Thread 17 - Corona Cohort Summer Vacation to Yr 13, Finding Freedom?

[Orangecinnamon21]

PLACEHOLDER FOR NEW THREAD ...PREVIOUSLY TO BE FOUND IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

I agree that accommodation is eye-wateringly expensive. It appears to be the norm for DC to expect en suite, which seems to be £6k to £7k in most places. Quite a few parents whose DC get the minimum loan pay for accommodation.

I decided to make our contribution a set amount so that the cost would make a difference to their finances. DS1 could either have an en suite or a shared bathroom and fully catered for the same price. He chose the catered deal and had no regrets as he liked the food and loved the fact that the communal bathrooms were cleaned every day by a cleaner, he is staying in the same hall next year, partly because of Covid uncertainty, partly because finding private accommodation in St Andrews is a nightmare and partly because he does not feel he had really had a proper "Hall Experience" yet. He was glad he had a sink in his room. DS2 has concluded that even in Newcastle it would be easier to fnd his very expensive eating habits (lots of eggs, meat protein powder etc) if he accepts a shared bathroom!

The most expensive I’ve come across apart from London is Liverpool Uni. If I remember correctly there’s one place that’s £150 a week but it’s city centre and older. Everything on the new student village is £176 plus. I don’t get it really as Liverpool is generally seen to be an affordable city.

Southampton has some accommodation at £119 so if Dd goes there I’ll be suggesting she put that first. But I’ve been generally pretty shocked at the price of accommodation now! It’s more than our mortgage!

Dd will be living on minimum loan plus £5k NHS bursary, which should cover everything unless accommodation is extortionate. She can decide what she prioritises…

I just wrote a really long post which disappeared!

It basically said I think it is wrong of unis to only provide cheap accommodation when it is in desperate need of a refurb or in a crap location. It doesn't seem fair to me that market forces should operate here and price out students with fewer funds. Most unis have accommodation now that is nowhere near covered by the full loan. If you are on a tighter budget you can end up in some just nasty halls. I know Ziggurats has its fans but it badly needs TLC and proper kitchens. It seems to me unis are spending their money elsewhere!

I forgot yesterday about NTU : accommodation is expensive there too : at least if you want to be near lectures and facilities it is. Getting accommodation at NTU is a proper bunfight, too!

I spent yesterday trying to figure out Cambridge costs. It is yet another thing they are really opaque about - prices for rent vary between colleges but are hard to find out (and you can end up in an expensive room without any say in it it seems). Naively, I thought, since it is a catered experience, that accommodation costs were included. Nope... so then you have to cost that out too.

@Piggywaspushed Bath (where ds1 is) is definitely quite expensive compared with Leeds where dd went. Both for halls & private accommodation for Y2 onwards. Though Ds’ halls were new & swish, whereas dd was in an old Victorian house with not even a sink in her room. She got her insurance choice & was glad to get in at all so was not really fussed. Ds was quite young & shy so was very keen on an en-suite!

But in all cases, the thing to look out for is the payment structure. For dd I had worked out what the monthly cost should be but then it turned out the number of instalments was less than the number of months, so each instalment was higher. Obviously overall cost was the same but it came as a shock that the instalments were around 50% higher than I had expected.

Even worse at Bath as you paid in termly rather than monthly instalments!

The other thing with accommodation to bear in mind is that they will need to pay a deposit and possibly a month’s rent to secure their year 2 accommodation and that is quite often not long after they have started.

It’s worth thinking about what they will need to take next year now and keep an eye out for bits and pieces either on sale or on Facebook groups etc . The deposit needed for the accommodation needs paying before the student loan arrives I think ? DD didn’t do halls so am not sure.

DS has a couple of these which he uses as a bedside table and then hold a lot of things like books and sit in a small space in our hall until he goes back.

I think York's expensive too, for what you get compared to others I've seen online. I have said from the start that DD doesn't need to have an ensuite - she doesn't have 1 at home and she won't have 1 if she moves into private house share in Yr 2. She was happy with that until 1 of her friends have given her horror stories of her elder sister and why she was glad she had an ensuite. If we had loads of spare money of course I would pay for it - but I just don't see that she needs it when it means we would have to go without our end.

I don't want the cost of accommodation to be a deciding factor for DD as to where she goes and I love York from what I've seen online (we will be making a trip in August sometime) but I can't help feeling that elsewhere is better value (for accommodation anyway).

Lancaster Uni accommodation is cheap and looks good. It's a good course too but DD isn't keen for some reason. I feel we need a day trip to see what Lancaster is actually like.

Her new favourite Uni this week in Nottingham. She loves the look of the course. although none of us have ever been to Nottingham so a trip is needed.

So at the moment her 5 picks would be Nottingham, York, Bristol, Bath & Swansea But realistically she needs to drop 1 of the top 4 and pick another back up.

I have a feeling this coming week is going to be tough as DD needs to get on with some work now. She has had 3 weeks off.

The EPQ has gone - although we really wanted her to do it I could see if just causing major problems down the road. It was a massive stubbling block for her - getting stressed with the weekly deadlines of where she needed to be (and wasn't). It's not like her at all, during school time she is very motivated and driven but these holidays she is a different person at the moment.

I have found a good online MOOC that will have to do instead. She has agreed to do a few of these so she has something to write on her PS. I did manage to get her to sit down with me, showing her what I've found and she did get into it (after 5 mins of mopping not wanting to be sat looking)...

Hope your DS/DDs are enjoying themselves.

For those that are going out out - do you have curfews still? Some of DDs friends don't see to any more (especially those with older siblings). We've just moved from us picking her up at midnight, to taxi with friends home by 1.00am and last night she text to ask could she stay later as she was having so much fun - was out out in a pub/restaurant/DJ playing and as someone her age from a local school was DJing a set, there were loads of people she knew from local schools. She had a great time and it was nice to see her having had fun - seems she had a fair amount to drink but they must be watered down a lot as she was only tipsy really when she got home.

What subject is your Dd looking at @Heifer ?

Up until last year I would have said there is no need to put lower tariff courses down just for the sake of it as you can pick those up in clearing if things go pear-shaped on results day or your firm will often take you with dropped grades.

It’s hard to predict how things will go next year. There was an article in the Guardian today saying unis will be less lenient with dropped grades this year & next. Though they also say more students are likely to get their first choice!

Interestingly the ‘richest’ students at Newcastle mostly end up at Castle Leazes which is the oldest, (not so nice), cheapest halls. Every year. Princess Eugenie went there I think. Very weird.

Uni Dd was desperate to have an en-suite (she never has at home). I pointed out the humidity, smells, party people would have to come into your room…..
By 2nd year everyone couldn’t care less. It was who you were with.

Going into 3rd year she’s accidentally ended up with one but, I think with covid that’s actually a good thing as it has been really difficult her being negative using shared bathrooms when her flatmates are positive.

…however she managed it and stayed negative

@Heifer, I was going to say the same as @Decorhate. In general most of the lower fraud courses seem to be in Clearing anyway, so it may be best to put the 5 favourite courses and see what happens. I might be inclined to download all the biology courses in Clearing this year so that you get a feel of which ones are likely to be in Clearing next year.

On accommodation, I really don't know how much of an impact the niceness of your room makes to the experience, it has mattered this year because they spent so much time in their rooms. I found it strange how little the en suite prices varied across universities, although private accommodation varies massively. St Andrews halls seemed horrendously expensive when I first looked - very little under £6.5k and you can be allocated catered en suite for over £9k, but DS is in a lovely hall for £7k and the rent is based on £4.5k for accom and £2.5k for food (3 meals a day, although in non-Covid times did not include evening meals in Sat/Sun). Private is at least £500/month plus bills and most people pay for 12 months of the year. There are a lot of rich students and limited houses available, so it is not unusual to pay over £700 in a good location.

@Piggywaspushed accom in Cambridge is pretty cheap and most colleges accommodate students for the full 3/4 years. There are loads of bursaries available, it really is true that no student should find Oxbridge more expensive than a degree elsewhere.

Someone mentioned Nottingham - that is another one where private accommodation is plentiful and cheap, although there are a few dodgy landlords! Bristol expensive, but not as bad as Bath. In general, the further north you go, the more affordable private accommodation is, although Cardiff is good.

@Decorhate

What subject is your Dd looking at *@Heifer* ?

Up until last year I would have said there is no need to put lower tariff courses down just for the sake of it as you can pick those up in clearing if things go pear-shaped on results day or your firm will often take you with dropped grades.

It’s hard to predict how things will go next year. There was an article in the Guardian today saying unis will be less lenient with dropped grades this year & next. Though they also say more students are likely to get their first choice!

@Decorhate - DDs wants to study Biology. The top 4 all want AAB, some but may offer lower due to her taking Core Maths, qualifying MOOCs and living in an area with low progression to university (shocked by this as our area is mixed with lots of very wealthy retired people, well off professionals, people like us, and then not so well of working families.

I do think DD will get the grades she needs - but anything can happen, and she has said with Psychology especially although she is predicted an A* she feels she could easily get it wrong on the day and get a C or lower.

I don't think leaving it to clearing would be great for DD as she is definetely someone who would be better with it all going smoothly on the day, even if that means taking her insurance offer rather than somewhere else she might want.

I think one's definition of cheap might vary though. I think I worked out yesterday that Cambridge accommodation is equivalent in price to a self catered rent at most other places - but then actual kitchens are rare so self catering isn't happening, so add on food costs and it becomes a bit more. The main thing that saves money is that they chuck students out in their holiday and terms are shorter so it may work out a bit cheaper overall. I was pondering how much of that would appeal to the students they say they want to attract.

I found this online about Cambridge :

www.varsity.co.uk/news/14904

Thanks @Monkey2001 - I will do that and see what courses do go into clearing. I was worried it would be ones that DD really doesn't want to go to but will see.

@Zandathepanda

Interestingly the ‘richest’ students at Newcastle mostly end up at Castle Leazes which is the oldest, (not so nice), cheapest halls. Every year. Princess Eugenie went there I think. Very weird.

Uni Dd was desperate to have an en-suite (she never has at home). I pointed out the humidity, smells, party people would have to come into your room…..
By 2nd year everyone couldn’t care less. It was who you were with.

Going into 3rd year she’s accidentally ended up with one but, I think with covid that’s actually a good thing as it has been really difficult her being negative using shared bathrooms when her flatmates are positive.

I think that's a well known phenomenon zanda : it's the same at Bristol I believe , and York. Maybe it's that they went to boarding school so are used to less luxury/communal living?

Nottingham is another one with slightly odd accommodation heifer : mostly catered iirc. I see conversations about it on WIWIKAU all the time!

It seems I am incapable of saving a link! Does anyone have the clearing link that someone posted recently?

Ours doesn't go out but even DS1 if he did would have a curfew : he went out in Halifax last week and was out til 3, but the one time he went out at home he was back by 11. Happy for him to do what he wants when he is in his own place but not here.

He found the first few weeks very odd when he started uni as it was all new to him but now he does go out a lot at uni. DS1 I am sure will adjust but kids round here just don't go out! Just as well as DH wouldn't like it...

@Piggywaspushed - Yes I saw that all the accommodation on the campus DD would need was ALL catered - but literally load more accommodation across the road and surrounding area that is self catering and looks really good.

Thanks for the tip re WIWIKAU - I read it all the time but probably glossed over Nottingham as only recently on DD radar, will take a look to check what is being said - as personal recommendations are priceless.

So far DD’s friends have stuck to gatherings in gardens/kitchens, which usually end around 11-12. I guess neighbours have to be considered. We’ve had a couple at ours but they had to finish in time for the last train as we live the other side of the city to most of her friends. I’m guessing when it gets colder they might start going to pubs instead.

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jul/31/a-level-results-top-universities-expected-to-stick-to-rigid-entry-grades

@Heifer I would just make sure your Dd would absolutely be happy if she ended up at her insurance rather than just choosing it for insurance because of the lower entry requirements.

Has she considered Surrey for insurance? I know a couple of youngsters who have gone there & had very positive experiences.

Nottingham is very popular with our local students. Friend’s Dd is doing Biology there.

I also liked Southampton a lot when looking around with older dc. I think they are quite good for biosciences?

Scary read really. I think I'm more worried about DD not getting offers from the unis she's after than her not getting the grades. I'm still mindful that she isn't taking Chemistry and Maths and despite the unis saying psychology is fine I still worry.

DD seems to think that as long as she gets the grades she needs all wil be fine...

Re going out out - DDs school friends don't go out much, but her hockey friends and 2 of the girls and boys grammar schools socialise a lot together. It was at the beaches, but as 1 of the lads they all know was playing at this pub that is why they all went.

It's hard because when I think back to what I did at 17 (DH was at boarding school and went to the pub from 14). I had a lot of freedom at this age and my parents were considered strict. I don't remember what time I had to be home so it obviously wasn't a problem - although I never liked going to clubs so was probably home after the pub - although did go to house parties.

I went out loads too. Looking back my DPs were almost irresponsibly laissez faire at times, but we did live in a Dry District so no pubs. Occasional parties in nightclubs but lots of house parties, generally so called 'empties'. Lots of parents seemed to go away and leave kids at home in those days! I never hosted a party though! I think I generally stayed overnight at a friend's house when we went to parties.