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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:
Volterra · 26/02/2022 17:28

About £50 Tango but she needs topping up more these days and we pay travel costs home. She doesn't have any travel costs at university. She's really frugal though .

Shimy · 26/02/2022 17:31

@Twat DS1 self catering, £100 per week.

Wheresthebeach · 26/02/2022 17:38

Just checking that I understand this correctly. Tuition fee's I get, paid back when they start earning.

Maintenance loan is means tested and the lowest amount given is about 4.5K.

I don't understand why the loans that are for living at home are so close to the loans for living away from home?

Or am I missing an additional loan for halls/rent?

Monkey2001 · 26/02/2022 17:53

@Wheresthebeach in England it is tough - they get around £4.5k if household income over about £60k and parents have to make up the rest. People who can afford it often pay for accommodation and the DC live on the £4.5k. If parents can't afford to top up the DC have to get jobs.

Wheresthebeach · 26/02/2022 18:38

Thanks @Monkey2001. Confirmed what I've looked at today.

Crumbs...

icanbewhatiwant · 26/02/2022 18:46

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango I worked out recently that Ds1 has £73 a week left from his student loan to pay his bills, food, fuel etc. it's not very much really. This is second and third year in a student rental. We pay his car insurance and mobile bill. He told me it is enough, I did tell him I'd give him more if needed. He does have a summer job so has extra money from that, but he says he's not really needed it. Ds2 will get less of a loan and the cost of living will be more in Sussex.

Decorhate · 26/02/2022 19:20

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango Ds1 is at Bath. Looks like that house is cheaper than what he is paying! I think most students live in that area or between there & the river at least.

Not wanting to generalise I found dd spent more per week than Ds. Clothes, makeup, going out. He’s not really into clothes (or makeup!) & pints are cheaper than cocktails.

Dd probably worked more in the holidays to supplement her loan (we paid rent for both) but Ds was unable to work as much due to Covid etc.

Delphigirl · 26/02/2022 19:41

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango my DS is at Birmingham and we pay rent (£90pw in shared house) and give him £450 per month on top (no loans). So the 450 has to cover food, utilities, phone, booze, and everything else. He finds it isn’t enough to do all he wants (including driving to Cornwall to surf with the uni surf club once a fortnight!) so he also works a couple of nights a week.
I don’t really know how that compares. I’ve offered to up it a bit as it is what we were giving his sister 4 years ago, but he refused.

Shimy · 26/02/2022 20:09

Has anyone’s dc here dropped the EPQ and what is the procedure at their school?
DS wants to drop the EPQ as he is feeling inundated, head of academics has said it may affect his offers and DS is convinced they might withdraw his offers. None of his offers are conditional on an EPQ Infact, Warwick for example sate explictly on their website that they do not consider it in making offers but DS is convinced even though they might not base an offer on it, it is part of his overall profile and why they made him an offer in the first place. He also has an offer outstanding Bath. Bath have stated you will get a reduced offer if there is an EPQ or Core Maths. DS is doing Core Maths, so my take on it is, even though we’re not sure what Bath will do, he still qualifies for a lower offer, EPQ or not.

School has also told DS that in order to drop the EPQ he has to notify all his universities by email that he is dropping the EPQ, which I think is frankly ridiculous. None of them except Bath as explained above have asked for an EPQ. I’m not even sure they will reply his email in time for him to drop the email and complete all his outstanding work. This is such a busy time for admissions.

Is this normal procedure?

KingscoteStaff · 26/02/2022 21:28

@NCTDN Re Bristol offer holder day, we are 2.5 hours' drive away.

DD has a specific 'Medicine at Bristol' talk from 1-4, so our plan is to go down early and do a bit of a drive round to get a feel for where the medical school is in relation to the different accommodation areas, the SU and the sports centre.

Then while she is at her thing, we can have a nice lunch and a walk around the city centre. Once she's done, another wander/drive round, an early dinner and back home!

Fruitygal · 27/02/2022 01:22

Weekly amount my DSs had was £75 in first year to £85 for final year per week. You can’t live lavishly on that but they didn’t have to work in term time. Covers food, going out etc DD will get £90 as things rising in price this year

Generally they would come home for a haircut as I would pay. Travel and phone is our Gift on top just to make sure we see and hear from them snd fir them to know they can come home at any time.

Their Friends got between £50-£120 per week depending.

Rent in private was £400-550 with / without bills for 11 or 12 months contract.

Delphigirl · 27/02/2022 09:07

@Fruitygal sounds like we are in the same ballpark if you factor in phones and travel.
Haircuts are not an issue as he works in a v trendy bar slash cafe slash barbershop….!!! So the guys in the corner of the bar do his hair for free 🤣🤣

Piggywaspushed · 27/02/2022 09:47

I feel tight making DS1 pay for phone now! It's not a flash one , mind. He is in financial dire straits now but hasn't owned up...

We pay his rent( about £130 pm) He pays for everything else, is crap at budgeting, and has never managed to get a job.

Monkey2001 · 27/02/2022 09:56

I pay for DS1's phone because I haven't got round to changing it, but it is £5/month SIM only so not big enough to get to the top of my "to do" list.

Piggywaspushed · 27/02/2022 10:31

DS has broken about 8 phones so I just got fed up of the albatros on my contract!!

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 27/02/2022 10:45

Thanks for all the responses it gives me a good idea of what to work to. I think DD will be ok for the first year as a single household income she will have money left from her maintenance loan to live on and her Dad has said he will give her some but she needs to have that conversation with him. I have looked at Baths website and it seems she will be eligible for a £1250 bursary for accommodation costs in the first year only which helps. It is going to be the private rent in 2nd and 4th year which will make things more difficult. 3rd year placement she will have to find a paid placement as I just could not afford to fund it. Her phone contract ends in December (£35 a month which I have been paying then she will have to go on a cheap PAYG sim).

This may sound like a stupid question but do you still give your DC money in the holidays too or expect them to get jobs?

Delphigirl · 27/02/2022 11:00

I pay mine 12 months a year. They need to get internships in the summer and these usually aren’t paid. I don’t want them to miss opportunities to improve their employability for the sake of a few hundred quit I can afford (I know many can’t). They also all pick up paid shifts (bar and restaurant work mostly but DD had very lucrative holiday work as a polo groom!) in the summer when not doing CV-building stuff, and at Easter and Christmas too sometimes but they are tired at Christmas and often prepping for summer exams at Easter.
DD1 left uni with significant savings from her holiday work, got a great job, and has been 100% financially independent ever since so I’m happy with how that worked out.

Delphigirl · 27/02/2022 11:02

Also they are still paying rent and utilities in the 2nd and third year holidays

icanbewhatiwant · 27/02/2022 12:01

I'm glad the £79 weekly Ds1 has is similar to others on here then. I thought I was being tight not offering more. Though I did tell him to let me know if he's short on money. He's very frugal with his spending, I took him food shopping when he was in his first year as he was struggling with supermarkets being so far away, he was reading the prices on everything, putting things back etc. then I told him I'd pay, he soon filled the trolley then!

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 27/02/2022 12:06

I had no idea they had a 4 month long summer holiday for some reason I thought it mirrored school holidays! Plenty of time for internships / summer jobs then.

Delphigirl · 27/02/2022 12:08

Yes - I do send them back to uni with massive bags of fishfingers, frozen gyoza and oven chips but they become very good at shopping from the budget aisles and learning when the price reductions are made in the local supermarket!

sofakingcool · 27/02/2022 13:13

Thanks for the new shiny thread!

So news in our camp... DS has firmed ShockShockShockShock

Uni of Reading - Firm
Bournemouth- Insurance

sofakingcool · 27/02/2022 13:14

It's scary!!

I want to get on with sorting accommodation now Shock

Cantonet · 27/02/2022 13:18

When I used to drop dd1 off at Bristol I used to do a big shop at Aldi for her. She actually had very limited fridge & freezer space ( only one shelf of each ) in her shared kitchen. So it was long life stuff mainly - big bags of Rice & Pasta, pasta sauce, long life sourdough, tins. Plus lots of Jars of Chinese sauces for cooking & Malaysian curry pastes, Korean spicy noodles etc from a big Asian supermarket. She used to store it all in a plastic box under her bed. She used to buy fresh food from the Sainsbury's down the road.

Piggywaspushed · 27/02/2022 13:27

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango

Thanks for all the responses it gives me a good idea of what to work to. I think DD will be ok for the first year as a single household income she will have money left from her maintenance loan to live on and her Dad has said he will give her some but she needs to have that conversation with him. I have looked at Baths website and it seems she will be eligible for a £1250 bursary for accommodation costs in the first year only which helps. It is going to be the private rent in 2nd and 4th year which will make things more difficult. 3rd year placement she will have to find a paid placement as I just could not afford to fund it. Her phone contract ends in December (£35 a month which I have been paying then she will have to go on a cheap PAYG sim).

This may sound like a stupid question but do you still give your DC money in the holidays too or expect them to get jobs?

Unpaid placements are very rare : only if working in voluntary sector - in which case , Bath gives a bursary. Unpaid internships are now illegal.