The college falsely told parents in 2011 that their daughter had died

To quote an old adage, rumors of student Catherine Langford’s death were premature – but her parents were still upset to receive the letter.

Somerset College, Student Finance, the organization that funds higher education, was mistakenly informed that Catherine had died due to an error by a member of staff.

And to make matters worse, Wellington Road College also falsely reported that she dropped out of her course last March, even though she completed her first year in June.

“My parents were shocked and horrified when they got the letter saying I had died,” said Catherine.

“And as if that wasn’t enough, Student Finance also requested more than £800 back because they thought I was leaving the course early.

“I am deeply offended by the mistake and the way we have been treated by Somerset College.”

A college representative said the condolence letter was due to “human error” after a staff member mistakenly ticked the wrong box on a drop down menu in a computer program.

She added: “The college apologized profusely to the student and family at the time and asked the external funding body to make system changes to prevent such a mistake from happening again.”

Catherine and five other students who completed the first year of an applied psychology degree the previous summer also criticized Somerset College for the way the course was run.