Open Study College www.openstudycollege.com

I am 18 and have dropped out of traditional sixth form college due to mental health reasons and also having autism and ADHD. I still wanted to continue on doing some form of education though, so I had a look on the internet and found openstudycollege. I found that I wanted to enroll on the level 2 Canine science and the level 2 marine biology courses. I paid for these in 3 installments which came to just over £500 total and started my courses. I was so excited to finally have a way to complete my education in a way that is suitable to my access needs.

However, I quickly found that the course materials had spelling and grammar mistakes. I didn't bother chasing these up as they didn't really bother me too much. Then, I completed the first module (which is just pages of text and stock images from google) and then had to complete an essay. Before you start your course they send you a guide on how to complete an essay to the standard they require. Fair enough. I write the essay on google docs and it takes me 2 weeks. I then send it in only for my tutor to say that she cannot mark it since its not a word document. This didn't make sense to me personally since its all the same, I had her email as someone who could comment on my paper. I don't have microsoft word, however my sister gets it through her in person college so I had to copy/paste my essay into word and resend her it. Another 2 days pass and I see that my tutor has marked it and given me a grade. I go to the document that i sent to see the comments expecting details feedback. All I see is 4 comments on my 2000 word essay saying generic things such as 'good' and 'well done'. I feel disappointed but troop on and do my first module on the marine biology course. The course material is sloppy and hard to follow, just big chunks of text that are hard to take notes from. I eventually just screenshot all the slides to refer back. if they aren't going to put in the effort, neither am I. I write my essay, my feedback is to work on my referencing and to use more references from scientific journals. I then do my second module for canine science, I include a scientific study from a scientific journal, I reference it to the best of my ability, following all of their limited advice. I had the essay in and get my first distinction, however in the notes, I am still told to improve my references and use the guide they sent me. The only thing i missed on that reference was the date the journal was published, which was nowhere to be found so i left it out. I did everything else correctly. The tutor doesnt directly tell me how to improve my references, she just tells me that i have to do it and fend for myself. At this point im just considering handing in 9 more essays completely written by ai and see if that can get a good grade because if they aren't going to put any effort in, neither am i to be completely honest.

All in all, this is just a total sham. No student support, terrible course materials and tutors that do absoultely nothing.

I was told that I could change my career doing the level 4 in counselling and psychotherapy. However, no one will take me seriously with a practical element of 100 hours of supervised counselling and Open Study College don't tell you that. When I complained they say it's for people who want to start their own business, but that's rubbish. It also says that the qualification is recognised by the ACCPH which is true but it's the BACP which is the gold standard and they've not even heard of Open Study College. The qualification is pretty worthless

I studied AAT level 1 with Open Study College and I’ve had issues with every step.

First my course was missing from their online portal, then my tutor support time was wrong/short. I disclosed a disability I needed assistance with when I signed up, they only took notice months later when I was booking my exam. The tutor support was practically useless, he informed me he didn’t have any additional materials to provide me with when requested so I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and put this down to Open College Study letting me down again.

The big one is the materials I was sent had several issues and errors which made it unusable in places.

I’ve been in touch with them since October and they have treated me like I’m the only one that sees a problem and there is nothing wrong their end. I wish I could attach a picture of the materials as it’s glaringly obvious it’s not right.

They are avoiding doing anything to put this right.

I regret giving money to them and wish I’d gone elsewhere. Don’t make the same mistake.

My daughter is doing her GCSEs with open study college the ‘tutor support’ is basically non existent. History for example has one assessment per question that will appear on the exam. This is hardly suffient to confirm that the course material is known to an adequate level to pass the exam. When asking how she could improve the grade we were told to buy another book despite the course details saying everything is included in the course. She is studying 7 GCSEs with them and this is the level of support she has been given when these courses cost around £400. She could have accessed the material for free in other places if we had know there would not be support.

Had a very poor experience with this college a year ago, no support, not tutor assistance and basically left to study on my own. I'm an experienced learner so know how distance learning should, does and can work. This is certainly not indicative of some of the better providers out there. I eventually got refunded under "not fit for purpose" i enrolled with another college, only to be sent the same qualifications, with the same errors and inaccuracies. - Clearly sucked in again by marketing.

Be careful, and spend a bit more, its worth it just for accurate information and course content.

Very friendly up until enrolment and i had pated with my money. After enrolment never heard anything from them.

Wouldn't refund my money despite breaking all of their own terms and conditions. Had to put in a claim to the country court to get my money back. I found them dishonest and uninterested. The materials i received were thing and weak, i don't think many people actually succeed with this college. Also, i did some research later into their college stars and found it not to be true, just a word they have in their name.

After my initial enquiry i was hit with a barage of calls/emails from what i can only describe as very lovely people. They were considerate and listened to my needs. After enrolment there was a deafening silence, no help, no support, no action. After many attempts at contacting my tutor to no avail, i gave up, eventually got a refund after filing a county court claim and enrolled with another college who gave me the support i needed to succeed.

Please think twice about enrolling here, don't fall for the support you get at letting them get to your money. It fizzles out once you have paid! Look at the reviews, all front end niceties, no results though!

My daughter studied with open Study in 2019, untill recently she was a success story advertising for free for the college (for the last 3 years)

She enrolled again this year however she now has Cancer and has been too poorly to even start her course, she has tried to cancel at least 4 times this year due to her being too poorly.

Open study college informed her that she cannot cancel and no one senior is avaliable to talk to. On top of that she has since found out that the first course she studied with open study is not even accredited so thats £800 for nothing.

Avoid terrible customer service. Do not waste your money. They do not help you

My wife was almost completed on her childcare course, when we got an email in Feb 2023 to say all observations completed after July 2022 (yes 7 months previously!) were no longer valid and would not be accepted. New observations would have to be undertaken by their own members of staff and cost £150 each - so £450 on top of the already paid for course fees.

The fact that she had already done all the work to complete these observations didnt seem to matter at all, no empathy for student welfare or reasonable fairness. It was supposed to be one observation at the start of course, one at middle and one at the end. Went through lengthy complaints but got nowhere 'out of our hands' was the best reply we could get.

Disgraceful treatment and an absolute joke of a company. Would not recommend to anyone frankly. The course itself very average at best. The support students get is someone marking your essays.

I've been extremely disappointed with the lack of support and help I've received from this service.

Despite being advertised as having excellent customer support, I've found it incredibly difficult to get any help or guidance when I've needed it. The service has been sold to me on the basis of its customer support, but in reality, it's been non-existent.

The lack of support makes it a poor choice for anyone who values quality customer service and expects to receive assistance with their learning experience.

The course materials consist of nothing more than a series of unimpressive PDFs and a slideshow that amount to approximately 20 pages. This is not even close to being sufficient for the hours of learning that are required to fully understand the subject matter.

The materials lack depth and clarity, and I've found myself struggling to make sense of them. It's frustrating to think that I paid good money for such a subpar learning experience.