Credit Control Policy

The University is responsible for the collection of income from a variety of different sources and the Credit Control Policy describes the actions that will be taken to secure payment from each of these sources.

a) The Credit Control team within Financial Services will communicate with students through individual University email accounts and personal email accounts where supplied.

b) The actions outlined below may be suspended if, at any time during these procedures, an invoice is disputed.

3.1 Student Responsibility

Tuition fees are payable in full, at enrolment or within 28 days of an invoice being issued, unless acceptable instalment arrangements have been agreed.

a) Students responsible for payment of their own tuition fees are eligible to pay by instalments, if the tuition fee is for more than £550, details of which are shown in the tables below. Instalments for part-time students paying on a modular basis may be available. Please contact Financial Services for details.

b) Instalments will be taken by recurring credit/debit card payments using details lodged during enrolment or via the University payment portal. Students who do not wish to pay by this method must contact Financial Services in writing. 

c) Tuition fee liability details can be found in the University Tuition Fee Policy.

d) Students who formally withdraw or intermit from their studies may be required to pay a proportion of the tuition fees dependent upon the date formal notification of the withdrawal or intermission is received by the University. Details can be found in the University Tuition Fee Policy.

e) Failure to pay instalments on the dates specified may lead to sanctions from the University, outlined in Section 7.

Instalment Dates 2020/21

¹Payment is due at enrolment except when the student chooses an option to advise of funding from SFE, in which case the instalment is due as soon as funding is received. In the case when no funding is available, the first instalment will become due when such notification is received.

²Payment is due at enrolment except when the student chooses an option to advise of funding from SFE, in which case a nominal payment will be taken at enrolment to capture relevant payment card details with the remainder being due as soon as funding is received. In the case when no funding is available, the first instalment will become due when such notification is received.

3.2 Employer or Organisation Sponsored

Fees may be paid by a third-party sponsor acceptable to the University, when they have agreed, in writing, to accept responsibility for payment of the tuition fees. Home/EU students are expected to provide a valid purchase order from their sponsor for each academic year of their award prior to enrolment. Purchase Orders can be sent to: Financial Services, D141 Blackstone Building, College Road, Stoke on Trent, ST4 2DE or uploaded into the student portal. Overseas Student visa holders may only be sponsored by Official Financial Sponsors I.e. Government Organisations and not private individuals.

Overseas students are required to provide an official letter on stamped and dated headed paper from the sponsoring organisation. This should be uploaded to the student portal prior to enrolment and must include sponsor details, student name, and length of the sponsorship and the exact value of the sponsorship available. However, the responsibility for payment of tuition fees lies with the student and they should ensure their sponsors pay their fees in a timely manner.

3.3 Student Finance England / Local Authority Sponsored

Student Finance England (Student Loan Company), Scottish Awards Agency, Student Finance Wales and Local Authorities will only pay fees for students who have applied for a tuition fee loan and whose attendance has been confirmed by the University at the various census points during the year. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that application forms are completed correctly and in a timely manner.  They must respond immediately to any requests for further information that may prevent their application from being processed. Failure to complete the forms correctly may result in the application being declined. Students are also responsible for ensuring they sign and return declaration forms to Student Finance as failing to do so may result and loan payments not being made. Students remain liable to pay any proportion of fees not covered by a tuition fee loan or grant and will be invoiced accordingly. It is important to remember that these funding bodies are independent to the University and therefore we do not have access to your application.

This section should be read in conjunction with the University’s Accommodation Licence Agreement.

a) Invoices are raised as soon as practicable after the student moves into University managed residential accommodation.

b) Payment may be made in the following arrangements:-

i. Payment in full on acceptance of the accommodation offer.

ii. Pay a £250 non-refundable pre-payment to secure the accommodation place
followed by three instalments via a recurring card payment with a debit or credit
card, to be paid at the start of each term.

c) Where no instalment arrangement is in place, and once the invoice is overdue, statements and a maximum of three letters will be emailed to the student's university email accounts and personal email accounts (where supplied).

d) Where a student has made a promise to pay their accommodation fees account through a recurring card payment, these procedures will commence immediately after the initial default.

e) Default of a recurring card payment will result in the withdrawal of this facility and the outstanding balance will be due in full, immediately.

f) The Accommodation Office will be notified of students who have overdue accounts and along with Financial Services will make attempts to contact the student to resolve the situation. Ultimately, failure to pay accommodation fees will result in the student being given Notice to Quit in writing by the University.

g) Finally, the account may be passed to the University’s external debt recovery agents for appropriate legal action to recover the debt. This may incur additional charges being added to your account and ultimately affect your ability to obtain credit in the future.

a) Invoices are payable by the date specified on the invoice. Following this, statements and a maximum of two credit control letters will be sent to the debtor and the University’s credit control section will attempt to contact the debtor by telephone.

b) Following the procedures outlined above, the University may refer the outstanding account to its external debt recovery agents for appropriate legal action to recover the debt. This may incur additional charges being added to the account and ultimately affect the ability to obtain credit in the future.

Any student experiencing financial difficulty in paying fees or any charges due to the University should seek help at the earliest opportunity. Initially, contact Financial Services, Income Team to discuss arrangements for payment on 01782 294212/01785 353540 or by email to income@staffs.ac.uk and/or seek advice from the Students’ Union Advice Centre located in the Students’ Union (Tel: 01782 294469).  Alternatively, students can speak to a Student Guidance Officer. However, in order to maintain quality of provision the University must act to recover debts.

6.1 Students

a) Accounts will become due on the dates specified on invoices issued by Financial Services.

b) Where a student has made a promise to pay their tuition fee account by instalments but has defaulted; then these credit control procedures will commence immediately after the initial default whereby the entire debt with then be due in full.

c) Where an account remains overdue, statements and a maximum of three letters will be sent by email to the student’s University email account and personal email accounts where supplied. Additionally, for International Students, the University’s Immigration Compliance Officer will be notified of the tuition fee debt and they will also attempt to contact the student to resolve the situation.

d) The University may refer all outstanding accounts for tuition fees to its external debt recovery agents for appropriate legal action to recover the debt. This may incur additional charges being added to the account and ultimately affect the ability to obtain credit in the future.

6.2 Employer or Organisation Sponsored

a)    Accounts will become due 28 calendar days after the date on which the invoice is raised. 

b)    If the account becomes overdue, statements and a maximum of two credit control letters will be sent to the organisation, and credit control will make contact by telephone. Should the account remain outstanding, the University will refer the account to its external debt recovery agents for appropriate legal action to recover the debt.

c)    A student, with a sponsor, will not be able to re-enrol for subsequent years of their course if there is outstanding debt with their sponsor until this debt is paid in full.

d)    In the event of the student leaving the employ of the sponsor and the University has a sponsor letter agreeing to pay the fees then the University will continue to chase the sponsor and if necessary, refer the account to its external debt recovery agents for appropriate legal action to recover the debt. Should the student return for subsequent years they will be liable for any fees, but for those subsequent years only

e)    In the event of the sponsor ceasing to trade the debt will not be transferred to the student for any outstanding debt.

f)     Students will only be chased for sponsor debt following approval by the Chief Financial Officer.

6.3 Student Finance England / Local Authority Sponsored

Students who have not received confirmation of funding will be allowed to enrol. However, if confirmation of funding is not received by the University within 28 days of enrolment an invoice for tuition fees will be issued to the student.

Students from the Channel Islands and Isle of Man must provide the University with documentary evidence of the support that has been offered.

Student Finance England (Student Loan Company) can reassess students awards retrospectively   and may decide with withdraw funding from one or more academic years. In this instance, the student would become liable for the tuition fees and invoiced accordingly. 

A detailed flowchart of the proposed sanctions process can be found in Appendix A. The steps to follow are dependent on the status of the student: -

7.1      Non-continuing Student 

On notification that they have been withdrawn, any non-continuing student with an outstanding debt and having received the chase letters outlined in 6.1 above, will receive a letter stating that unless payment is received within 7 days the debt will be transferred to our external debt collection agency. Once this debt is transferred to our external debt collection agency Credit Control will cease to chase this debt.

7.2      Continuing Student 

A continuing student with only one year’s outstanding tuition fee debt will not be allowed to re-enrol unless the debt is paid in full, or an acceptable payment plan is arranged.

A continuing student with more than one year’s tuition fee debt outstanding will need to clear the earliest years' debt in full and either make full payment of the subsequent year’s debt or arrange an acceptable payment plan before they can re-enrol.

A payment plan can only be offered to a student with one year’s tuition fee debt outstanding.

Failure to adhere to an agreed payment plan may result in exclusion from the University.  Exclusion means that a student will be unable to attend any further lectures or tutorials; submit work for assessment; use the University’s learning resource facilities; sit examinations or reside in University controlled accommodation.

7.3      Final Year Student 

A final year student who fails to pay their tuition fees will not receive any official certification or be able to attend graduation until the tuition fee debt has been paid in full.

Any student wishing to return to the University to start a new course will not be able to enrol if they failed to previously pay their tuition fees. The student will be allowed to enrol on a new course if they clear their previous debt in full, unless they have had their tuition fees written off as part of a Debt Relief Order (DRO), see section 7.4. Students will not be offered instalments plans in these circumstances.

7.4    Debt Relief Order  

 A Debt Relief Order (DRO) is a way of dealing with debts if an individual can’t afford to pay them. It means that anyone with a DRO does not have to pay certain kinds of debt for a specified period (usually 12 months). At the end of the DRO period, the debts included in it will be written off (‘discharged’) and the debts will not need to be paid, unless financial situations charge in the DRO period. If circumstances change so that the person is able to pay some or all of the debts, the DRO may be revoked so that creditors can be paid.

The following applies to any current or former student who has a DRO

•  A student with a DRO will not be able to receive their certificate during the DRO period. The certificate will normally be issued at the end of the DRO period. However, in certain circumstances the Chief Financial Officer can approve the release of a certificate, during the DRO period, after appeal by the student. This approval will be given on a case-by-case basis.   
• Any student who has had University debt written off as part of a DRO process will not be able to enrol on new courses, at the University, after the DRO is complete.