Any Advise? College Application Messed Up Badly

Old Man WInters

OK, so here is the situation:

I went to [SNIPPED] for two years from 2005-2007, lost interest in the course and dropped it. I intended on doing a night course (BA) in journalism last year but never got around to it. So this year I decided to definitely go back, especially since the current financial climate meant it might be better to focus on academic qualifications than progression in the workplace (I only recently got myself a job again, after about 5 months of solid job-hunting).

Anyway, I went in and requested an application form, got it, filled it out and handed it in with the cheque for €1,340 for the first term - this was about two weeks ago, and they still had all of my personal info, previous student # on file, etc (if this means anything from a legal standpoint?). I then get told that they will send me out the rest of the forms in the next 7-10 working days.

Well, after two days I got the bank gyro stuff for if I wanted continuous payments over the coming years, rather than one-off cheques and what-have-you, but nothing specific to my course stuff. I then never heard anything about the official registration day, but wasn't worried since my student number and what not were already on file, and reckoned I would get that sorted a week or two after lectures commenced... you know, to be helpful to them, as they are probably inundated enough already?

So my first lecture was Monday at 6.15pm. I went in, the class was empty until after a few minutes the lecturer came in and asked me if I was repeating the module from 2nd or 3rd year. She then looked very puzzled after I told her I was in first year, and told me that she had heard there was no intake this year due to a lack of applicants. We decided to leave the lecture (since it had also been resheduled to Wednesday, without anybody telling her either) and I went up to the front desk and asked to talk to someone. As soon as he heard my story of what the problem was and saw my file/application he literally just muttered 'oh fuck' under his breath, told me that I would be rang at 9am Tuesday morning and left.

It is now Wednesday afternoon. I have heard nothing back. It is too late to apply for anything else from what I have checked but a diploma anywhere else (which I was told by an applications officer of that college is little more than something pretty on the CV, and does little for actually getting anywhere in an industry like journalism). This is an entire year of my life wasted, from an academic perspective, and at 22 I am reaching the stage where I want to get a career underway ASAP, which I cannot do until I get this course underway and/or finished. To say I am raging would be an understatement.

So I am just wondering if anybody can advise me as to how to go about making a claim for compensation beyond getting my money back? Because frankly, while I have never pressed any charges or made and formal complaints about anything ever before in my life, this is the height of ridiculousness and an absolute insult. So where do I stand on this, and how do I go about it?

Tom Young

I'd begin by reading the forum charter. In the first instance, legal advice can't be offered. I'd suggest placing this in some other thread for practical advice.

Sorry,

Tom