To think what's happening to student is discrimination against poorer young people.

[Feelingconfused2020]

Students are young, in many cases just 18 yet many are being asked to isolate in a room for 2 weeks with issues around access to food and no real friends or family around them (because they've just got there and live with strangers) arguably prison is a safer place as at least food supply is guaranteed. In Scotland they've already been told they won't be allowed home at Christmas which is beyond absurd.

So what is going to happen? Inevitably families with enough money will encourage their young people to drop out and take a gap year. Those who can't afford to do so will be stuck at uni. The poorest suffer most, as covid seems to prefer.

It's not ok for Nicola Sturgeon, and other leaders, to stand by and let this happen, there will be suicides, there will be incidents related to mental health issues.

The governments all needed to have predicted this would be an issue, they should have put more strategies in place as they have in schools.

I am so cross for young adults in this country, they have been completely disregarded by all our governments.

And before anyone corrects me I know that If I had a son or daughter at uni they would be an adult not a child!

@Feelingconfused2020 The Universities generally put students with those not studying the same courses to give them as wide a range of people to meet when they start, which makes sense.

Why can't students get food? I organised a supermarket delivery for my child, I got a slot 3 days later. This was in Edinburgh so not exactly a backwater. The food was delivered to the accommodation and security collected it from the delivery guy and left it at the flat door.
One of my friends also has a child self-isolating in Glasgow and got a delivery slot that was less than 48 hours later.

Shared pain can often bring people together OP.
Bonding in adversity is a recognised phenomenon.
Some of the quieter, more shy new students may well have a better start to Uni life as they get the opportunity to get to know the party animal types as they're all being asked to curb the excess for a while.
If they're smart enough to go to Uni, they're smart enough to deal with this.

@yetmorecomplaining and in normal circumstances of course they should mix up young people from different courses but in current circumstances I don't think that was wise. It's exactly the kind of thing that universities should have changed as part of their risk assessment.

Why can't students get food? This was prompted by a report on Jeremy Vine's radio 2 programme today. A student in Glasgow was reporting that because so many of the campus were in lockdown it was impossible to book a supermarket delivery and they had run out of food. The same woman reported that her friend had to use public transport (despite symptoms) in order to get a test. She said she is running out of food and is a fresher so only knows her housemates and as half the household has tested positive no-one is food shopping! Not related to the thread but she also reported that broadband was excessively slow so online lessons weren't working properly.

In Scotland they've already been told they won't be allowed home at Christmas which is beyond absurd.

For students in halls this will be very difficult to insist on. They’ve generally paid for term time accommodation. They can’t be forced to pay for the holidays, unless the government will pay for it.

Unis didn’t want to lose the rent, but knew they wouldn’t actually be able to attend classes.

This is not true. Universities have not tricked students in to coming back so they could fleece them for rent. Universities thought they could return to teaching in person and were putting plans in place to do so, but the reality is, in order to do it safely, they just didn’t have the teaching space available. Universities are renting space in non university buildings to try and deliver F2F teaching but there isn’t enough to go around.

Because they were reacting to changing rules, they haven’t had months and months to plan. NS has been going to open offices since August. Don’t forget that for a university to run, there are thousands of office staff who have to support it.

The move to online only is also to protect students. When outbreaks started to happen in freshers week, it was clear they couldn’t insist students came to class as it represented a risk to other students (and staff) too.

I feel really sorry for students who are stuck in halls. I think allowing them to go home if they have a negative test would be the best thing to do. They have been caught in a really shitty position and that’s a real shame. But it is entirely off base to suggest universities purposefully did it, in order to get income from accommodation. Not least because the revenue from accommodation is a drop in the ocean for universities. (E.g of a 1.4 billion income at UoE in 2019, 60m came from halls and 30m of that goes in operating costs, with further staffing and maintenance/refurb costs also incurred) Most students are in private halls or rented flats.

If they're smart enough to go to Uni, they're smart enough to deal with this.

How condescending.

There are adults on here regularly proving they can’t cope with many aspects of lockdown.

Would you want to be cooped up in a set of rooms with 10 complete strangers, 5 of whom have Covid? In a city you don’t know? First time away from home?

I organised a supermarket delivery for my child

Why couldn’t your child organise their own delivery? Maybe other students don’t have parents with the ability to do it for their children.

security collected it from the delivery guy and left it at the flat door.

I wonder how security will feel doing this for 500 students?

In Edinburgh most of the Universities have now organised testing to be done on site at the halls. There is also always postal tests too.
If they can't get a delivery slot they should talk to the student accommodation people who will be able to help, its really not rocket science (though is also much less dramatic for headlines).

What has caused the outbreaks are mostly parties in flats at the halls, which were expressly forbidden but hey freshers week... nothing to do with who they are sharing with.
In Glasgow there was a huge party during freshers week with 50+ in one flat and similar in Aberdeen and St Andrews (though those were off campus... most of the attendees were living in halls).

Again my only direct knowledge (via child) is Edinburgh but the staff there couldn't be more helpful, supportive and responsive.

My neice is locked down.
Food provided has been pasta and pot noodle and long life milk. More is on its way apparently. The only communal space in the flat is the shared bathroom and a tiny kitchen.
Me, my brother and 3 other parents and the 5 students in the flat have been unable to get a supermarket delivery. There are no slots.
They cannot leave their flat for anything. They can't do laundry and tomorrow was planned laundry day after 9 days at uni. Neice is running low on clean undies,on a etc wants a clean towel, clean kitchen toweletc and struggling to dry what's been washed by hand in the communal bathroom.
It's shit. On top of all this my niece is in a flat with a lad who keeps crying. Saying he can't cope with being so hemmed in. He's been having panic attacks and my niece and her other flatmates think he has some kind of claustrophobia, he has been trying to stick his head out the window that only opens an inch or so to feel fresh air on his face.
Add on the news that coming home for Xmas might not happen and this lad has just lost it big time. It's just too much all in 8 or 9 days. Strange place, strange people, locked in, no help, no escape and being told your stuck until after Xmas..... that is going to impact on some people's mental health. This poor lad can't be the only one.
My neice is trying to be stoic but admitted all of them have been in tears most days this past week.

It's shit. I really feel for them all.

@MintyMabel my child could easily have organised their own delivery (and did the second week). I organised the first simply because I wanted to.

Security likely feel its a better option than letting the 'poor little students' starve to death. There is more than one security guy to do this... and the accommodation have advised that if possible flats should try to order together so its one delivery per flat rather than per person.

I organised a supermarket delivery for my child

But this is further evidence for my point surely, it's the lower income young people.who are less likely to have an adult who can organise and afford andelivery for them . This might be because they can't afford.it or because the adult in their lives works long hours.and isn't as involved, the other issue is of course that foster children and those in.care have no.mum.or dad to call.for emergency food.

So as I say is the poor and underprivileged who suffer most.

Forgot to add they have endless problems with the internet. Can't 7se zoom or whatever they use for lectures/uni chats. It keeps freezing. Also struggling to use streaming services like Netflix. Everything buffers all the time.
Maybe it's because the halls are full 24/7 with everyone trying to use the it. Whatever it is, it's the final kick in the teeth.

People asking me for a solution need to remember that your politicians are paid tens of thousands, there is a universities minister. It's not my job, it is theirs. I mean what else have the been doing since march? Surely planning for this term has been a huge part of their remit, yet no obvious contingency to provide food for young people during an outbreak, no plan to.tighten bubbles by putting people who study together in the same houses.

I am appalled by the lack of preparation, I work in a secondary school and our precautions are so tight.

If they're smart enough to go to Uni, they're smart enough to deal with this

This attitude needs addressing. Intelligence isn't maturity. Clever young people are no less likely to suffer mental distress.from being.separated from parents and loved ones than any others.

Whether you are gifted or have significant learning disabilities or are anywhere in between you are entitled to feel safe and happy and be provided with basic things such as food. This has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with human rights.

There are students on tiktok from various Scottish unis joining in a trend of "rate my uni isolation food" and sharing all the stuff they get, sandwiches, wraps, , fruit, salads, mars bars, nature valley bars, brownies. Crisps.Gluten free stuff too.

Also videos of them dancing about in the testing line of mobile test centre set up outside the halls.

Then hugging and kissing flatmates who have a negative test because they "want to be positive too"

Obviously that doesn't represent them all. However the idea that students are somehow locked in room, sobbing with no food or water and never knowing when they will see another soul again is utter pish and needs to stop

BugCatcher879 are you suggesting that tiktok has proven that all student are fine?.if not then presumably you accept the situation.is more nuanced.

Also they literally have nothing else to do. Open your mind . Rating your.food means you've rated your food, that's all it means.

Since when are we not allowed to accept the benefits of a system unless we refuse to criticise the system, surely that's dodgy in itself!?

@Feelingconfused2020 But these students need to eat anyway, they don't have to spend £100 to arrange for a food delivery (mine was at most £40) and if they have any sense at all they will sort it together with their flatmates to keep the costs even lower.

Don't get me wrong, it's all monumentally shit to be a student just leaving home and find yourself in lock-down at halls of residence far from home but the sensational headlines are just stupid and help to cause people to panic that there is no help and no food and no support.

Its possible that some places are much less organised than others but certainly the experience of my child (who isn't even 18 yet) has been that track and trace were very helpful with advice, as were the student accommodation and all staff within the halls. Support has been good and put in place quickly for everything from laundry to rubbish, so while there is no getting away from the crap situation, they certainly haven't been abandoned in their flat.

The enterprising pizza place close to the halls were also quick to put up special deals on 'lockdown pizza' at half price...

Students are not the only people who have to follow the rules. Or do you think they should all carry on as per? They have their whole lives ahead of them, please spare a thought for those who do not.

I feel for them. I couldn’t afford halls when I was a student in Glasgow. My main concern in lockdown would be not having enough money to have the heating on - I relied on the library and student union to stay warm or studied in bed.

Really surprised at some reaposes. The issue about food is that if your household is locked down none of you are allowed out for food and none.of you know.anyone.else.to buy food for.you because you've only been there a short time.

They have their whole lives ahead of them, please spare a thought for those who do not

I have parents in this category and I spare far more thoughts for them than for random 18 year olds. My parents had a carefree 3 years at uni for free. It's not fair to suggest I can only care for one or the other group. What young people have suffered in the last year is not indignificant. I'm sorry but it's not.

@mumsthewurd

I feel for them. I couldn’t afford halls when I was a student in Glasgow. My main concern in lockdown would be not having enough money to have the heating on - I relied on the library and student union to stay warm or studied in bed.

I had no heat third year. Also spent a lot of time in bed. With a hat on. I feel for these kids. And I think it's shameful that they are there in person , paying for accommodation, with a higher risk, when they are studying online anyway. Could have stayed at home. Safer, cheaper and better.

The ubi are sorring food parcels. They have had meetings today with Nicola sturgeon who has made it clear the levels of support expected.

Yeah its shit, boring etc and a bit tricky but they aren't being starved to death. They can get deliveries. If they phone welfare and say "we have no food. Help us or we will have to break quarantine to go to asda" then obviously they will help.

They need support same as anyone isolating due to an infectious dangerous virus but acting like they are locked up in some sort of prison with no access to food or water is ridiculous.

I think t's interesting that some people commenting can't see the difference between those of us locked down with the family we live with every day and uni students who have just met being stuck together and isolated from others.

I think you forgetting how isolating it is to be separated from all your loved ones .

@Feelingconfused2020 there are many ways they can get food that doesn't involve crossing the door, and whether that is friends, or a supermarket delivery, or pasta and pot noodles from University or taking up the local pizza place on their half price deal they aren't going to starve in their 2 weeks isolation.
Sure its not fun, the food might not be what they want, but its 2 weeks not an eternity.

The issue I have is that the stupid headlines make it sound like a pit of doom, neglect and starvation, when in reality its kinda shit but that's about it. In reality most of them are eating cheap pizza, watching shite on netflix and attending online lectures.