OU limits Clubcard fee-payment scheme to first years

My OU courses cost between £350 (30 points) and £600 (60 points) so I'm not sure what Kerry is studying.

Also, for £400 of reward savings, £400 savings = £100 vouchers = 400 points = £5000 spent in Tesco's on a ten month course.

While more needs to be done to make HE accessible to those with limited funds, and the recent HE cuts are deplorable, a supermarket voucher scheme isn't the solution and perhaps Tesco customers should spend a little less on shopping, especially on "things they wouldn’t normally buy". Then they might be able to afford the courses.

James - Kerry is studying law, it says so in the article. I had planned to study two 30 point accounting courses next year that I am told will be over £1000 each. I can no longer afford to do these because of this change so I am having to change my degree plans half way through it. I do realise that cuts have to be made to HE budgets but encouraging people to begin courses that they may have no way of finishing due to the costs involved doesn't seems right to me When the OU launched the scheme it said 'the aim was to make higher education more accessible' which now appears to be for first year only. After that you can forget it.


I do not overspend at Tesco on things I don't need!! I do though have family who very kindly use my clubcard when shopping so as to support my studies. I also took out a Tesco credit card to gain more points (it is repaid every month). When you are shopping for a family and buying petrol it certainly mounts up. I am though a VERY careful shopper using certain websites that tell you how to maximise Tesco points.

I think people protest to much. For the most part the scheme has been exploited by well off students with a high spend at Tesco and or on Tesco credit card.

The scheme was never promised to last forever and is certainly not giving financial aid to poor students, and if maintained at the current level of take up, it will be the students who don't use Tescos who will pay for this through higher fees.

You have had a good run guys, but from now will have pay the full cost like the rest of us.

well off students ... what are they then? If they were so well off, do you really think they'd be so worried about the withdrawal of the scheme? Most of these 'well off' students encourage members of their family to shop using their cards, so they can collect more points. Moreover, unless they can provide an interim statement, any points collected now are useless as they have to be 'cashed in' before the next statement arrives. Therefore, 4 months notice actually turns out to be no notice at all. Nobody was naive enough to think it would last forever, it was after all, a promotional offer - but it would probably have been considerably more acceptable had they given a full academic year in notice.

Do you set up Facebook groups when Tescos ends two for one offers on catfood? You people are spending thousands of pounds at this supermarket to reap relatively small benefits compared to the money you'd save by shopping smarter. Why should the OU subsidise your shopping preferences? If they did continue to support this scheme it would be at the cost of increased fees for everyone and even more erosion of tutorial support. Just think what messages you're putting out there when you demand incentives for shopping at Tesco. It's not degrees some of you need, it's classes in basic home economics and arithmetic.

Julie- There's no such thing as an academic year in the OU, courses start and end over the entire 12 month period. There never was going to be a good moment to end the scheme. If you're not aware already there is a crisis in higher education funding and there are more important things to do with the money than drive Tesco profits, regardless of your own perceived poverty.

You haven't lost your points, you can get 4 times the face value off other services and put the savings in a course fund,you'll be happy and the OU doesn't lose money. You cannot justify your demands, this is pure self-interest that seeks to maintain control of its privilege to the detriment of the student body as a whole. Tescos are loving this.

Has OU not served its purpose? Should it continue in its present form? More traditonal universities have better open learning models, have better courses and are increasigly recruiting students with non-traditional academic background.

Whilst it is a disappointment that this scheme has ended, it is inevitable that with HE budget cuts funding to widen access needs to be focused. The OU still has generous financial support for those students on low-middle incomes (household with incomes of up to £30,000 plus allowances for partners/children can get support), so those who cannot afford to study can get help. Those on higher incomes might now be paying more, but with limited resources priority needs to be given to those most in need.

@ Ex-OU AL – I’d have to disagree with your statement. If the OU is past it (to paraphrase you) why has its student numbers grown whilst overall PT student numbers have fallen, 2007-08 HESA data, discuss.