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

Thanks @OrangeCinnamonCroissant

I have a year 12 DD as well as year 13 DS. They're going to argue about the inequality of their student loans for the rest of their lives 🙁

Thank you @OrangeCinnamonCroissant for the new thread and @singingstones for the list!

@AnneOfCleavage Has your DD made her firm and insurance choices now? What did she decide?

My DD has an interview for her second choice uni now but it's not until the end of March so still quite a few weeks of waiting!

Well done to everyone for all the offers that have been coming in and decisions that have been made.

@AnneOfCleavage I think that with interest capped at RPI it would be better to help her buy her first house rather than pay off the loan. If she wants to be a primary school teacher it is likely that she wants children and if ultimately she goes back to work as a part time teacher she will get nowhere near paying it off, even if she pays for 40 years. Obviously she may get a full time job as a Head and have a partner who is the main carer, but if there is a reasonable chance that she will work part time for a chunk of her career, it is definitely not worth paying the loan

@22Newnames on a personal level, I would also prefer the new system, so that is a silver lining for us if DS doesn't get in this year!

Someone said to me last week (can't remember if it was here or somewhere else) that if your income goes above the threshold and triggers payments they carry on even if it subsequently drops again eg going part-time, SAH, taking lower paid work. That can't be right can it?

@ExtremelyDelighted no, that’s not true. The loan repayments are worked out each paydate by the payroll software depending on how much you have earned that payday in the same way as PAYE is calculated.

Thanks @22Newnames, I doubted it but didn't get round to checking. Yes, what you describe is how I assumed it to be. Trying to think who it was that said that now.

Thanks Orange and Singing , sterling work as always!

@ealingwestmum many thanks for your post on the old thread, very helpful but also very complicated!

I've clearly missed some news on student loans and really not sure I'm up to reading about it today.

Thanks for the new thread.

DS will remain on the current system for loans, although that seems to involve a freezing of the starting salary for the next few years. He's still got 2-3 years of study left, depending on whether he does a year in industry, but should end up in a well paid job.

DD has no clue what to do after uni, and u can easily see her in a lower paid job, so hopefully she will start this year as planned.

Thank you Orange and Singing

Just checking in on this thread. Thanks orange.

Thanks Monkey yes food for thought. We'd much rather help with a house deposit if I'm honest. Can't see DD being a head but never say never and she has said that she wants to have a child in the future (only one bio as she wants to adopt - a child 8+ if poss as years ago watching Tracey Beaker she knows they are the hardest to place). No idea of her partner's earning potential but her boyfriend (same age as her) is hoping to do an apprenticeship and she sees them staying long term ah young love eh 😄

Kiwi not firmed as yet as school want them to do this next round of mocks before committing. She phoned up her fave and asked if she got a D in actual exams (due to no sociology teacher and having to teach herself now ) but an A and a B for the other two would that work out okay due to point system - they didn't offer points just grades. Lady said she'd have no problem with that but I'm not sure if that is a definite. In regards to her fave, she's saying her current insurance is looking v favourable now as she really loves the course and her best friend is applying to a Uni 1/2 hr away. I've said there's no guarantee her bestie will go there so do not base your choices on that. We haven't even looked round it - thought we'd do it in the summer if she ended up getting it.

Hi please may I join you? I recognise lots of names from the Oxbridge threads / rejects and I am told you are a friendly bunch!

DD applied for Politics and IR at Bath, Nottingham, Cardiff, Cambridge (rejected post interview for HSPS) and Liverpool. Having trawled the length and breadth of the country over the past ten months (visited Durham last year but DD vetoed it early on). DD offers Notts ABB, Liverpool BBB, Cardiff ABB, Bath AAB.

Have done offer holders days at Liverpool and Nottingham these past couple of weeks Nottingham far far outshone Liverpool in respect of the course and enthusiasm of staff and students but she really didnt like the City at all and promptly vetoed that too. Liverpool fab city but course came across as dull and uninspiring which was a shame as she wanted to love it. So she has firmed Bath yesterday with Liverpool as insurance. Off to Bath on 9th April for offer holders day but already did a campus tour last year on the day freshers were arriving so the place was buzzing.

I think she is relieved to have firmed now and feels lucky to have had her Bath offer in November which took the pressure off Cambridge as she really did love Bath. Its been really useful to visit the open days now just got to pray that Bath comes across as well as she hopes in April. Its been a tough ride for this cohort and DD has had it harder too as we relocated to a new county in her first year of A-levels then lock down hit and she barely made any friends.

Anyway nice to 'meet' you all

Welcome TWAT
Well done to your DD making her decisions and fingers crossed that the Bath day reinforces everything she loves about it.
This is a lovely and supportive thread and there are DC doing all sorts of things as you can see from The List a few posts up.

Welcome @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango and well done to your dd for making decisions! My dd is totally undecided between the four offers she has, and hasn't even heard from Bath yet. I'm secretly hoping that's a rejection as deciding between 4 seems to be difficult enough

So it sounds like the student finance changes won't impact those of our kids who are going in September? Knowing year 11 ds, this will further enforce his feeling that he wants an apprenticeship at 18. He's already started working out his budget and what he'll be able to afford (house share/car) if he's on £20k!

[quote Monkey2001]@AnneOfCleavage I think that with interest capped at RPI it would be better to help her buy her first house rather than pay off the loan. If she wants to be a primary school teacher it is likely that she wants children and if ultimately she goes back to work as a part time teacher she will get nowhere near paying it off, even if she pays for 40 years. Obviously she may get a full time job as a Head and have a partner who is the main carer, but if there is a reasonable chance that she will work part time for a chunk of her career, it is definitely not worth paying the loan

@22Newnames on a personal level, I would also prefer the new system, so that is a silver lining for us if DS doesn't get in this year![/quote]
One might be inclined to stick 4k a year of it (if you really don't need it) in a first time buyers isa and gain 1k a year on it.

Not terribly ethical I suppose.

@OrangeCinnamonCroissant a LISA is a very sensible idea. If you can afford to pay £4k pa for 3 years of university and they come out with £15k+ deposit, that is a great start for a mortgage as long as you are not in the South East!

Marking my place, thanks for the new thread OrangeCinnamonCroissant.

Dd and I are just back from a short break in Birmingham - she was very impressed with the shopping and the canal area. Might be another possibility for next year.

Thanks for the welcomes. DD bless her has been pretty anxious over her choices (probably like so many of our DC) and seems a lot more contect now decision is made. She was excited to press the firm button! I hadnt seen the changes in the loans but I do feel for them having such a hefty debt for a very long time. I have a DS in year 12 too going to Uni next year so presume it will impact him and not DD.

@ZittiEBuoni I am a Brummy born and bred (relocated to Shropshire now) and used to live in Bournville not far from studentville in Selly Oak, always seemed like a lovely part of the city to be a student in.

Thanks @OrangeCinnamonCroissant. Can't believe there's a new thread already with 43 posts before I found it! Nothing new to report here as we're still waiting on Bath. Enjoying reading everyone else's news though.

Is there anyone here with a dc1 (not this cohort but who still hasn't got their drivers license? we can't seem to get a test date. ds1 has just passed his his 2nd theory test, 1st one has expired, but can't seem to get to sitting driving test stage. DS2 hasn't started lessons at all.

Thank you @OrangeCinnamonCroissant and @singingstones.

Just place making. I am jealously reading your DCs' multiple offers, offer holder days and decision making. DD still only has one offer (Nottingham) and is desperate to be offered a place in Bristol. The wait continues...

Welcome @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango

[quote Monkey2001]@OrangeCinnamonCroissant a LISA is a very sensible idea. If you can afford to pay £4k pa for 3 years of university and they come out with £15k+ deposit, that is a great start for a mortgage as long as you are not in the South East![/quote]
Over the past year, even in my unpopular part of South East , prices have risen inexplicably. I'm afraid to say it might be spreading... especially with stagnant wages.

Dd says she wants to stay in this area following uni or she may not be able to move back. I've never said as much to her, so I find it v sad that she has even thought about it.

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango, we took a barge trip down to the Vale and it was hard to believe such a green, peaceful place was so close to the busy full-on city centre.

Welcome aboard TWAT. Lovely for your DD to have received a Bath offer so early on. We really have no idea why it's all so silent in the business school dept. Hardly any offers at all, not even on the student room and looks like we could be waiting till April judging by their latest letter.

Yay, here's TWAT! So glad I am not now going to be the only person who calls you that, I see...