NOTICEBOARD

Standing Orders

Notice for all students paying by Standing Order

Fees paid by Standing Order are completely under your control, we cannot cancel them! If you leave the course, it is up to you to cancel the Standing Order and we cannot offer refunds if you forget to do this. From the 1st October we will be able to take payments online by credit or debit card which means that if you inform your tutor you are leaving, we will be able to cancel your payments.

Course Fees up to 30th September 2009

From the 1st October you will be able to pay online

The Fees below apply to all students who enrolled before the 1st October 2009. All prices after 1st October 2009 include VAT.

VAT Increase to 17.5% on 1st January 2010. WE HAVE NOT INCREASED THE COURSE FEES from £46.00 per month. DLC has covered the rise in VAT which meant a reduction in your monthly course fees from £40.00 per month to £39.15 per month in terms of the money which comes to DLC. When VAT is added to this at 17.5% it still makes the total fee £46.00. However, if VAT increases above 17.5% in the future, we will have to pass this cost on to you which will mean an increase in fees.

From the 1st October, DLC was required to become VAT Registered which means we are taxed an additional 15% on all fees we receive. Unfortunately have had to pass this cost on to our existing students and any new starters before the end of September. This has resulted in an increase from £40.00 per month to £46.00 per month.

Fee structure for all students enrolled before the 1st October 2009. This fee structure will stay the same for you throughout the course and will not change onto the new structure as shown on the main fees page.

A place with The Distance Learning Centre cost £40.00 per calendar month for as long as you remained enrolled (increasing to include VAT from the 1st October). This means you can take as long or as little time to complete your course as suits you.

Please remember the course fees include the cost of tutoring and marking assessments and tests as well as the course materials but exclude the cost of Certification.

Enrolment Fee. We also required an extra £20 initial payment the month you enrol, to cover enrolment administration costs.

Exam/Certification Fee. When you complete the course we have to apply to OCN for your Certificate, the charge is £100 for a Full Access Diploma of 60 credits and is still the same for Unit Accreditation or even if you complete more than the required 60 Units. OCN do change the Certification Fee periodically, and this is outside our control. If they do raise the charge we will have to charge you the additional amount.

The completion process results in significant additional administration and moderation costs to DLC for which we charge a further £55.00. This fee applies whether you require a Certificate for the Full Access Diploma, or just a Certificate of Credit for particular Modules. Total = £155.00.

It is expected that it will take approximately one year to complete the course although students with sufficient time may complete quicker. This does require a significant amount of extra input from your tutor. Therefore, the minimum number of payments required for full Certification is 8 months. If you complete in less than 8 months we will also require that you pay the additional tuition fees as part of your exam fees.

If for some reason you do not complete the course or do not require a Certificate, the course completion charges do not apply.

We do not release Certificates until the exam fees are paid and all tuition fees are up to date. A few of our students choose to pay these by keeping their payments open for a little longer and then we settle any difference. Others choose to pay the amount outright at the end of the course and other put money aside for this by paying a little extra each month. We are happy to discuss flexible options with you as you study. For example, you may wish to increase your monthly fee earlier so that the exam fee has already been covered when you complete.

If you feel that you need to put your course on hold then please contact the centre explaining this. If you are paying by Standing Order you need to cancel it with your bank. If you are paying online by credit/debit card then we will cancel you payments once your tutor has conifmed that you are going 'on hold'. If you restart your studies you will need to inform your tutor and set up another one. The option to go 'On Hold' only applies to periods of 2 months or more and is not permitted to accommodate events such as children's school holidays or trips abroad.

We do not offer refunds except by special arrangement direct with your tutor who will then have to contact the Director of Finance for approval. If you are paying by Standing Order and forget to cancel your payments when you are not studying, we will not offer a refund. Equally, if you cancel your Standing Order without informing your tutor, and they continue to provide tuition, you will be removed from the course until you pay the arrears. If you are paying online by credit/debit card and do not directly and clearly inform us that you are leaving not studying and that you wish your payments to be cancelled, we cannot cancel your payments and therefore will not offer a refund.