Applying for Uni 2019 entry Part 4, UCAS & offers (and thinking about exams)

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Following on from the previous thread.

Does the calculation for the amount of maintenance loan a student can borrow take into account parental savings then, or just income? Do they get less if the parents have savings?

SirB0bby - I think the finance form was looking at interest on savings rather than the total amount saved. It seems to be focused on parental income from all sources (including pension). However, I don't claim to be an expert.

Piggy !

Student finance will want details on other income - interest, dividends, rent, as well as income from employment.
It is a separate question on the application form.

Stupid student finance applications..... on the student finance Wales site there a whole page in the questions that requires a yes / No answer while having no actual question on the page.

The detailed questions come after the yes no answers on SFE.

If an offer holders day says that it has a "1 to 1" session - is that an interview type situation??

When should DS start applying for finance (for Sept 2019 entrance)?

This thread is so helpful, really appreciate everyone’s support and involvement. .

Now Ragwort.

We applied last week.

Ragwort, you/your DC can apply from now onwards. I just reckoned it was another university related 'to do' to get done sooner rather than later. Once the application 'forms' have been completed by young person (and parents if appropriate - will be for most of our 17/18/19 year olds), it apparently takes six weeks to process (subject to additional info being requested presumably?).

Thank you New and Tapas, anyone else find all this admin horrendous, applying for accommodation was bad enough.
Yes, I know the students should be doing it all themselves but I would imagine most of them will need a bit of help.

I agree ragwort. There is an argument that our DC should be doing all the uni related admin themselves but my DD is stressed enough about revision and exams. Therefore if I can help by doing a little bit of it to lighten her load I'm more than happy to. Let's face it come September we will all be doing a lot less once they're all installed in their uni ......... until they start worrying about 2nd year accommodation in Jan/Feb 🙄

I also concur with that ragwort & juicy.

DS was struggling to get his coursework finished last week so i offered to help him sort accommodation on Monday whilst he's at school. Boy! if only i had been warned. I thought it would be just tick box of which residence he liked. We had to choose a minimum of 10 different residences all of different varieties. Self catering, part catering, ensuite, shared bath, shared room, with laundry facilities, laundry facilities a short walk, noisy residence but with quiet room , uni residence, uni residence but through priv. partners? with sports facilities or non and on and on it went. I tell you i had a throbbing eye by the time i had

finished. Thank goodness we took a university map before we left.

He still hasn't done his accommodation for his insurance and i can imagine just why once he's tried logging on.

Totally agree Ragwort and juicy0 - they've got enough things to be worrying about without having to add all this official admin stress to their load. If one has very organised DC then they might be the ones doing the chasing of parents but for most it's likely to be the other way round.

It's so long ago since I did all of this that I cannot remember who did what. However, it does strike me that there's more for them to do/worry about than we had to deal with.

DD can't apply for accommodation yet as applications don't open until April.

Is it just me, Shimy, or do you think applying online actually makes things more complicated?

That sounds hideous....Hmm, wondering whether DS (or me) can apply to UEA (his insurance offer) for accommodation. The Durham one didnt require any effort at all (as colleges allocated based on initial UCAS info supplied). Off to check...

I'm not looking forward to the finance bit. We're leaving that till Easter.

New I think there may be some truth in that. (When i did mine eleventy billion yrs ago, mind) i didn't apply through UCAS at all. I just got a newspaper and found a private room near my uni. Job done.

Applying for the grant was took a little bit of concentration but all done in one afternoon. One form was me, one for my parents and i think one to a reference or something like that. All straightforward.

I think the oethr thing that is overlooked with this manic opening of accommodation booking on weekdays at 9 am / 12 noon etc is that DCs feel pressure to basically bunk lessons to get it done (which effectively caused the sysyem at Lincoln to crash) , or parents try to do it at work, take time off work or work in an environment where they absolutley cannot do that and so feel anxious about missing out. The Durham approach of you take what you are given definitely makes more sense but in many unis, of course, the accommodation varies in price, is of variable standard and of variable distance.

I am worried now. I thought you could only apply for accommodation once firmed. Therefore how can you apply for your insurance choice. I have not done anything for insurance as I didnt think you were able to.

We are waiting for the UEA accommodation applications to open, the website helpfully says 'March' but doesn't give a date. There is that still to do plus a student bank account application and finance application which i'm hoping to tackle in the Easter hols. I'm managing to buy a couple of items from the shopping/packing list every couple of weeks too so that we don't have such a large financial outlay in July/August.

We were told we could book acc. even if we make them insurance at ds's insurance unis we visited, but i don't know what happens at others. In the end, you won't be guaranteed accommodation until you are offered a firm place, so its just showing your preference.

Newcastle open on the 1st April and they will start allocating 30th June. A random generator computer program choses the order in which they are processed. All very civilised.

I agree the on-line applications for accommodation are incredibly complicated, as others have experienced NTU opens particularly early, before many students have even heard from all their uni choices & by the third week all the decent accommodation had been snapped up.

In my day (70s ) we were just allocated a Hall in the first year - by post - and when it came to private renting you just handed over your rent cash each week, no contract (& of course pretty grotty houses that probably today’s students wouldn’t even consider but I have happy memories ).

A random generator computer program choses the order in which they are processed. All very civilised. That sounds to be the correct approach, Nagaram. Rather the process was down to luck than sharp elbows . Call me cynical but wondering whether this 'first come first served approach is generally favoured by the lower ranking universities to get youngsters to firm them?

Piggy yes, it’s really unhelpful that the accommodation offices are only open 9-5 (and close early on a Friday ). How are the young people meant to organise their own bookings around this.

And my friend’s DD had real problems with her accommodation in her first couple of weeks at uni, a stressful time for many young people, and even then the accommodation office wasn’t open at weekends to deal with emergency situations. I would have thought that for at least the first couple of weeks it wouldn’t be unreasonable to have some sort of cover available?