Going to university (2019/20 academic year) - finance, flat shares, friends old and new and freshers' week to come...

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Following on from thread 8 which filled up in just 72 hours.

CTF came and went in the blink of an eye, so it seemed!

Government were very quick to get rid of the child benefit I get for Dd though....
The dentist was a shock too as his NHS contract only goes up to 18.

The dentist should be OK though if they are still in education. So I was told.

We had a thing for DS1 with Family Assurance who are now One Family', the CTF people. But we have received no post from them so yet another bloody thing to chase up. We think there's about £2000 in there!

"The dentist should be OK though if they are still in education. So I was told."

I have to pay for DD

Thanks Atia - yes, we're in touch with learning services who have been really helpful, they just wanted evidence and her OT report was enough. She just has to make an appointment with them when she arrives and they'll be able to support her. Also applying for DSA though left it a little late, summer has gone too quickly.

I'm wondering about insurance too, will check our home policy.

@notso that was so lovely of the godparents, how thoughtful and helpful!

My younger 2 have CTF (not my oldest who is going to university) they only have the initial amount given by the government. I don't think it's even £300 so that won't exactly help if they too go to university. I think originally there was going to be a top up payment. But it never happened.

@MrKlaw - my DS got Eastwood at Bath. Email received yesterday. But don’t know when we’ll hear what day or time slot for moving in. DS says wait for email but he’s so unproactive. I’m sure he needs to do something himself to book the slot. I also don’t know if he needs duvet and pillow covers only, will they provide the actual duvet and pillow etc? Will there be an accommodation list sent out? My DS refuses to try and find out himself what he needs to take. I’m thinking of shrugging, stepping back, and when 21 Sep comes just driving him down with nothing at all if he hasn’t packed anything!

contactcentreservices.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/selfnhsukokb/AskUs_ECS/en-gb/9399/general-exemption-queries/23867/am-i-entitled-to-free-nhs-dental-treatment-if-i-am-in-full-time-education
Re free dental treatment for students?

Dentist you have to pay for when you turn 19, so your DS might be OK for a while depending on when his birthday is. Prescriptions are the same, DD calculated that it will be better for her to get a prepaid prescription for her asthma/hayfever meds.

Oh we had a ten year bond fund but think we put it into a savings account once it had matured.

I am not planning on giving DS access to his savings though, as I was anticipating he'd save those to use post university. I think we will be stopping all monthly payments into them though, once we've started paying his maintenance loan subs.

Yes, dentist & prescription are until 19

Thanks @Fozzleyplum, I'll check it out. Such a pain that they don't have standard bed sizes.

DD thinks it's unfair that the other two have trust funds and she didn't too. Dd2's is not bad as she got DLA at the time and they gave them a bonus, but ds, I think only got one bit before they discontinued it, so isn't much at all.

You pay dentist from 19yo (hence our rush to get things done this summer!) although some dentists offer quite a reasonable student discount if you shop around.

Durham only suggests that they change GP. I'm inclined not to change dd, as ours is full so she wouldn't get back in and she hardly ever needs the doctor. She's been I think twice, not including vaccinations, in the last 7 years.

DD is under a private dentist (we have issues attracting NHS Dentists where we are) because I am - They actually saw her for free until she turned 18 (as she was my dependant) but I've signed her up for the lowest level of Denplan for now to keep her at the same place until she's out on her own. Handily it means she can get in somewhere near uni quickly if she needs treatment.

Prescription-wise DD is ok for the first year (late birthday) and then she'll have to go prepaid (asthma meds). I think once she turns 20 she can apply for free prescriptions via the HC1 form as our income isn't taken into account then (based on what people with older children have told me). So it's possibly just that one year she'll have to pay for.

Regarding Doctors and repeat presciptions and stuff. Obviously she'll register once she arrives, but what does she then do in the summer re: repeat prescriptions? I know she can a) make sure she's up to date before she comes home and b) be seen as a temporary patient here but I'm not sure GPs will be happy her turning up just to fill repeats? She's booked in for an asthma review before she leaves so I'll have to get her to ask.

So much admin to do, I'm hoping the Flu vaccine will appear at Boots before she goes so I can tick that off (she qualifies for the free one because of the asthma - and it's much less hassle getting it there than via the GPs).

@GaraMedouar www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-information/things-to-bring-when-you-move-into-university-accommodation/

This was posted in the earlier thread. Some good info on what to bring but nothing on size of bed - we’re probably going with double sized just in case it’s ‘large single’ which they often are. And we have spares of that so nothing extra to buy

Also have a poke around those links - there is info on arriving. I think they send you a slot and then you go online to print out your parking badge

That dentist stuff doesn’t mean they go private right? Just that they’d have to pay the normal NHS prices we pay as adults?

MrKlaw Yes that's right. It's only because we have such problems finding NHS dentists round here that we're private (some of my friends have gone 2 years between check ups because it's taken that long for a dentist to be replaced) so for now we're keeping DD at our dentist and paying the costs for her.

I think it is actually essential that they change doctor. For example, my friend at uni contracted in his first year(probably apparently from the filthy toilets??!), another got meningitis and quite a few of the girls needed birth control advice (and for both sexes other sexual and mental health advice and help), obviously. All these things easier if you have a local (student centred) GP.

Oh and the HC1 form that I mentioned for free prescriptions also applies to dentistry and opticians charges (worth thinking about trying for once they get over 20)

Info here: www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-low-income-scheme

Local doctor and keep existing dentist an option? As checkups can be scheduled around holidays and dentists always seem more difficult to move between

That's our plan, we've always scheduled dentists in the school holidays anyway so DD shouldn't need to see a dentist while she's away from home anyway.

That's what I'd do klaw. I don't think I went to the dentist while I was at uni, must be honest... that said, I never went home, either, because of weird dysfunctional family, mainly.

Thanks MrKlaw - that’s useful. And I see they do provide duvet and pillow.

I have started a To Do list based on this thread