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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

What essentials are needed for uni?

91 replies

doglover · 22/08/2017 12:04

DD has a place at Oxford starting in October.

Apologies if this subject has been done to death but we are newbies to the whole university experience! We are now starting to think about what she will need to take - college room / catered.

Will her college send her a list of requirements? She's really keen to buy bedding (mattress protector / pillows / quilt + cover / sheets?? Or is any of this provided??) and towels plus ..................

Any suggestions or links to previous threads would be very welcome!

OP posts:

Horsemad · 22/08/2017 23:09

I saw those bed packs advertised and wondered what they were like. Good idea if car space is at premium.

Blondie1984 · 22/08/2017 23:09

A doorstop

Bezm · 22/08/2017 23:17

We bough so much more than needed! My advice, buy double bedding, it will do for single or 3/4 beds too. Get in the room, find the nearest Dunelm and buy whatever else might be needed. Leave her with £50 cash to buy anything else she might need.

BubblesBuddy · 23/08/2017 01:39

I guess with paying your DC £150 each per week at uni and paying the fees and expenses, you have to cut costs somewhere luckysky! Lots are not rich but according to what you say in other threads, you are.

scaryteacher · 23/08/2017 06:44

Ds's halls provide mattress cover, duvet and pillows....we just need to sheets etc. Sainsbury do OK bedding as well.

scaryteacher · 23/08/2017 06:48

Bubbles We're paying the fees, rent and give ds an allowance as well....but we only have one child, and we made a conscious decision for dh to take a well paying job abroad to fund this.

We are currently eating through the massive Tesco value bag of pasta that I bought ds at the beginning of last academic year. It looks as if the remains might go back with him!

scaryteacher · 23/08/2017 06:50

Check the type of let...ds had a termly let in his first year, and everything had to removed from the room in Halls every holiday. It made for very creative packing in the car.

Needmoresleep · 23/08/2017 07:02

Beware the bedding provided by hall. I am sure it varies, but the pillow and duvet DS was given were terribly thin. If there is a choice I would opt out and head for a supermarket or perhaps TKMaxx/Homesense.

Needmoresleep · 23/08/2017 07:16

Bubbles, paying fees is not always a case of being rich. I will be working until well into my sixties, as any retirement plans are on hold until they finish. and both plan doctorates I recognise I am still relatively fortunate, though know of people who have taken on second jobs to support their children, but am still surprised when people talk about fees yet are driving impressive new cars worth easily the equivalent of three years fees. Funding University for us is an exercise in family frugality.

We all make our own decisions. This constant MN sniping about being 'rich' is tedious. You might instead appreciate that Lucy and others are helping the taxpayer!

poisonedbypen · 23/08/2017 07:22

Funding the fees is madness. They may never pay them off anyway & what if a later government wipes them all out? Look up Martin Lewis MSE.

IdaBiscuit · 23/08/2017 08:20

If you're on Facebook there's a group of parents who have DCs just about to head off.

m.facebook.com/groups/488235648182391

Lots of good advice and very helpful

GetAHaircutCarl · 23/08/2017 08:29

No government in the future will be able to afford to write off the back loans.

Even the current Labour leadership have only agreed to 'look into it'.

The rate of interest on student loans is huge ( I would never take out credit at that rate) and runs from day 1.

Also the current threshold may not increase which means in real terms future graduates will be required to pay earlier.

Middle income couples will be thumped for thirty years.

Horsemad · 23/08/2017 08:31

Carl, has your DD decided what she's doing?

GetAHaircutCarl · 23/08/2017 08:35

She's going to RADA horse.

A decision was finally reached last night and DH has managed to get her a place in halls not too far away.

I haven't slept for days!!!

Lucysky2017 · 23/08/2017 08:39

Get, that is really good. RADA is great and so hard to get into. If instead the dilemma were a low grade acting place (like a friend of mine's daughter went to in .. better not say where) v a very good university (not that my friend's daughter got a good university offer) then I would say go for the good university but this is RADA and it is what she wants to do.It will be brilliant. She has done really well to get in.

IdaBiscuit · 23/08/2017 08:39

Carl that's brilliant, what an exciting new chapter for her

LadyinCement · 23/08/2017 08:42

thanks for suit info, boys3! That's another thing to add to shopping list.

I send dcs with first-aid/medicine pack everywhere in the superstitious belief that if you take copious amounts of Lemsip/Immodium/Nurofen/Rennies (generic versions available!) with you it will ward off those ailments.

Re: fees - yes, it is completely hair-raising, and dh still can't come to terms with the fact that there is no grant and no dole in the holidays . I saw someone say somewhere that student fees may become a mis-selling thing - or at least the interest rates. I wish I had a crystal ball to know whether ds is going to be a corporate lawyer on £££ or a potter on pennies. Probably a civil servant or something on just enough £ to be fully fleeced.

Horsemad · 23/08/2017 08:42

Wow, that's brilliant, I am so pleased she opted for RADA.
She has her A levels, no one can take them away from her and she can still do uni after RADA, if she wants.

for you!

GetAHaircutCarl · 23/08/2017 08:51

Thanks lucy.

Her uni offer was a good one which was why she was struggling to decide.

But she seems happy with her decision now and the requisite buttons have been pushed ( and deposit for accommodation paid). Just need to get them both ready for off.

GetAHaircutCarl · 23/08/2017 08:52

Thank you ida and horse.

jeanne16 · 23/08/2017 09:00

My DS is going to Cambridge and they supply all the bedding. They also have Bedders who clean the rooms and apparently change the bed linen weekly ( according to the website)! Just as well as I don't suppose his bed linen would ever be changed. I suspect Oxford should be similar.

Lucysky2017 · 23/08/2017 09:10

Also she knows what she wants to do ( RADA). So many don't. My older 3 just decided in their last year (actually arguable my son still hasn't decided on a full career yet). If they can pick earlier it helps. I chose law when I was 14 (and loved / love it).

GetAHaircutCarl · 23/08/2017 10:19

Yes she does know that she wants to act/write/direct/produce.
Or at the very least try.
She's very clear on that.

RedHelenB · 23/08/2017 11:23

She's done brill at her age to get into RADA. Who knows what the future holds but as others have said she's got good A levels to fall back on if the acting doesn't work out

hoyhoy44 · 23/08/2017 11:39

would you say a mattress protector is essential, dd will sleep anywhere so not so much for comfort for her, and is it either protector or topper or are both needed ? i saw some linked on another thread and toppers were quite pricey

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