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Higher education

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

Original poster

Applying for Uni 2019 Part 5: UCAS, offers and exam season looming

992 replies

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 19/03/2019 13:09

New thread started. Here's the previous one

OP posts:
bizzey · 30/04/2019 00:26

Well I did it ! Student finance thing .
Hardest part was choosing my password 😁 . In case this helps i did have to ring them , and even the lovely girl was very ambiguous about dates.
No deadline ad such.. parental income can be added at any time...but can dalay payments .

Sorry that is not very helpful..just wanted to say ..dont delay till june !
Spooky funny note though..
Without ds and me knowing , our secret words for our accounts = ds2 (first and second name !)
According to the questions/choices ds2 should not have been an option for him !

bizzey · 30/04/2019 00:39

Now another silly question for when you are all awake.
The deposit for the accommodation.
What happens with that ?

bigTillyMint · 30/04/2019 07:03

IIRC the accommodation fees for halls are due once a term as the loan comes through. Private house rentals for 2nd/3rd year vary though. Deposits have to be paid upfront obvs - in the case of private rentals it was just after Xmas when they found the house.

Decorhate · 30/04/2019 07:14

At Leeds we had to set up a standing order to pay the halls over eight months I think. And my dd got allocated catered (even though there was a kitchen in her block - thought it was a bit money-grabbing to not give them a choice but it was her insurance so lucky to get anything I suppose!)

minesawine · 30/04/2019 08:13

Colepatra My DS is still being taught new topics for his A Level maths. It will happen until the end of next week. He is at school until 5pm every day and has to go in on Saturdays as well. Everyone, including his teachers, are very stressed and exhausted.

Laniakea · 30/04/2019 08:18

Dd still hasn’t finished content for two of her three subjects.

Fazackerley · 30/04/2019 08:21

If dd gets the accommodation she wants it will be 7500 per annum

Madness.

Original poster
NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 30/04/2019 08:30

Fazackerley that's probably more than most people's annual mortgage payments!|?!

I believe DS has completed all his content - they finish lessons on Friday.

OP posts:
Fazackerley · 30/04/2019 08:32

I know. It includes 30 a week catering allowance but I am really stressing over it. Ds has just been awarded a bursary and scholarship to a good school that he really wants to go to but that's still going to cost a few hundred a month.

Cancel Christmas.

ifonly4 · 30/04/2019 11:23

DD was adamant she wanted catered, but has compromised and sharing a room and bathrooms, so her loan should cover maintenance, unless they put her in an ensuite catered which is £8,700!! We've told her we'll give her x amount a month and if she needs more, we'll want to know roughly what it's being spent on (ie she isn't wasting it on luxuries we don't have ourselves!)

Original poster
NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 30/04/2019 12:07

For Durham, catered accommodation added another £2K to the equations. Whilst it would be good to know that DS would be eating three square meals a day, he admitted that he would be unlikely to want to 'eat in' regularly.

Oh dear, Fazackerley - I do feel your pain. An expensive time for you. Congratulations to your DS for being awarded a bursary and scholarship to a good school.

OP posts:
Original poster
NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 30/04/2019 12:09

Ifonly4 yes, I can imagine us in that type of situation. We may yet end up living on student type food rations ourselves!

OP posts:
Shimy · 30/04/2019 12:34

Did any of you apply for semi-catered as opposed to fully catered? DS's preferred accommodation includes one evening meal a day, (Mon-Fri) which i thought kind of gets the balance right. He gets to practise cooking for himself on weekends and I get to sleep at night knowing he's not starving to death, at least for the first year.

Shimy · 30/04/2019 12:35

Fazack - Congrats on the scholarship & bursary, fantastic!

bigTillyMint · 30/04/2019 14:26

NewModelArmy, I think just about everywhere is catered in Durham- DSs gf is there (and he is hoping to go!) - she says everyone just seems to eat in and it's quite sociable. Plus they arent really kitchens in her halls to cook!

bigTillyMint · 30/04/2019 14:27

If DS gets into Durham, part of his maintenance loan will have to go towards food

bigTillyMint · 30/04/2019 14:31

If DS does get into Durham, he will have to pay towards the catering out of his loan otherwise it's not fair on DD who obviously pays for hers.

Fazackerley · 30/04/2019 16:25

Thank you shimy and newmodelarmy

I am anxious about it. He is really well liked at his current school and I really hope we are doing the right thing. Time will tell.

Original poster
NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 30/04/2019 16:27

So you have two big 'life changes' happening for your DC simultaneously , Fazackerley?

OP posts:
Fazackerley · 30/04/2019 16:31

Yes. Plus dd2 goes into the 6th form. I'm busy cancelling all non essential costs trying to save as much money as possible.

Original poster
NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 30/04/2019 17:12

Yes, I'm torn between reigning in expenses now, or having a bit of a 'blow out' (well overpaying mortgage and spending money on the house) before the autumn!

OP posts:
DitheringDan · 30/04/2019 17:15

Can't remember whether I ever updated to say that DS has been permitted to put in a further UCAS application to replace the course that was pulled - so his clock now starts over, and his decision deadline will be at some point after this place replies.

He could be sleeping on a park bench come September.

Shimy · 30/04/2019 18:01

That's great news Dithering.

Original poster
NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 30/04/2019 18:45

Yes, good news for your DS, DitheringDan. Don't despair about accommodation - he may yet strike gold.

DS has been revising since Feb. half-term and today said he still doesn't know if he has time to revise everything?!?

OP posts:
ZandathePanda · 30/04/2019 19:37

Dd still hasn’t covered all the syllabus in one subject Shock. It’s one of the ones that’s new and she said up and down the country teachers are panicking about it as there’s too much content.

Tried to do student finance for maintenance bit. Failed. Student finance wanted my home phone number from a house we temporarily rented over 25 years ago for security. ConfusedShock That was when I paid it off.
We’ve been told to complete the paper form instead. Grrrr. Also, like a pp, they said don’t worry about the deadline too much for this top up bit.