Thread 29 - Covid Cohort - Whirlwinds and Waiting

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

previous thread 28

@Wheresthebeach most universities would probably bring the offer forward if she asked.

@Cantonet I think it is unclear how much extra middle income graduates will pay. Because the interest rate is lower, a higher number of people will pay it off within 30 years. People earning £30k for their whole career will pay more than they would under the old system, but would still only pay a small fraction of their loan back. It is a very complicated thing with too many variables!

Thanks for the “new” thread! Shocked we are 12 pages in before I even found it.
Stopped getting notifications again!
Well done to those who have firmed and congrats to those with birthdays recently.
Great to hear about Cardiff, we are heading there on Saturday.
Also great to hear everyone’s accommodation experiences and options, it’s all really helpful to read.
Can someone provide what a typical uni year consists of in terms of term dates? It seems most course start end of Sept but I can’t see info on how long they are off for Xmas/Easter and when term finishes for the summer?
I assume they don’t have half term in Oct, Feb and May like school?!

Just googled term dates for Nottingham, not sure how typical they are though. I think half term / reading week depends on uni and course.

@Fiddlersgreen they all publish their term dates and they vary. Most have 3 terms and most subjects have "reading weeks" during the term which are a bit like half terms.

Here is Cardiff - www.cardiff.ac.uk/public-information/corporate-information/semester-dates

@singingstones @Monkey2001
Oh thanks so much! Not sure why I couldn’t find that on the Cardiff site Monkey! 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Fiddlersgreen term dates depend on the uni. Example my DS finished for Christmas one year at Portsmouth around 17th December. His friend at York was at home by the 3rd December.

Generally they get Easter, Christmas and summer like schools but a bit longer. Mid September to early October is starting of term. December ive mentioned returning between 3rd to 10th January normally to exams. Easter is 2-4 weeks depending on the uni. They are all back home by end of June. So it’s normally a. Extra week on Easter and Christmas but finish for summer 3 weeks earlier and start in September 3 weeks later than schools.

The older and more prestigious the uni the shorter the terms snd longer the holidays🤣😂 think private verses state school!

Even though it may appear to be three teens from the holidays most have 2 semesters. So September until end of January is one and February to June is the other.

Consolidation weeks or reading weeks are also a thing or not dependent on uni and sometimes even differences between course.

Oxford, Cambridge, Durham etc have unique names for their terms.

Sorry catching up with thread now!!

@NCTDN accommodation is pricy and yes loan is bonkers when you are on minimum. We’ve had 5mths off paying out for uni and start again in September. From 2017 until now most the time it’s been for two but each child is worked out as though the means test is for a single child it’s bonkers.

We saved from year 7 so we’d have money set aside. We also didn’t throw away old pans and plates when we updated things we stored them and kids had kitchen stuff for uni. My DS2 was t happy with the hand me down pans until a pretty girl remarked on him being cool for having le creuset 🤣🤣 our old wedding presents that finally ageing I was struggling to lift. You will save on good, bus pass and clubs and hobbies when they ate at uni so worth considering your net position.

If she’s entitled to DSA for living expenses ( reason for needing catered) you might get some help. DSA is not means tested.

Yes, as @Fruitygal says, there will be some savings not having them at home. Dd had been doing singing lessons until very recently - £40 a month. I pay £34 on her bus pass, £15 for the gym, £60 allowance and £40 school dinners. So that’s nearly £200, which I plan to send her per month for living expenses instead. And that’s not taking into account less on the food bil (ice cream!) So the big expense is the difference between the loan and rent…

That's a good point about making savings whilst they are gone, although the £84.60 pm child benefit will stop.

We are going to have to make a 2nd claim as our income this year and ongoing will be a lot less than in 2020/21 (typically I had a very busy year which was unusual and got paid a lot more). We've never been in the situation to be able to save just for uni, as something always went wrong just as we were saving, but at least now our earnings won't be minus rent for DH (working away plus petrol). I am in the process of trying to make savings where we can (sky bill has crept up etc) so will have more to help DD with. If she goes catered then she will just have to eat what's on offer. At Nottingham for the meals she may miss due to hockey training etc she can arrange to pick something up beforehand as long as she gives 24 hrs notice so that will help. There is a microwave in the pantry so she should be fine - just needs to be organised. She has agreed to apply for the 31 week accommodation 1st, that will save almost £2k, bringing it to £6.3k although we understand she may be given accommodation costing £8-9k, Hoping not obviously but it's possible. We do have savings to cover if needed but hoping not to. Looks like we won't be going on a fancy holiday for a few years then - better get the tent back out...

@Heifer hadn’t thought about child benefit - we haven’t had it for years so that is a significant difference for those that do.

You are best off as a high earning divorced dad. Your payments stop to your ex, your salary isn’t counted in the calculation for uni. You are not obliged to contribute at all. However these are the kids who are often on full loan and daddy lobs them £100 a week spends. My DS2 struggled in 1st year as friends were super flush in these situations with spending power of £300 plus per week and wanting to eat our 2-3 times per week and shop for nice things. He couldn’t keep up but tried and ended up with a big overdraft. All paid off over lockdown 2020 as got a delivery job. Ended up with money so spare and no bank debt for either of the DSs leaning uni.

To be fair my dad didn't fund me through uni . Back in those days his earnings were supposed to be taken into account for grants. He gave me not a penny... it is something I still resent. I am not sure how many estranged/divorced dads do really contribute.

The whole system needs an overhaul. It is totally based around an old fashioned nuclear family.

Oh you're right - I'd forgotten about child benefit, even though I had the forms through last week! Ok, it will definitely cost us then!

@crazycrofter

Yes, as *@Fruitygal* says, there will be some savings not having them at home. Dd had been doing singing lessons until very recently - £40 a month. I pay £34 on her bus pass, £15 for the gym, £60 allowance and £40 school dinners. So that’s nearly £200, which I plan to send her per month for living expenses instead. And that’s not taking into account less on the food bil (ice cream!) So the big expense is the difference between the loan and rent…

We'll save a fair amount, it costs us £240 a month to just get DS to college alone! Never mind feeding him

@Piggywaspushed

To be fair my dad didn't fund me through uni . Back in those days his earnings were supposed to be taken into account for grants. He gave me not a penny... it is something I still resent. I am not sure how many estranged/divorced dads do really contribute.

The whole system needs an overhaul. It is totally based around an old fashioned nuclear family.

DS's Dad has said he'll contribute, but baring in mind how much he has contributed up to now I'm not counting my chickens..

@crazycrofter - I'm remembering all the times DD has text me asking me to transfer some money into her account whilst she is out as drinks cost £7 each etc - I never claim it back off her, all the extra makeup/skin care products I've bought... I'm thinking I probably give her a lot more than I thought. We don't have lots of holidays etc but I don't think she has gone without. She knows herself that she will have to stop the expensive skin care/makeup and make do with what she's got until she is earning enough to pay for it herself. Her phone contract will end soon so will only have the sim card to pay for each month, which we will pay for along with hair etc. We will still pay for sports kit, sports clubs, gym, clothes etc I'm not expecting her to self fund but I'm not paying for her to have a crazy social life either.

Oh yes @heifer - the constant requests are in addition to dd's allowance! And she uses our amazon prime account for make up/skincare stuff. Not sure whether to crack down on that when she's away...

I've said to her that I don't feel we should be funding an excessive social life - so if she wants to do stuff (and she likes gigs, festivals etc) she will need to fund it. But what if she can't find a job? She's always been particularly good at wheedling!

It's hard @crazycrofter isn't it. One the one hand I don't want to fund her social life but I also don't want her to have to find a job during term time either. I do expect her to work during holidays though, and if she cracks on and does her swimming coaching course (need to look into that) that will help, she can also her help DH when home. We will pay for 1 festival per year (as before). I think it will depend, if it looks like she is taking the mickey I always get tighter but she has been a lot better at asking for things lately as she understands how expensive things are. She doesn't ask for lots of clothes anymore as she swaps lots with her friends - I asked about how that will work at uni and she said, I will swap with new friends :-)

@ealingwestmum

Heifer, she may be pleasantly surprised when she gets paid! DD gets £11 per hour for lifeguarding, and has her Level 1 (there are 3 Swim England) which is like a swim assistant to a coach, earnings can be between £8 - £15 depending on employer. And great for summer work, home or overseas.

Courses are run by Swim England (or which ever home country), normally mixture of online/pool work if she’s interested.

@ealingwestmum - thanks for this info re Swim England, I will look into it for DD. The school offer a discount on the lifeguarding course that is run there during the holidays so DD was going to do that this summer, but now also wants to do the swimming coaching too.

@heifer we'll have to compare notes in a year's time! Dd has always bought all her own clothes with her allowance and generally this also funds her socialising and birthday presents for friends. I decided to give her £40 a month for school dinners, on the basis that if she gets organised and makes a packed lunch, she gets to keep that money for socialising. I thought it was good preparation for uni life. That seems to have worked quite well. So she's had £100 a month over the last year. But I've paid for Reading, Harry Styles, a summer camp - I'm thinking she can pay for those things in future if she works in the summer.

To be fair, there haven't been constant requests for money since she's had £100 - and she did earn £800 at Christmas.

Even better Heifer. DD’s club funded her life guard training (she just has to pay back in limited number of hours to gain experience) and attends regular training. The Level 1 I funded in the first lock down, but doing level 2 together was too much to find in one go. Hopefully your DD’s coach will be able to support. The great thing is that they develop the life saving skills without doing additional an St John’s type course. Nothing like knowing how to use a defibrillator in a busy shopping centre!

That's a good idea @crazycrofter although I am sure I will moan about it well before then :-). DDs expectations on what she will have at uni seem to be low so I must have said a few times over the years "you won't be getting this when you go to uni".. For her bday/Christmas she originally asked for things like joggers/sweatshirts and skin careas she said I wouldn't be buying her any in future. I had never said that - just that I wouldn't be paying for another North Face coat and very expensive skin care etc. I've probably painted an unfair picture of her, I am sure she is a typical 18yr old. I was worried a few years ago as she seemed to expect things but that has definitely changed recently. I think a lot of that is because her friends parents no longer give an allowance or pay for things now they are all working (some very wealthy and some middle).

That's very useful to know @ealingwestmum - I was just looking at courses online. I will get DD to speak to her coach. Looks like she will be working every Wednesday for now and then holiday time too.

I worry a bit about DD. During the Pandemic she's not worked (even though she's raised it) as she's asthmatic and Group 6 so my priority was keeping her safe.

She knows she needs a job next year to help fund the Gap year and seems very happy to do it. But she's being very 'teenagery' at the moment which it tiring.

@crazycrofter - does your daughter dye her hair? It costs a fortune, but I empathise with DD who has lost her blond locks (as did I so I remember how I felt about that).