The terms and conditions relating to the use of Tesco Clubcard Rewards Tokens for University courses is changing on 1 June 2010.
From that date tokens may only be used as full or part payment towards level one courses – unlike the current position where they can be used for any undergraduate level course.
This change was brought about from a review of the scheme, in the light of the current economic situation that all universities are facing.
Those who´ve been collecting tokens may still use them to pay or part pay for their 2011 course, providing it is booked and paid for by the June 1 cut-off date this year.
Explained the OU´s Jo Stetzel, Marketing Affinity Manager: “ If a student has sufficient tokens, they may still register on a level two or three course starting on or after 1 June 2010, providing that Student Services receive the registration agreement and tokens by 31 May.
“They have almost four months to think about and make decisions,” she added.
News of the change in terms and conditions is also being announced on the StudentHome homepage and in the next Tesco Clubcard Rewards brochure.
UPDATE: There is now more information available about this on StudentHome.
Comments
I have two main issues regarding this news: -
Firstly while I understand the OU, like a lot of us, is under financial pressure at the moment, I don't agree with restricting this incentive to Level 1 courses only.
I would guess that a large proportion of first time students at Level 1 don't actually complete their first course, and don't come back again, therefore the OU loses out anyway; they don't get the government funding for that student and they won't get future course fees/government funding.
Secondly, despite the announcement being made at the close of the January reward period, tokens can only be used to register for courses if they are received by the OU before 31st May.
With regard to my first point, I'm all for encouraging new students to study with the OU but think existing students need some encouragement too. Could the OU/Tesco perhaps agree a maximum amount of reward tokens that can be used towards payment at Levels 2 & 3?
As for the deadline to register under the current scheme, I would urge the OU to extend the 'cut-off’ date so that it includes vouchers collected for the current promotion period. The voucher statements are sent out 4 times a year (February, May, August and November), however past experience shows that the vouchers don’t always arrive the same month the statement is dated. For example, the Tesco clubcard website currently states “Any Clubcard points you have collected prior to 25th January will be converted into Clubcard vouchers and will arrive by 15th March”. So assuming the next promotion period ends mid/end April, there is a chance the vouchers won’t arrive until mid/end May. The student still needs to convert vouchers into reward tokens (Tesco say they will be posted within 5 working days), and then the student needs to get the registration forms to the OU by 31st May latest.
I hope a compromise can be found.
Interesting point about timing Chocolatpusscat, and plenty of other stuff to get your teeth into on the Facebook group wall here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=278290981649 .
The Times Higher Education's story has also got a bit of a debate going http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=410294&c=1
Jane, Platform team
Let's face it the point of the scheme was to attract new students to start with the O U. The fact it was tied in with a popular supermarket chain not necessarily at the top end of the market was a further benefit since it could have increased diversity in the student profile.
However it wasn't designed to make life easier for existing students. That it did so for some of us (ie people who use Tesco a heck of a lot) was a pleasant extra but not a vital element of the O U marketing strategy. As it happened though the takeup figures showed a heck of a lot of people using the vouchers were existing students who, quite frankly, were going to carry on studying anyway.
The scheme cost the O U a lot of dosh and much of the burden fell on courses above level 1. Those are precisely the courses which are going to be threatened as a result of the changes in Government financing and straightforward cuts. And when I say threatened I am not talking about increased tutor group sizes or a reduction in dedicated tutor support because to some extent that ship has sailed.
What is going to happen is that courses are going to be cut. Not just Humanities courses, although frankly I expect them to be especially badly hit, but across the board. A course that doesn't pay it's way and make a contribution towards central costs is a doomed course.
And given that situation I for one am not going to support pushing any extra courses over the edge by maintaining a subsidy for students who happen to use Tesco.
Well what do you know!
My vouchers have arrived nice and early. I hope Tesco can manage the same speedy delivery after the end of the current incentive period!
I too see this as a large backward step. This is, however a mutually beneficial agreement and I have got a Tesco credit card that I channel all my purchases through, purely to aid funding my degree. Being as I am shopping through and with Tesco more often because of this, the OU should negotiate better terms with Tesco to maintain the status quo.
Thankfully I can pay for my last course before it all falls apart but I feel strongly for those who can not. I think the OU will reap this whirlwind in about 2 years and I feel the effects will be considerable.
It will be interesting to see, as Radrob alludes to, what effect this has on level 2 and 3 student numbers.
Studying and paying for study without any financial support is a challenge, I am sure, for many OU students. I'm new to the OU and hope to use my clubcard vouchers for my next course. However, although it may be possible to register for a course prior to the date my understanding is that in order to make use of vouchers the course also has to be paid for by June 2010. Where does this leave students who pay for their course by direct debits every month rather than a lump sum payment? I hope this change doesn't discriminate against students who don't have the option to pay for their course by lump sum and having been saving tesco vouchers in the hope of being able to use them for future study.
I echo what seems to be the majority view here. Adding to this though - as a Scottish OU Student, the 31st May 2010 deadline will further disadvantage Scottish students who wish/need to use their ILA Awards to partly fund their studies. As one of those students who uses both the ILA Award and Tesco Clubcard vouchers (diligently shopping at Tesco and saving my Reward Vouchers for this purpose) I really feel cheated.
As OUSBA Accounts are inflexible - once the sum is set it can't be changed - and many of us won't be able to apply for their next ILA Award until the next academic year begins, the timing is particularly inconvenient.
I can only surmise that this will have the following impact:
What surely would have been democratic and fairer would have been to have:
Come on OU and Tesco - don't cut off your noses to spite your faces. What is proposed is a Bad Deal and bad publicity. Tesco boycot anyone?
I fall into the catergory of earning too much for financial support but not enough to pay for extras like education. Already have 2 children at uni wih anouther due to start in Sept. Don't get any extra help for them either. Whereas I understand that the government are really the bad boys here I did ask the OU to change the date to Ist July. My Tesco vouchers are produced in May (non negotiable) and I will be hard pushed to get them converted to OU vouchers and sent in by Ist June. As I have enough vouchers due to pay my next course it's a bit galling to get the reply - we are sorry for the changes but tough! For the sake of a week i will lose out on over £400 worth of funding. Having got nearer the end of my first degree rather than the beginning I face the prospect of not completing my degree due to lack of funds as my children's chances have to come first. Particularly upsetting as I could cope with the loss of the named degree just about. what about education for all - wasn't that the call 40 years ago?
Hi Robyn,
I think one of the main concerns (other than the general discontinuation of the scheme which I know many people are disappointed about) is the 1st June cutoff.
As I understand it because of the way that the Tesco scheme works we cannot simply log in and get a real time view of our account and points and click to spend these straight away, rather, we have to wait until each quarter to get our statement through the post.
The next statement is due out in May but Tesco have said that they cannot guarantee when in May this will be delivered as it is postal. There is then another delay where we log in online and select that we want to spend points on OU vouchers and again another delay where we need to wait for these to be send (I haven't done this before so correct me if I'm wrong). Therefore the 1st June cutoff date may mean that actually we won't be able to do this at all as it doesn't give enough time - the end of June would be far more helpful.
Many thanks,
Hannah
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