New Uni starters 2015 (continued from Preparing for Uni)

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Thought we needed a new thread to continue from preparation.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/2466997-Preparing-for-Uni-in-2015-continues

Suspect all have arrived by now...

horse £145!!!! What!

Yep, £145 for self catered, 40 wk contract. How long are shared house contracts, does anyone know?

horsemad my dd rent is £192p/w without food

I didn't need to be a guarantor for my DD. deposit wasn't much, about the same as the uni one but there is that cross over whilst you get the other back.
But it's not a bad idea to leave it until you are certain you know who you want to move in with. My DD was so proactive she's ended up in a house with girls, who she doesn't dislike, but has so much less in common with than what she first thought. Friendships do change so much over the first few months.

Good grief Quietly, that is awful. I know when DS looked at ICL their rooms were about £200/wk without food. Crazy.

quietly now I'm even more shocked. that must be a record!

My DD contract is for twelve months but I know some who have ten months in private rented. It all works out the same though.

Can I join in?

DS2 was happy, enjoying his course, settled in his flat and loving it. He plays football on Sunday's, this week he sent a photo of his wrist saying he'd hurt it. It was swollen and bent so I told him to go to A&E. He's broken it in 2 places and it's his writing hand.

He's seen his tutor and because he's doing nursing, unless the plaster is off in 4 weeks he can't go on his first placement. The orthopaedic team are going to review in 4 weeks, so he's going to miss 2 days, and see if they can put a splint on but are not promising.

He's insisting he can manage and is saying his flatmates are helping him. I can't drive that far, anyway. DS1 is going down this weekend so I'll send him with some freezer meals and he's coming home the weekend after.

Honestly, that boy is so bloody clumsy! I'm just hoping it's the only accident he has but I doubt it!

I have just had a look for my dds uni, as we pay for her accommodation. The rents showing on the uni website were typically for 42 weeks, rents ranged from £75 to £85, but with a couple of small new build flats at £100, the uni advises budgeting approx £15 to £20 per week for bills. On top of that dd would need to budget for bus fare approx £12 per week, so I suspect that it will be about ;
42 x £85 = £3570
42 x £20 = £840
32 x £12 = £384 ( as will not use in holidays)

Total = £4,794

I met a student recently who was at a London uni, her self catering student accommodation was £10K pa, without travel, she was spending £260 per month, and she was working 20 hours per week in the Apple store. She was lucky that it was commutable from her parents and had already decided that she was going to move home next year.

Oh no fairy hope he is better soon. I expect he will be able to make up his practice hours at a later date if he can't get to his placement. (And there is a bit of time built in for sickness)

Hope your DS heals quickly TheFairyCaravan!

This is all very interesting about rents and expenses. DD is currently paying (well, we are paying) £119 per week, ensuite self-catered. All the uni accommodation is on campus and she is talking about staying there next year as well. Apparently there's one block where there are lots of second years and you can apply as a group so you get your chosen flatmates.

I advised her that it would be cheaper to move into a house off campus, but doubtful now, especially as she currently has no travel costs.

Oh no thefairy hope you son heals quickly and doesn't miss his placement!

My daughter is at KCL and her rent is actually the cheapest! They do get more loan/grant due to attending a London Uni. Some of the accomodation is so far out from campus that they need an Oyster card top up or use Boris bikes! As my DD is still quite unsettled then she has looked at commuting next year and living at home! Not sure if she had a 9am lecture she realises that getting up at 5am to be ready and catch the commuter train will NOT be fun!!

I am thinking we have got off very lightly. Again travel cost s vary so much between cities.

My DD drives in, I don't think the petrol is much, the parking permit was 90 but she could have got one for 20. (Think she must have felt flush that day). My friends daughter was quoted 500 for her parking permit at a different uni. The costs vary so much!

I think dd is going to get a shock when her money runs out. She'd already saved enough to live on for a year and was planning to work this year to add to the pot for next year. But she now says that she thinks she can eek her savings out over two years and doesn't need a job. Ha

Ds skyped last night to show us his mini fridge has arrived. I notice he had carefully put his tea and coffee stuff on top of it , in direct contravention of the manufacturer's instructions I might add. I left it.

Another hoping your son heals quickly, thefairy.

From what you have all said, dd's fully catered is starting to look reasonable! (£155 per week)

No idea what the private rents will be like next year - cheaper I hope!

Horsemad My DS not only needed en-suite, but premium ensuite. Thank goodness his accomodation costs are reasonable compared to some others (£119pw self catered). He will however be in for a shock next year if he has a house share and needs to share a bathroom - as he had sole use of a bathroom when living at home too .

Haffdonga My DS has been buying croissant and coffee from the shop next door and taking it back to his flat for breakfast. My question about why he couldn't just buy a pint or two of milk and pour it onto a bowl of cereal from one of the two huge boxes of cereal he took away with him, fell on deaf ears. On top of that he seems to spend a lot of time "going out for lunch" with people from his course. In spite of this he tells me his money is going OK! Have not had any requests for extra money yet inspite of him buying 2 text books that cost £50 or getting his haircut last weekend, although we have ended up paying for his tickets home at Christmas due to his complete lack of urgency in booking anything before the cheaper flight tickets all sold out.

bigbluebus, when we moved DS in, DH noticed there was a very nice bakery just round the corner and was actually saying to him, "ooh, you could get yourself fresh croissants for breakfast!" I couldn't believe he was actually encouraging him to do that when cereal would be so much better value! I think he is getting cereal now, after I pointed out that his money would go a lot further if he made small savings like that.

bigbluebus, DS applied for premium en suite too but didn't get it, so just 'ordinary' en suite for him, poor lamb!

Hi again - I was a regular(ish) but have name changed.

With regard to looking for student houses for next year - in my (limited!) experience of Southampton - student lets are for 52 weeks so you have to have to pay for the summer vacation. From speaking to friends this is not necessarily the case everywhere.

I think that is the case in lots of private accommodation in university towns. My dd had to pay for whole summer too. Once you sign on the dotted line you have to pay for whole year (no matter what).

Lots of name changes.

London accommodation takes the biscuit. We are paying £213 per week for self catered halls for ds!!!

Ours are $11k a year for the halls, $4k a year for the meal plan and a whopping $48k a year for the fees. Got to love a good ol' US education!
And they have to share a room.

SO, I have a question. DC1 has called to say he's coming back this weekend. He's already been back 4 weeks ago (they started mid August). Would this worry you? I'm going to chat to him, of course, when he gets here (in a general way) but not sure if we should be worried that he's coming home too often. Or am I just reading too much into this and being a paranoid mum?!

Blimey Chips, which Uni is that? Feel free to drop me a PM if you'd rather not say on the thread

With regard to him coming home again, does he sound OK when you chat to him? Just wondering if he doesn't 'get' the cost of a return flight, and maybe sees it as 'popping home' to see the folks...?