Going to university (2019/20 academic year) - wave goodbye to family, say hello to fellow students and key uni staff and they're settling in (hopefully)

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread. Possibly a little precipitous but for some of our DC their university start date is only just over a fortnight away. Yikes!

Benjispruce Yes, Student Finance account. Should be fine if she's going to her first choice - assuming she set it all up for that originally. Payment dates should be on the account then.

Also if your DD is thinking of changing bank account she'll need to check that the loan payment is going to the right account. I think if she opens a student account the t&cs say that the loan has to be paid into that.

As her maintenance loan won’t cover her accommodation, can we have it paid to us, then we pay the direct debit amount with a top-up from our finances?

@Herocomplex, thanks for the info! Do they give you a drop off slot/Do you choose one (need to keep nagging DS?!)/Is it random? Just asking because we will need to drop early to drive back as I suspect many others will!

Benjispruce I don't think you can but I'm not 100% sure. I think @MrKlaw may know more as had some good ideas re: topping up IIRC. We are in the same position here and topping up but paying the top up to DD so that her loan goes into her account along with the money from us and the rent will come out of her account. She's used that budgeting spreadsheet to make sure that she won't go overdrawn due to timings of direct debits.

@Benjispruce, I think it has to be paid to their account? We do it the other way round for DD and pay her accommodation, but DS will have to pay us some back because his is catered....

I think it has to go into their account. We are paying DS's accommodation & he is living off the loan.

Thanks all. Will have to get her to sit down and answer some questions when she gets home. Just remembered what one of her 3 personality descriptors should be: procrastinator !

I think it will be a good idea to keep a maintenance loan account separate to her savings which she will be living off. Then we can set up a standing order into her maintenance loan account to pay the shortfall.

The HSBC student account has no conditions apart from being a first year student. Does this mean she can open an account with them for a free £100 AND a Santander student account for the free railcard so long as she has her maintenance loan paid into it as that is a condition?

bigTillyMint oh dear, I’m not sure! I’ll check. I did nothing, my DC are 100% more clued up and organised than I am.

If you’re planning a meal in Durham can I recommend Zen? It’s very popular but delicious. Also FYI there are very few places to buy practical things nearby, it’s very much an out of town shopping place now, sadly.
Also If your DC is in a ‘flat’/corridor there is a pantry where they can make drinks and snacks.

Just answered my own question/too good to be true as usual. Once you try to apply for HSBC you have to declare you don’t have another student account.

Some odd shopping choices made - rolling pin anyone?
I knew someone who had one at uni. He turned up to our pancake party with it in case he hadn't got one. He assumed they must be rolled out!

Although the iron is an odd one too. I think I only used the iron once... when the drier wasn't working so I ironed some of the stuff to make them a bit drier before taking them back to my room.

Benjispruce That's a shame, would have been handy to have the extra £100!

Ds is very likely to take a rolling pin! We have a large box of baking & cooking equipment already...

Wouldn’t it just?

We bought 4 different coloured thin chopping mats today on offer at Sainsbury’s (couple of quid) Will only need the green one as she’s veggie if they stick to the symbols. They probably won’t but it’s worth a shot!

I have just realised DS will need an alcohol chat, a safety chat and an opposite sex chat... never mind the stuff like chopping boards and clothes horses. Aarghh. Can you hire some kind of doula for parenthood??

@Piggywaspushed the chats!! 😱 more important (and possibly awkward!) than a clothes horse and waffle maker 😂

PiggyI reckon he knows most of that already!

Mine or yours benji ? Mine definitely doesn't!

Oh! I have a DD. She’s had sex ed at school. Been going out to clubs etc for a good while now so we’ve been through the silly drinking stage. She seems quite clued up to me.

I was glad to see a compulsory talk on consent at Durham though.

Dd is utterly open about sex, drinking, boys etc. She's very confident and possibly slightly terrifying. She rarely drinks heavily, hates hard drugs, likes cooking. Loves a party. I'll miss her actually.

Actually it’s an online course not a talk.

Oh yeah, so you do benji!

Mine has never drunk more than one lager shandy at a time, never been to a pub with mates, never had a girlfriend, never had to get home alone.

I was not like this....

That's living in the dullest village known to mankind for you!