Transfers When a student transfers courses after any liability date, the second HEI will be required to confirm attendance from the next liability date onwards (i.e. start of next term). For example: If the student transfers after the first liability date, the second HEI can only receive 75% of the tuition fee for the second course in the form of a loan. If the student transfers after the second liability date, the second HEI can only receive 50% of the tuition fee for the second course in the form of a loan. Where a student transfers after the third liability date, the second HEI cannot receive any further tuition fee loan for that AY and must wait until the start of the next AY to receive a further loan payment for tuition. If a student transfers courses after the first liability date, the second HEI will receive 24.75% of the tuition fee for the second course in the form of a loan at the second payment date and 50.25% of the tuition fee for the second course in the form of a loan at the third payment date. These figures are a slight variance on the 25% / 50% instalment split where a student studies on one course during the academic year but are necessary to accommodate SLC s computer systems. Where students transfer courses between HEIs, it will be up to the HEIs to agree between them how to apportion the tuition fee for that term (but subject to the annual tuition fee that applied at the start of that term and the maximum tuition fee loan instalment paid for that term). Any change in the annual tuition fee for the new course will only be applied at the start of the next term; the amount already paid for the term in which the student transfers will not be adjusted. Page 5 of 7
Withdrawals Where students withdraw from their courses, HEIs should submit CoCs as soon as possible and before the next liability date to ensure that no overpayment of the tuition fee loan is made. The student is only liable for the tuition fee loans paid whilst they were an eligible student. For example: If a student withdraws after the first liability date but before the second, the HEI can only receive 25% of the tuition fee for the academic year in the form of a loan. If a student withdraws after the second liability date but before the third, the HEI can only receive 50% of the tuition fee for the academic year in the form of a loan. If a student withdraws after the third liability date, the HEI can receive 100% of the tuition fee for the academic year in the form of a loan. As noted under HEI Discretion, when a student withdraws from the course at any point after the first liability date, the HEI can apply discretion and reduce or waive the fee charged to the student by submitting a CoC. This in turn reduces the students loan liability for the term. Where a student withdraws from their course in AY 12/13, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills expects HEIs to charge that student in AY 12/13 a fee amount which is no greater than the amount of fee loan the student is liable to repay up to the date of withdrawal from the course. Suspensions If a student suspends their studies then no further tuition fee loan payments will be made until the student resumes their studies. For example: If a student suspends their studies after the first liability date and does not resume their studies during the academic year then no further loan payments will be made for second and third terms. The HEI will receive the first instalment of loan only and the student will be liable to repay that loan only. If a student suspends their studies after the first liability date and resumes on the second liability date or at some point within the second term then loan payments will be made to the HEI for the first and second terms, and also for the third term if the student is continuing to attend the course. The student will be liable to repay the loan instalments for all three terms. If a student suspends their studies after the first liability date, does not attend in the second term but resumes in the third term then loan payments will be made to the HEI for the first and third terms. The student will be liable to repay the loan instalments for the first and third terms. Page 6 of 7
When a student suspends from the course at any point after the first liability date, the HEI can apply discretion and reduce or waive the fee charged to the student by submitting a CoC. This in turn reduces the students loan liability for the term. HEIs should submit CoCs as soon as possible and before the next liability date to ensure that no overpayment of the tuition fee loan is made. To accommodate the policy, the S code which currently releases payment, will be changed to a non fee paying code and will therefore block the further release of tuition fee loan payments until SLC receive a resumption notification for the student. It will be considered that up to one AY will be a reasonable period for a student to suspend their studies but the HEI will have discretion to extend this period where there are compelling personal reasons for doing so and/or where the HEI has agreed that the student should resume their studies at the start of the following academic year. Next Steps & Further Information Please cascade this information within your institution where you feel appropriate. For further information and clarifications of any of the points raised in this note, please contact HEI_Services@slc.co.uk, or speak to your SLC HEI Relationship Manager. For copies of other 12/13 Guidance Notes and more general information, please visit our web-site dedicated to supporting HEIs: www.heiinfo.slc.co.uk/ Page 7 of 7