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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

Thread 29 - Covid Cohort - Whirlwinds and Waiting

999 replies

OrangeCinnamonCroissant · 23/02/2022 22:29

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

OP posts:
Delphigirl · 28/02/2022 20:52

@GoldenRuby

My DD had just had an offer from Durham - Anthropology & Sociology, AAB. She is very excited!
Brilliant news - well done her!
Delphigirl · 28/02/2022 20:57

@Piggywaspushed

As I have said before crazy, he never goes out. He doesn't shop . If he did, I'd give him some cash, or he'd use birthday money. There just isn't anything he wants or needs! It's the difference between urban teens and us out in the sticks partly.
@Piggywaspushed - you may be in the sticks but there is such a thing as the internet. why haven’t you taught him how to run a bank account, given him an allowance and required him to buy his own eg toiletries etc so he learns to budget for what he needs or wants? Isn’t that a large part of becoming an adult? Are you going to expect him to work it out once he is at university looking at his loan lump sum? Blimey!
Piggywaspushed · 28/02/2022 21:06

Yes, pretty much.... worked for DS1. The only toiletries he has is a shampoo and shower gel that last for months. Bank account got thwarted a bit by Covid. But if I gave him an allowance nothing would be spent. He's a sensible chap so I don't think he'll suddenly become profligate.

Seeline · 28/02/2022 21:26

My DS had an under 18 TSB account that he converted into a student account. They don't have to have an actual student account, any one will do. DS has found it easier to manage his money by having two accounts. Loan goes into one, and he transfers money into the second each week to spend.

Again, they can start student finance application with any account and change it later if they want/need to.

Piggywaspushed · 28/02/2022 21:29

I think that's what DS1 did. Will have to dig out paperwork of his kiddy account! He should have been given a card a couple of years ago but Nationwide seem to have forgotten.

Nard75 · 28/02/2022 21:49

DS has an express cash account with Halifax which we opened online. When I went into branch to ask about student account they said when he gets accepted for a university in August you need to bring in the letter as proof and they can then open student account. Does it matter what account student loan gets paid into?

EwwSprouts · 28/02/2022 22:03

@GoldenRuby Congratulations!

@Monkey2001 Love a bit of insider knowledge! If I've remembered correctly Andrew Melville is between biology and the sports pitches so much to outweigh ugly Grin

DS has a Santander account which does contactless but I think there are some constraints as he is under 18. Need to investigate if that will suffice. Anyone know?

EwwSprouts · 28/02/2022 22:07

Sorry I think I posted before seeing this page Confused

Seeline · 28/02/2022 22:11

Loan can be paid into any account

icanbewhatiwant · 28/02/2022 22:16

@Piggywaspushed Ds2 opened a nationwide account online without going in. He did have his child trust fund with them which is why I chose them. We didn't mention the CTF when we applied online though. Ds2 had his wages at 14 paid into my bank account. So we decided he should have an account. Ds3 hasn't got a bank account yet (he has a savings account)
My dc's never go far to need money. I'll give them cash if they do.
Ds1 had a child saver account which they changed to an adult account, but he opened a student account with hsbc as they were giving £100 to students. So it's worth waiting for incentives before opening a student account. When filling out student finance you can put their current account details in, then change it at a later date once they have a student account.

Piggywaspushed · 28/02/2022 22:40

Yeah, that's what we'll do once I find his Nationwide details. It's like Fort Knox getting into their accounts online. They are good for overdrafts.

Fruitygal · 28/02/2022 22:49

Student account gives the student a. Interest free overdraft at different levels for each year. Useful if the student maintenance loan is late coming in. They absolutely need a card and online banking as most places on a campus no longer take cash - even for a single coffee.

Heifer · 28/02/2022 23:30

@Piggywaspushed

Yes, pretty much.... worked for DS1. The only toiletries he has is a shampoo and shower gel that last for months. Bank account got thwarted a bit by Covid. But if I gave him an allowance nothing would be spent. He's a sensible chap so I don't think he'll suddenly become profligate.
@Piggywaspushed can we swap children for a few months please? I could save enough to save for a holiday in that time if DD was like your son :-)

As for teaching our children to budget etc - We've given DD an allowance for years but she has never bought her own toiletries, has never used a cashpoint, I doubt she ever uses her card in a shop - it's all applepay and transferring cash to and from friends and internet shopping. Best I ever did was to give her a clothes allowance a few years back (don't know as she has more of a monthly allowance - I've never been that strict with it but when she asks for something I often say, I will £10/£20 and you pay the rest etc. The number of times she says no it doesn't matter. That meant she didn't want it that much and I would have bought it before. If she wants is that much she will pay towards it. I often then end up paying anyway but that is my decision at the time. Like I say, she doesn't buy anywhere near as much as before - but that is probably because she is socialising a lot now and it's costing her a fortune (meals out, drinks at £7 a go) she is learning that it's expensive to go out too often. I'm hoping she will also learn she doesn't need to go and eat at a restaurant with friends when she could have gone somewhere cheaper.

crazycrofter · 01/03/2022 00:18

@heifer that was the reason I started giving dd an allowance at 14 - I wanted her to learn to prioritise! She quickly learned that on trips to town she couldn’t really afford Wagamama’s, so the group would split for lunch and she and one particular friend with a similar budget would go to McDonald’s!

Volterra · 01/03/2022 06:29

Piggy DD uses Starling, it works for her as she can manage her loan when it arrives and break it down into monthly amounts allocated into rent and bills for each month, general spending and savings. Otherwkse a bit overwhelming for her with dyscalculia to be presented with a lump sum and make it last a few months .

Might suggest DS changes his Barclays account to Starling for the autumn. DS has a small allowance which he rarely spends much of so has been building up in current account along with birthday and Christmas money for last few years. Clothes and phone we pay for. Things like travel when he came up to Dad’s funeral he pays for and we reimburse to get him used to using the account, along with a few online purchases he makes and assumabky his card to get some of the yellow sticker he mentioned he gets sometime whilst away during the week.

ExtremelyDelighted · 01/03/2022 06:51

My two have Nationwide accounts, I actually helped DS open his in branch pre Covid but he refused to use it due to anxiety until this year. We have managed to get him set up with the app, he had to phone up to get his email and phone no added to the account but did it on speaker with me there to prompt if needed (he is autistic and finds this stuff hard). They upgraded his cashpoint card to a debit card when he turned 18. He has always saved and budgeted with his pocket money / birthday money when it was all cash and then Go Henry. He also does the weekly food shopping with me sometimes so has a pretty good idea of what costs what. I am going to get him to put his loan money in a linked savings account and move a fixed amount over weekly/monthly. I can't imagine he's going to suddenly develop an expensive social life but again he's aware of costs from eating out etc with us.

Piggywaspushed · 01/03/2022 06:54

I have definitely been avoiding using phones t pay for stuff and I think D1 doesn't do that. I don't do it myself. I think f the modern world didn't want me to do otherwise, all my money would be under a mattress!

ExtremelyDelighted · 01/03/2022 06:58

I do use Apple pay, that's next on the list for the DCs. I was a late adopter though, started using it in lockdown to avoid touching chip and pin machines.

ExtremelyDelighted · 01/03/2022 06:59

Well, I say late. I know lots don't use it but I know a lot of my friends were years before me.

Piggywaspushed · 01/03/2022 07:00

I don't have an iPhone although I am sure there is some sort of android equivalent. I don't trust phones. Don't have a bank app either.

Funnily enough when DH tried to transfer a fairly large sum of money recently, he still had to get to a branch and write a cheque!

EventuallyDelighted · 01/03/2022 07:12

There is Google pay for Android. I like it now I am used to it, and I like the banking apps, again I only started using apps fairly recently but have been doing online banking for years. However I kind of miss the days when a paper statement came through the door and I checked it and ticked things off, it'd easier to ignore an email telling you to check your app inbox than a letter on the kitchen counter.

icanbewhatiwant · 01/03/2022 07:20

I work in a co-op. I'm amazed at how many young children, 7 plus have a card to swipe. My dc's have not had bank cards until 16.
We also get quite a few pensioners paying with Apple watches. I have literally just set up Apple Pay on my phone. The older dc's asked why I wasn't using it. I have had the odd person try to pay with their phone and it hasn't gone through, they don't have a bank card, so can't have their shopping. So paying by phones etc is all good until it doesn't work.

Isthisjustnormal · 01/03/2022 07:21

@Piggywaspushed - ds was very like that until a few months ago. He’s always had a bank account but very rarely buys anything (& we are london/Surrey borders, so no shortage of outlets!) . In the last few months he’s got into vinyl and it’s actually been lovely seeing how much joy buying them gives him (after the initial stress of the shopping process!!)

EventuallyDelighted · 01/03/2022 07:22

One of the reasons DS was thinking of having a gap year was to get a job and grow his confidence over handling his finances but I really don't think its a good idea since the student finance announcement last week Sad.

BlueMarigold · 01/03/2022 07:29

I haven’t even thought about how we are going to support DD financially. I liked @Fruitygal’s idea of paying for the accommodation and then giving her the maintenance loan. She’s not a big spender. Buys all her clothes in charity shops and is a good cook so she can make food in bulk and freeze it for another day. So really just money for books, socialising and toiletries? She can stock up stuff like shampoo etc when she’s home