A letter I never imagined having to write...

Being a sabbatical officer is many things... predictable isn't one of them. Myself and Sparky are currently acting on behalf of a mature student at the University of Birmingham, who feels he is being discriminated against by local businesses because of his age.

Below is an extract of the letter that we sent on his behalf...

We are writing on behalf of a student who has expressed concern about the “student discount” that you offer on tickets. The student has written to you, however does not believe that he has received a satisfactory response.

You state that “To qualify for a student concessionary ticket you must be in full time education and aged between 16-21 years old. Valid NUS cards are required at the time of purchase and at the turnstiles on the day of a match.”

Any student in higher or further education, of any age is entitled to purchase an NUS card, which provides them with discounts. However, it would appear that you are actively discriminating against a significant demographic of the student community and indeed, NUS card holders by restricting this discount according to age.

31.3% of students at Birmingham City University, 34% of students at the College of Food, 8.5% of students at the University of Birmingham, 28.5% at Newman and 8.9% of students at Aston University are “mature students”. Individuals are defined as a mature student if they are aged 21 or over at the start of their course. In addition to “mature students” we have a number of students registered who have taken a gap year before coming to University, and therefore turn 21 in their second year of study, in addition to a number of students who are enrolled on four year courses. It is also worth mentioning that just under 15,000 students in the city of Birmingham are in postgraduate study, and would also be over the age of 21. All of these students would miss out on the “student” ticket rate that you offer.

We have been in touch with trading standards regarding this issue, because the discount you are offering is clearly not a “student rate” and we ask that you investigate this matter and act accordingly.