Adult Education Class non-refund

[WendyS]

The Adult Education Class I attend for the summer term is about to be reduced from 10 classes to 6 because of small class numbers. I have paid my fee of �58 yet my course receipt says that refunds are only given if the class is cancelled.

Are my local council permitted to do this? Surely if my cheque has been cashed, a contract has been fufilled and I am legally entitled to a refund for the 4 sessions not provided?

[SaxyJag]

Are the remaining six classes of the same length, or do the college plan to extend the hours for them (say, from two to two-and-a-half hours)? If they're staying the same, then the course will have a reduction of hours and you should all be entitled to a partial refund. If the actual class hours are longer and make up the set number of hours for the course, then there's little you can do.

It's unusual for a centre to do this at this point in the course without consulting the students and tutor involved - the whole philosophy of community education is that decisions are made as much by students as tutors and management.

It would be a good idea to discuss this with your fellow students and agree some sort of consensus as to how you all feel about this. I imagine by this time in the year the few of you left in the class are the die-hard students who will carry on to the bitter end, in which case it could be worth the centre cutting their losses and allowing you all to finish, but not running the course next year.

Think of your tutor in this too. He or she is likely to be paid on a sessional basis, which means that a reduction in class hours also means a reduction in wages for him/her. He or she is probably as anxious about the whole thing as you are.