Fees and Charges

No increase in Fees and Charges for 2010-11. Please click on the link below for the details:

Open College Network South West Region Fees and Charges 2010-11.pdf (45kb)

For learners progressing from Award to Certificate and Certificate to Diploma for Step-UP and Progression Qualifications, charges for 2010-11 will be "nested" - only the difference in the qualification prices will be charged. Please see the document below for more details:

Step-UP and Progression Qual Charging for 2010-11.pdf (27kb)

Open College Network South West Region Fees and Charges 2009-10

You can either view the 2009-2010 charging structure below or click here to download the pdf - OCNSWR Charging Structure 2009-10 pdf

For learners progressing from Award to Certificate and Certificate to Diploma for Step-UP and Progression Qualifications, charges for 2009-10 are based on the following: 'OCNSWR will charge either the full qualification charge (as published by NOCN) or the charge by additional credits, whichever costs the least’.

A guide to these charges is available: OCNSWR Step-UP and Progression Qualification Charging 2009-10.

Date of implementation: 1st August 2009

Annual Fees

1. Annual Centre Recognition Fee

This is an annual fee banded according to the volume of learner registrations during the previous year. 

The Centre Recognition Fee covers:

• Support and advice from OCNSWR staff on curriculum development and accreditation administration
• Quality audit and centre risk assessment
• Up to two Quality Reviewer visits per year
• Access to units accredited by OCNSWR, units accredited by other OCNs and NOCN National Qualifications
• Administration and account management costs.

2. New Centres

The minimum charge for new organisations or those rejoining after a lapse of 1 year or more is £ 575.00, payable on receipt of the Centre Recognition Application.  Centre Recognition status will not be achieved until this payment has been received by OCNSWR.  The fee is not refundable if Centre Recognition status is not achieved.  This charge will also apply to new Centres delivering the Access to HE Diploma.

In addition to services covered by the Centre Recognition fee (as above) new Centres will receive an additional Quality Reviewer visit and additional training, advice and support.

3. OCN Associate Membership Fee: £285 per annum

Charged to organisations wishing to have a formal association with an OCN, even an involvement in consultative and governance structures, but who are not providers accrediting provision with the OCN.

Registration Fees

4. A charge per learner registration based on intended credit target:

This fee structure is used for all OCNSWR Local Programmes.Credit targets are based on 10-hour credits. This fee is levied at the point of registration of learners.There are separate fees for individual NOCN QCA approved national qualifications. See below.

5. Late Registration Fee

There will be a charge of £15 per learner (see registration deadline dates below in Section 12). These charges will be strictly applied.

6. Access to HE Learner Registration Fees

£105 (includes course moderation)

Access to HE registrations must be received by 31^st October after this date the late registration fee will be charged (currently an additional £15 per learner).

Access to HE registrations received after 31^st January will be charged a further late registration fee of an additional £50 per learner (total of £65 per learner in addition to registration fee).

Where Access to HE programmes start at different dates through the year the same principles will apply, for programmes starting outside of the autumn term then please contact your Access to HE officer to confirm registration dates.

7. NOCN National Qualification Charges – these are available from the NOCN website https://www.nocn.org.uk/qualifications/fees-and-prices

Other Fees

8. Replacement Certificate Fee

£25 per certificate

9. Quality Assurance Fees

The Annual Centre Recognition fee includes up to includes up to two Quality Reviewer visits (plus an additional visit for new Centres) per year to the centre to verify compliance and the award of credit.  OCNSWR will produce a Quality Improvement Plan for each centre.  Where this plan indicates that extra visits are required to ensure centre compliance with terms and conditions or where the verification of the award of credit makes it necessary then OCNSWR may make a charge for each additional visit required of £260.

10. Consultancy Fee

£500 plus travel costs for a full day (£250 plus travel costs for a half day). This covers all consultancy work previously and separately agreed with organisations and which falls outside OCNSWR’s standard offer.  This also includes recognition/validation of courses for Access to HE programmes for those centres not using the OCNSWR Common Access Framework. This rate will also apply to credit development and bespoke training.

11. Other Charges

Other charges for services agreed with OCNSWR will be levied at the discretion of the OCNSWR Chief Executive Officer.

Additional Information

12. Payment and Registration

All course and learner registrations (except Access to HE – see Tutor Handbook) must be received by OCNSWR by the following deadlines in order to allow the quality assurance process to come into operation from the start of the course run.

• For courses of 12 weeks or less, the registration form must be received by OCNSWR within 25 working days of the start date
• For courses of more than 12 weeks, the registration form must be returned within 40 working days of the start date

Where a “roll on roll off” course is being run then the date the learner joins the course must be taken as the start date and should be entered as such on the learner registration form.

Registrations received outside of these deadlines will be subject to late registration fees.

13. Invoice Payments

It is the responsibility of the providing organisation to pay fees and charges within 30 days of the invoice date.

Late payment charges will be incurred beyond this period of 2% of the invoice value per month. Centres should note that enquiries relating to invoices should be made within 20 working days of the date of the invoice.  No adjustments or credit notes will be produced after this deadline and the original invoice will be due for payment.

NOCN National Qualification Charges – these are available from the NOCN website https://www.nocn.org.uk/qualifications/fees-and-prices

If you require further information regarding fees and charges please contact us.