Uni open days. What happens and how expensive are they?

[CrapBucket]

DS is much keener on going to uni open days with his friends than with me. That's fine and I'm glad he is independent.

But I am on a tight budget and would appreciate some advice on (a) what do the open days entail, will they be structured so he is actually engaged or is it a good laugh and chance to piss around with friends (b) apart from travel costs what spending money would you reasonably recommend he needs for meals - I'm thinking of covering his train costs and £20 a day for food (based on a supermarket meal deal lunch and fast food for tea) - or is it like theme parks/festivals when they have a captive audience and charge an absolute fortune?

I am totally happy to go without myself, to invest in his future but less happy to do that for a series of fun weekends away...

We don't qualify for pupil premium so there is nothing official for me to apply for but I could see this getting expensive!

I think open days are a good idea if possible - I mean physically go there. You cannot get the 'vibe' of a place online.
We've only been to a couple ones so far and other than general and accommodation tours, they are subject specific. The schedules were published online so we could pick and choose and work it around the more general tours. So as PPs have said you want to make sure your son attends talks about his area of interest.
Other than travel we just had a lunch locally, though there was coffee/water, some fruit and brownies laid out when we arrived.
The visit to the actual uni was about three hours, the rest of the time was looking around the area.
As for your son paying for it - trains are expensive and even if he did have his own money I'd pay for it.

We didn’t get any free food/drink when we went. We went in the car, and bought food/drink. There was nothing else to pay for.

It was easy for us to take our own food, so it's a case of how much he needs if eating out with friends. 2/4 unis we visited offered free drinks and cake.

No matter who he goes with, it's up to him to do his research on what he wants out of the day. There'll be course talks, work on display, staff to speak to, accommodation to look at, even uni social activities to explore. It's the next step in his life to bring independent.

It was many years ago when I went, but I would just pay for fare, food and be ready to transfer some more money across if there's an emergency.

The most expensive one I went to was at the other end of the country so involved a B&B plus two days of meals.

How many is he planning on going to? Realistically he should have narrowed down his plans already in terms of what his subject will be, likely entry requirements etc. Then you visit a few to see which ones have the right 'vibe'. I think I visited 3, and one or two other towns rather than the university itself. Only one as an overnight visit as it was in Scotland. I didn't even visit what ended up being my 2nd choice!
The visits are really useful but I'd be nervous of him going on lots of them as either he's just going on lots of jollies with mates (fine, but not at your expense) or he runs the real risk of confusing himself. I'd get him to really think about WHY he wants to visit each one, what is has going for it and his potential concerns before he goes. Is the department well recognised for that particular university? Does he want a campus or non campus style university? (Although it may take a visit or two to figure that out). Does he like city life or prefer somewhere smaller? Does he want accomodation options or happy to pay for whatever the university and town has available? Does he want to take a car with him (some campus universities are a nightmare for parking). What are his predicted grades and do they match the department common offers? Etc etc.

@CrapBucket

If money could prevent him attending it is worth speaking to his school. I am a teacher and got one of my sixth form some funding for an open day visit for the train fare as she could not otherwise attend.

Take the coach or expect express bus if available, take a packed lunch ... it's as expensive as you let it be to a certain extent. 3 or so open days is fine, there's offer holder days next year to visit the ones you short listed but it is important they see different styles of university eg a campus based and a city based plus get a feel for the course they fancy.

Train fair, £10 and bottles of water would be fine.
They aren’t a ‘laugh’, you get to see a range of accommodation, see the facilities such as the library and gym, maybe sit in on a mini lecture. I visited 10 different ones with my DC, it may be worth it going to 1 or 2.

We went to two. Both only cost us travel and food. One was even giving out food vouchers with the welcome pack so you could us it in the Uni cafes. The other had free drinks coffee/tea/squash/water and a few tables of muffins, cakes, etc in the big hall where we went to talk to different depts. At both we made sure to talk to student finance to find out about what was available.

Once your DS has selected his 5 choices, the universities will (hopefully) make him an offer.
Then they hold an offer holders day. It’s much less busy than a general open day, and will have taster lectures, visits to accomodation etc. Plus there’s sometimes a separate programme for parents, and often they throw in a free lunch too.
I would think carefully about whether your DS really needs to be going to a general open day that involves an overnight trip.

I went on several. It’s a talk a tour and some give you sandwiches for lunch and some coffee etc on arrival. There is no charge and it’s structured.

so he just needs to get there and back

Agree with others that you definitely get more of a "ta-da" moment going there.
I'm not in the UK, so DD (starting this autumn) did loads of online things, all very well done and informative.
We managed to go over to two of the ones which made her an offer- one of them we both ran away shrieking from, the other she fell in love with. The first, for what she is doing, is more prestigious and wanted better exam results, but she hated everything about it.

Btw, there's a higher education topic where parents talk about everything regarding university from cheapest towels to buy to personal statements etc. Have a browse through there, you're unlikely to be told "if he's old enough to go he should sort it out himself" 🙄

Definitely get a railcard though, I got one just for the visits really. There was an offer for £10 off on Trainline so it cost £20 and not £30 and paid for itself with the first trip.

Say what 😄? Where would he get the £ from though?

Some unis/departments will lay on refreshments. If your ds contacted the admissions office they may have funds available for those in target groups to increase participation - low income, first in family to hope to attend uni , contextual areas etc - to help cover travel costs.

I wonder whether the 'for a laugh' is partly because it might be a legitimate reason to miss a day of sixth form (if during the week), at this point they are all a bit fed up with A levels. Also although to us traipsing around Leeds Uni wouldn't be for us what we might consider a laugh, for them it is an insight into what life as a young adult might entail and listening to stories of student life does seem fun and novel.

In my experience so far some unis provide a snack, others it is just student food, one had some pop up food providers which were a bit more expensive. £20 would be more than enough. He needs to think about what he is interested in because he might not be able to go to the talk unless he has signed up. If going with friends interested in other subjects he needs to be booked as their guest otherwise there will be lots of sitting outside buildings waiting for them. Usually there are lecturers and existing students hanging around. Get him to think of some questions about the courses he is interested in. Generally it is all wrapping up by mid afternoon so he might even be able to be back home for evening meal.

At home you can spend time looking at online tours with him, think about what PP was suggesting, does he want a smaller town/ city or big city, town university or campus, consider accomodation costs, are there any hobbies he will want to consider/ continue? Sea kyacking is much easier near the sea than in Birmingham! How far from home would he be willing to travel? Also of course look at the ranking of the course he is interested in. Could he be thinking of military/ apprenticeship because it is cheaper but would secretly like to go to uni but is worried about the cost, or is scared he won't get the grades which is why he portrays it as going for a laugh.

If you can afford it then I would see it as a day out with friends and if he discovers he loves it then it is a bonus. Unless applying for Oxbridge or medicine there will be open days in the autumn for a more targetted approach. A few unis even have Sun open days.

They are normally on the weekend.

I used to help with these,although it's a long time ago. Don't go with him, you are not needed and probably will be a spare part. He needs to start sorting himself out if he's going to uni. The visits are usually quite structured and you can get a good overview of courses you fancy. Some include a visit to halls as well. Just help him plan it and let him go.

Sorry I disagree with this. 90% have their parents with them so fine to go if you can. And if you've no experience of uni it's useful to go just so he can talk to you afterwards and you can listen without feeling totally lost!

If you have a local uni why not do that one with him so it's cheap and you both get a feel for it?

I always say this but I really wouldn't bother looking at the accomodation. They will show them the best accommodation available & most people don't seem to get their first choice anyway.
We were fed at some unis (Plymouth & UWE spring to mind), but that was some years ago for DC1. I don't remember being fed in recent years!
I would look at the list of available talks & draw up a plan with him. See what is important to him - city or campus, is there a particular sport or activity that he enjoys? Does it have a good club/society for it? One of mine chose their course based both on the course & their hobby & has thrived & continued to be very involved, giving them a whole extra social life. Another chose purely on the course & had no hobbies at uni & has given up the one that was their teenage main thing because there was no club at the uni. Having said that they still had a great time (until Covid struck :().

I always say this but I really wouldn't bother looking at the accomodation. They will show them the best accommodation available & most people don't seem to get their first choice anyway
I found the opposite to be true and the accommodation was one of the most important things for my DC. We tended to look at about 5 different ones on each visit. My DC ruled out a couple of unis because of the accomdarion, one felt unsafe and the other ran a risk they could end up in a big tower block with claustrophobic lifts.

Our open day is next weekend and there is a lot planned for those visiting but it is very self led. There will be tours, accommodation to view, talks etc but it's up to those coming to choose what they do There will be food to buy on campus in the normal food outlets plus some pop ups but it is going to be very busy. I'd be tempted to bring lunch. As a member of staff assisting on the day we've been told to buy our lunch when we get there at 8am to eat later as lunchtime will be crazy. I think the days schedule has been published in advance so potential students can plan their day before arriving.

I would previously have agreed that halls are much of a muchness and seen one you have seen them all, so the tour can be avoided. However with covid the accommodation became even more important as effectively students were spending pretty much all their time within the four walls rather than out socialising, in the library or attending lectures and seminars face to face. The set up and mix of students was make or break. Promised common rooms and study facilities were out of bounds, catering and cleaners very limited.

DD wasn't sure what subject to choose so we went to our local Uni first and sat in on the lectures for a few courses. Only one really got her interest so that was the one she focused on after that. For that reason it was really useful.

For other Universities DC had a mix of going with friends and us taking them, depending on how many people wanted to go to a particular University.

Loads went to Leeds and Birmingham so they went with friends, nobody else interested in Warwick (and harder to get to) so we drove.

You can see online what activities are on offer for each course and plan accordingly.

Usually there is a general talk about the course, a mini lecture, a stand with current students to talk to. You can also do campus tours and accommodation tours.

Sometimes you have to pre book eg the lectures because they can fill up.

There are usually welfare and funding talks which might be interesting if you are on a tight budget.

We paid for train tickets and about £5-10 for lunch and in most cases they were back for dinner.

They are normally on the weekend.

That depends on the university. Some also do them midweek. Wednesdays are popular.

Some are midweek and often in half term breaks.