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.

Got Manchester accommodation today ...

@TapasForTwo I was saying to DS yesterday that it would have been useful for UCAS or someone in the higher education field to do a 'what to do next' in terms of getting ready to go to university. There's an awful lot to remember to do!

@ElizabethBennetismybestfriend Melville grove first choice then crown place. Hoping to hear Monday!

I couldnt get him out of bed this morning until 12.30 then he needed feeding, watering, stripped his bed for washing, brought his laundry down, in the shower now off to work in an hour, that is another wasted day. His two days off this week he is going away with friends. Hell be turning up to uni. in his underpants and nothing else at this rate.

Just realised this morning that I've cocked up slightly with our holiday at Easter next year.

We've booked to go to Sorrento. To do lots of walking and sight seeing at Pompeii etc. Which is not advised in the full summer sun - and I'm a bit rubbish in the heat.

So we booked to go in our school holiday.

I've just checked her term dates, now we know where she's going, to find that it's her last week of her Easter hols that we go away, not her first. And that we come back on Easter Mon and her term starts the next day.

And she has to completely empty her room for the Easter hols as she was given a coveted en suite room, but a 38 week let.

So we are praying for a light timetable on a Tuesday morning so I can take her back then. Because otherwise it's fly back home on Mon pm, a bit of laundry and repacking the car, then off to York.

If I could fit all her stuff in the car and our cases I could then drive her back from Manchester. But I doubt I can.

There might be store rooms in the halls of residence where she could leave at least some of her stuff over the vac, DrMadelineMaxwell?

My ds is off to Lancaster to study Morse and has Furness. I’m finding this thread very useful, so thank you 😊

DrMadelineMaxwell just lurking on here but my youngest has just graduated from York. He had friends who were from overseas and they put their stuff into storage over the summer break. Various storage companies catering for students.

That sounds worth investigating. Thanks for the info.

Morse? Is that an autocorrect for something else?

Parents of those DCs Lancaster bound - Hall's and houses on campus won't allow kettles/toasters etc in rooms because of fire issues. They will do spot checks for this as well as spot checks to check rooms/houses etc are tidy and clean(ish)! Also the EU size bed sheets from IKEA are good (and cheap) to buy as they fit the longer beds that some rooms have. There's no way of telling which size mattress/bed they'll have until you get there though. Hope this helps. Do ask if you need anything
more.

Losinghermissmarbles, thank you for the heads up. DS has had townhouse confirmed, and they linked to a table of bed dimensions for each type of accommodation.

Good to know Fozzley. Mine was in townhouse (2 years ago) too but no idea of bed size before we got there.. Sounds like things have moved on. Hope all goes well.

"Dd doesn't think the rooms have individual locks, just a lock to the flat"

Is that usual? Sounds tricky - not casting aspersions on any of our dteens, but leaving money, passports, laptops lying around in bedrooms in flats of say 6-8 people, plus their visitors dropping in and out, sounds highly risky! Not something I thought of checking I have to admit.

Exeter start sending out accommodation emails tomorrow. I'm hoping we hear quickly as we have an appointment with student support there later this week and it would be handy to do a bit of working out how to get to places whilst we're there.

Dd is autistic hence appointments with student support etc. Very impressed with Exeter on that front so far

Most room doors lock behind you, so the student needs to carry their swipe card at all times.

Some rooms have a lockable drawer in the desk. If not, we just told ours to hide passports etc where it couldn't be found easily by someone just walking into the room.

Dd is going to Imperial, who apparently don’t allocate any accommodation until after results day - she’s been told she’ll hear in early September on a group chat. They had to put five preferences for halls, all self catered, and price and location vary widely. So she can’t buy bedding until she knows what room/bed she has, and we can’t properly plan finance until we know what her rent and transport requirements will be.

She’s not stressed at all about this. She’s very excitedly looking forward to two freshers weeks (they have an imperial one and a medics one) and is chatting along on the WhatsApp medic freshers group and buying event tickets....

@TapasForTwo it’s Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics

Just spotted this in Active Convos - will read properly now - another one going to Durham here. So fully catered - not much needed aside from bedding and clothes?!

All rooms would usually have locks, I'd be amazed if they didn't. Some are key, some card. Some universities charge quite a lot if you need letting in by the caretaker. Be warned!

@bigTillyMint It depends on what is included in the catering plan. It may not include all weekend meals. Dd was in halls which had a dining hall (rather than credit for uni cafes & restaurants) and she had to make her own lunch & some weekend meals so she did take some kitchen stuff.

DrMadelineMaxwell has your DD looked for her timetable on the portal? My DD found hers there last night and can see her timetable for the whole year, so you might be able to see if your DD has lectures on Easter Tuesday.

Hmmm, I'll see if we can find out what his college offers! I know the cooking facilities in his ex-gf's Durham halls (not same college as him) were pretty poor!

Re doctors/dentists, DD has to be registered at uni, but can be signed back on at our practice when she comes home without too much fuss. Dentists, we've just stuck with the one here - thankfully no emergencies in term time so far!

I am in awe of how organised your DC are with reading lists and timetables already - they only got their results on Thursday!

The upside of DS going to Durham(miles away!) is that we have until the end of September...

JenyWreny I wasnt aware she could do that yet. I will ask her, thanks.