University will no longer stop students from graduating for missed rent payments

Thousands penalised academically over three years for outstanding accommodation fees

University had been accused of being 'nothing more than a dodgy landlord' (Getty)

A university will no longer be able to impose “academic sanctions” – such as library bans and stopping students from graduating – for failing to meet rent payments.

The University of Liverpool has dropped a controversial policy which penalised students for non-tuition fee debts, including accommodation fees, following widespread criticism.

It comes after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched action against the university.

More than 2,000 students at the university, which is part of the prestigious Russell Group, were placed under the academic sanctions between 2015-2016 and 2017-2018, the watchdog said.

The policy stopped students with outstanding accommodation fees accessing the university library and email services – and it prevented some from graduating, receiving certificates or re-enrolling.

The move comes after the higher education regulator, the Office for Students, warned that universities that impose library bans and blocked email access could face legal action.

The CMA, which issued guidance in 2015 against academic sanctions for non-tuition fee debts, has taken action against a number of universities in recent years over the practice.

Legally binding commitments have been secured from Buckingham and Buckinghamshire New universities, as well as University College London (UCL) and the University of Glasgow.

Now Liverpool will change contract terms so both current and former students are not penalised.

George Lusty, senior director for consumer protection at CMA, said: “This is great news for students at the University of Liverpool.

“We appreciate that legitimate debts from students should be recovered, but to stop them from progressing in their studies or graduating for unrelated debts is unfair.

“We welcome the commitment to removing academic sanctions for non-tuition fee debt and expect all universities to bring an end to similar policies and treat students fairly.”

The Liverpool Guild of Students this year launched a “Cut the Rent” campaign to try to reduce university accommodation prices to cut the number of students falling into rent arrears.

Hannah Nguyen, vice-president at Liverpool Guild of Students, said: "Students who fell into rent arrears were denied access to the libraries and their emails and also prevented from graduating; this fact cannot be disentangled from cost of university accommodation."

She added: "After a year of grassroots student activism, we have secured a £3.7m rent reduction for students living in university halls of residence, the single biggest cut in higher education, and an end to academic sanctions.

"This win is a credit to every student on our campus who signed the petition, went door-knocking, attended campaign meetings and supported the Guild’s fight for affordable accommodation and an end to unfair academic sanctions."

A University of Liverpool spokesperson said: “The University of Liverpool offers a range of support options for students who are struggling financially and in the 2017-18 academic year we provided in excess of £22m in scholarships and bursaries to our students.

“The University had kept its approach to sanctions for non-payment of residential costs under review with its Guild of Students for some time.”

The university added that they ceased applying existing sanctions for residential debt earlier in the year - prior to the CMA’s first contact with the university on this issue.