To think I can drive 4 hours per day, 4 times a week as a newly qualified driver?

You say you can't move but, given how long you will spending out of the house each day anyway, would it be possible to stay over some nights? You would need to get organised and book Travelodges etc at their cheapest or might be able to find a B&B you could regularly book in advance. The savings in fuel and car maintenance would pay for themselves and you would be less tired and could just stay at the library studying or whatever so you would be using the time sensibly.

In terms of confidence and ability I expect you would be fine but it is a lot of driving for anyone

University students are expected to work on their course for about 40h a week, ie roughly the full working time. It’s not just lectures. Adding 16h of driving on top of that will be exhausting and will definitely impact on how much uni work you do and how focused your revision will be.

There are other advantages of being close to university - social life, less stress when going to early exams, feeling like a part of the community.

If you at all can, move closer, even if it means living in a small room and working 16h a week.

It sounds like you’re driving in rush hour so the 2 hours in the morning could be a lot longer depending on location.

that much driving will cost you a fortune and be absolutely exhausting.

Is it definitely 2 hours at that time in the morning?

As pp have said the fuel costs will be high and your insurance costs will be high to if your driving 800 miles a week for 30 weeks that’s 240000 miles. Some insurance caps at 10000 a year or less so you’ll be paying more for doing so many miles.

Wear and tear on your car will be more too. Do you already have a car?

I think it will be exhausting and expensive. Could you not live nearer?

Learning to drive (passing your test) is only the start of actually learning to drive, ie, in different sorts of traffic, in all weathers, over long distances, coping with unexpected events on the road. If you drive 4 hours a day 4 days a week you will experience a lot and learn a lot. After a while you know the route, where the problems might be, etc, etc, it just all becomes so much easier with experience.

As others have said, the drive probably wouldn’t be that problematic, but that amount of travel time that often would likely be exhausting and miserable. What are your other options?

You’ll become an experienced driver very quickly. You should be ok, leave plenty of time, make sure you are not distracted or tired when you are driving. It will quickly become dark in the evening so that is the hardest time while you’re new.

It is a lot, how long are you expecting to keep that up for? It will make completing the course a great deal harder to lose that much time to travel each day.

I don't think it's so much your driving ability that would be a problem, as the fact that is really tiring to drive that far every day.

And remember that uni isn't just about the hours you spend on campus - more of your time is supposed be spent in private study than at lectures etc. So that's 16 hours a week gone that you could have been spending on your uni work.

And do you need to work an actualy job as well to earn money? And when is your down time, hobbies, socialising etc.?

I don't think it's realistic or sustainable for you to do that daily drive for long. If you really can't move to your uni town, I would suggest either getting the train (if there is a conveniant route), or consider finding a uni closer to home. You can still apply for next year, or there will be lots of spaces at clearing in the summer.

Do you need a car for anything else? Season ticket probably cheaper than cost of car and running costs

Absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to drive but don't underestimate the costs of a car. That kind of commute will be a large amount in fuel (plus insurance, upkeep, tyres, servicing, road tax etc).

Let's say 2 hours each way is 100 miles - at 800 miles a week I'd be paying over £100 a week in fuel alone. Insurance will be expensive if you've only passed a couple of years ago. It'll be cheaper than the season ticket, but not loads cheaper I'd say. So if you'd rather get the train and are driving to save money, I wouldn't bother.

OP has learnt to drive.

Best way to learn is to drive, the first few days will be hard, but after a month or two it will be second nature. I did similar when I got my first job, bought a car and just did it. Join the AA, RAC or another recovery company, with that amount of driving you may need help at some point.

You should be fine from the perspective of driving safely and confidently. But that schedule sounds absolutely exhausting and unsustainable. What are the reasons you can't move closer to the university?

I think you’ll be fine. Especially as you have train as an alternative so if you wake up exhausted and it won’t be safe to drive you can get train occasionally.

That is a lot of commuting especially in all weathers. Will you definitely need to attend four days? Will you be able to park there or os there a cost to that?

I think it will be unpleasant but doable. I had a job where I had to commute to ridiculous places (1-2hrs each way every week day). It was hideous for the first 12 months but by the time I'd done 10,000 miles I was way better at driving and much more confident.

It’s not so much the ability to do it, I’m sure you’ll manage that amount on its own, but as a pp said, on top of a day at uni you will find it very tiring. I think doing this day in day out would personally be too much, you need to be 100% focused on the road and I’d be worried that tiredness would start to effect your driving ability. Just my 2p.

Definitely look at the fuel costs. Also consider parking charges, how much your insurance costs will increase because of all the extra miles, plus the cost of the extra wear and tear on the car – all the stuff that needs to be done based on mileage, you'll need to do much more often.

Another thing to consider is that driving is (largely) dead time. If you're going by train, you can sit with a textbook/tablet/laptop and get quite a lot of your work for uni done.

Op I drive about half that or a bit less (took 45 mins today but it’s Friday) to work most days and would certainly not want to double it.

Probs costs me about £40 in fuel (little car) but also wear and tear is a big factor - depending on actual mileage you’d need new tyres every 25k (that’s about every year for me) plus service at least twice a year.

What mileage would you do? My work commute is about 1-1500 miles pm but then I do a lot of driving for my hobby and other reasons so it’s about 25k pa.

If your 2hour drive is (say) 60 miles (which it will be at least,, unless it is very rural) then that’s 500 miles pw so even with shorter uni terms, about 17k per year.

Being able to do it and having the will to do it week in, week out are two different things. What other time you have to relax and what other distractions and pressures in your life will also have an impact.

Is the 2 hours including traffic? Because where I am, a journey that takes 2 hours at 7-8am would take 45 minutes to an hour at 3:45… and so I’m concerned that it’s actually longer than 4 hours in the car.

Yes it’s doable, but as someone who does 15,000 miles a year and has done consistently for 10 years with 17 years of driving experience, I wouldn’t be keen to do that much driving every week.

I think you'd be ok but why not book a couple of extra 'specialist ' lessons , like night time driving , moterway driving , even if you are not going on a motorway to uni it will come in handy or something like a speed awareness course.