London people - oyster card help please

[PomBearWithoutHerOFRS]

DD is going to university at Brunel next week. For long and complicated (stressful) reasons, she will only have cash for the first couple of weeks.
Anyway, we worked out she needs an oyster card to get about. If she buys one at Victoria when she arrives, can she top it up on the spot with cash? Or do we need to buy it online topped up and have it sent here before she goes?
I know it's probably a bit of a daft thing to ask, but we've never used tfl before, and don't know how it works. She doesn't need a student card or anything else, just oyster with bus/tram pass.
Any advice/travel tips will be much appreciated.

@Deathraystare So can you pay a bus fare with cash then?

What I said is, at some shops she might be able to pay by cash but at most if not all ticket machines it is by card only. A few shops near me (asian newsagents) do accept cash but not all.

@BarbaraofSeville because of Covid, many of these shops are not accepting cash. Asking those favours from flatmates is not really feasible or practical, I mean it will be very helpful if needed, but it’s nothing to be relied upon.

You could order her a Monzo card and transfer her some cash. Then she could use that for contactless payments.

She csn get oyster card at the station on the day and add loney to the card at the same time.

Best she just sticks on £20 or more because more often than not the top up machines at stations that accept cash go down quite alot.

She can set up auto top up aswell where if it goes below £5 for example it auto tops up by £10.

She must make sure she always taps in and out otherwise end up paying too much.

If she gets contactless card make sure she keeps oyster card separate...too many ppl have both in the same wallet or purse and try tapping in and it stops them as it recognises two cards close together.

Make sure oyster card is registered online incase it goes missing or is stolen otherwise you lose money on the card.

For the route just put the destination in Google Maps and select public transport. It'll show you the tube journey. Looks like the Oxford tube is the fastest

As well as a TFL Student card, I would suggest she also gets a 16-25 railcard - she’ll save a third off all rail travel each year, and that applies to tube and London Overground travel too. A good way to save the pennies!

Wishing your daughter every success.

A lot of stations aren't accepting cash at the moment, even at the self service machines - not sure about Victoria but it's certainly the case at Earls Court. She'll be best off going to a newsagent.

Consider putting your card onto her phone, we did this recently when my 16 year old was travelling by train from Cornwall to London then home. I was worried about him being stranded,

I can't @AuditAngel. We have no money til the end of the month and she travels this Friday. The cash she takes with her is every penny there is until the student finance arrives ( hopefully before rent on her Halls is due late October) Like I said, LONG story! It's a fucking nightmare! It's no wonder poor kids are out off going to university, but we are determined she is going It's just a juggling act...