Commuting to uni

[Firstshoes]

My DD will be driving to uni and back due to financial reasons. It is about an hour each way. She's just received her timetable and she's in 5 days a week with huge gaps every day. She has a lecture at 9am to 10am and then nothing until 5pm to 6pm virtually every day. It's not viable for her or affordable to drive there and back 4 times a day. She will obviously use some time to study but not 7 hours a day! We wondered if they would allow her to attend her later lectures remotely? We will be calling the uni but can't get through at the moment. We just wondered if anyone else had been in this position?

That sounds challenging tbh (even if she were on site). Is this the whole year or will it change next term?

Can she flip the issue on its head and find a positive - a chance every day to go for a swim, use the gym (uni sports facilities often excellent) and make time for a nice lunch with friends a couple of times a week, as she won’t be socialising so much in the evening (I assume?).

Very much doubt that will be allowed (as a lecturer). Amongst other reasons, not all universities will have the tech to make that work. I know my university would say they can’t do anything. However, she could check if they record lectures. My university does (so what’s the point in going!?) They cannot record anything that involves students talking/contributing

See if anywhere on campus has a lunch shift they can’t fill and work 3-4 hours.

Thank you for your comments. We have tried to speak to someone but we've not really got anywhere at the moment. She's going in tomorrow to try and see if there's anything she can do. Shorter gaps or even once or twice a week would be manageable but this is a bit much

The lectures are already timetabled, she will have to make it work.
When I was doing my a levels donkey's years ago, I had to get a lift share early every morning (I couldn't afford the bus) and home again at five o'clock.
I spent a lot of time nursing pots of tea in various cafes and reading in the cathedral. I look back on it fondly.

It might be a bit much but it’s quite normal. She’s lucky that the teaching day is 9 to 6, not 9 to 7.

However, it is also quite normal for students to pick and choose which lectures they attend and catch up on those they don’t using recordings. Some students prefer to learn that way.

As long as it is actually lectures you are referring to I wouldn’t worry too much. Missing tutorials, labs and seminars etc is not a good idea if a student wants to graduate.

Timetabling in Higher Education is a dark art. Usually the system is automated and attempts to fit large numbers of students into an ever reducing size of rooms. The output of which is largely at the institutions convenience with little or no thought about commuting students. Raise it as an issue with the student union

You may find tutorials and seminars are yet to be determined.

I suspect she will have to get well acquainted with working in the library. Everything may change in the next semester. Does she have her timetable for the full year?

My son got into the habit of watching recordings of lectures at one point, although not for that reason, more like he was still in bed I think! However, he had quite a busy timetable and did attend many in person. All the lectures were recorded and available.
Perhaps she will meet other students she can hang around with on long days.

Some unis monitor attendance in person at lectures some don’t. If they don’t then it’s her call if she misses and watches remotely. Is everything in yet eg tutorials. Also beware last cancellations and changes.

She's lucky 6pm is her latest lecture. My niece doesn't finish until 8.30pm twice a week and she starts at 9 or 10 am every day. That's just the way it is. Next semester it might be different. My foster son is timetable 5 days a week but has 1 morning and 1 afternoon off and has a three hour break a couple of days. Next semester he's in for 3 long days only every week. Starting at 9 and working more or less all day until 7pm with a lunch hour and an odd hour off a couple of days.

In my first year I had some lectures that were 6-9pm.

As others have suggested can she find a job? Care work could be flexible, lots of people need carers three or four times a day and one visit is lunch.

Get a hobby like knitting or crochet or even photography?

Completely 'out there' suggestion. What is she driving? If it is her own car could she trade it in for a campervan. I know it would be very basic and probably 20+ years old but would be somewhere to sit and make a cup of tea.

As I said an out there suggestion.

If she is using a car you can get kettles that work from the cigarette lighter.

Never mind the timetable. How can she afford the daily parking charges?

Thank you for all the really helpful suggestions. She has emailed uni about watching recorded lectures but attending some and all seminars. She has applied for a car park pass for the uni which is quite reasonable. Even if she could watch two lectures online that would massively help so we'll see what they say. She does already have an evening job a few evenings a week but will definitely look into some work in the big gaps near to uni. The campervan is a good idea but she drives a little polo at the moment and as she's only got one year's no claims I think the insurance would be way too high for her.

I would be very surprised if the Uni were going to formally okay her plan to miss on-site lectures. I think she will make that decision herself. As others have said, they will monitor attendance.

I would say, if she was doing a full-time job, would she not have to get in at 9am and finish at 6pm? I very much appreciate that it is tiring, but it isn't so outlandish. Having said that, as others have said, if she is missing the occasional in-person lecture (as long as can catch up with an online recording), then she should be fine (even if the uni can't condone it). The only thing that is a little worrying is that you mentioned it not being affordable - I assume you mean her being there 5 days a week. What I think she would need to be careful of is if she is missing a lecture in the morning, it might feel challenging to find motivation to drive in for one seminar later in the day. She should not miss seminars. Once she starts missing seminars, it can be harder to justify going to all of them, but performance is much better in those that do attend compared to those that don't (I would say, it is correlational).

If she did go in every day, and worked in the library when she wasn't in lectures, then she would probably get done all of the studying that she needs to, would make more friends, and would likely have her weekends and evenings free! There are potentially positives to it.

Like A level study, the amount of input needed from the student to succeed in their degree course isn't just attending lectures and seminars. So she'd need to put in several more hours' self-directed academic study each week anyway, along with e.g. producing work to be assessed. She will have access to the library for the full time that she is on site, and with those hours, should have plenty of time to get that additional work done without it encroaching on evenings / weekends. Or for a bit of variety, take time out to explore the local town / other places of interest? Was she really intending only to be on site for 'lessons' (in which case, the OU would have been cheaper)?

DC's uni expects 200 hours study including lectures, tutorials and independent study per 20 credit module. They do 6 modules a year so are expected to study full time during term. She will need to find a good study space in the library or study centre when she doesn't have contact hours. Gym, museums, galleries etc for a break or change of scenery.

She should have Wednesday afternoons off, so it’s actually only four days with big gaps.

As others have said, chunk of time in the library to get work done, PT job and some gym time to fill her day. It’s really not an issue and many students do similar - including those not commuting but living off campus