Students as consumers

Students invest a significant amount of time and money in their higher education studies.

It is important that their consumer rights are protected when making this investment, and that they are subject to clear and fair terms and conditions that comply with consumer protection legislation.

When registering with the Office for Students, all higher education providers have to show how they’ve given due regard to guidance about how to comply with consumer law.

We suggest the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)'s guidance for higher education providers as a starting point.

Our expectations for students

We expect providers to make sure that: 

• prospective students can access the information they need to make the choices that are best for them
• all students understand what they can expect in terms of teaching and support
• students have access to clear, accurate and timely information at all stages of their education, including information about course content, structure and total course costs
• contracts are understandable, fair and transparent
• if things do go wrong, students have access to a user-friendly complaints process.