Heading towards year 3 exams (uni 2017)

[Xenia]

Continuation of www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3538808-heading-towards-year-2-exams-uni-2017 as we have reached page 40.

Hard to believe they are all in year 3 now and many will finish university in June 2020.

Hi all, just been reading your updates, good to hear all is well. The council tax issue had passed me by, I must admit... Will tell DS to be prepared.

His last exam is 22nd; it's an 'open book', so they have 48hrs (I think) to complete it.
His diss is due in this week, can't quite believe it's the end of his studies. It's definitely not the ending I imagined!
I'm waiting for his course to finish then will see if he's considered a Masters yet.

Good Luck to those in the final push and Congratulations to all who have finished and got a job! Yaaaay! 😃

They've all just received a council tax bill for the final two months of their rental - apparently as their course has finished (dissertation end of April, final essay last Thursday) they are now no longer students and are liable for council tax.

Yes, I'd be getting one about now if I hadn't deferred until September. DD will have to pay from about two weeks time.

DS4, still up in Durham, has just finished his first online finals paper and has pressed send. I hope that someone somewhere in his faculty receives it. All seems very odd.

@FannyCann - which uni was your DD at, and what was the official end of term?

I was aware from reading previous threads on MN that they charge from end of term of final year to end of tenancy, but hopefully end of term will still be the official date that the uni gave the council last summer?

My DS and housemates had a bill last Sept, and all had to chase the uni and get them to confirm to the council that they were all students this Academic year.

I am now wondering if DS will have a council tax bill from end of April, when his course finished unofficially, rather than end of May when the term officially finishes! But the only way the council will know, is if his dept (one of few not doing final exams in May) tell them?

Unfortunately no one is in house to check post, although DS and another girl still have stuff there, and we are only an hour away. I was suggesting he go over in June to check the post, but may have to pop over earlier!

I think my twins are in houses where the council already knows it is student housing so they have not had any issues (so far). Both their Bristol places have at least one student living there who is hopefully keeping an eye on the place and the post.

One of mine was speculating today about their Jan 2021 travel plans. It is so hard to know. I suspect he ought to try to persuade his gap year travelling friends they should put off a gap year for a few years.

My DS house is also a student residence, but 3 of the 4 were on YII years last year, and their return to uni wasn’t confirmed until all YII marks were collated by their depts.

Whilst my DS worked July to end of June (with assessment by Uni in mid June), others worked Sept to end of August (With uni assessment mid Aug), meaning that the uni couldn't officially confirm any of them as returning students until Mid Sept. Hence the council tax bills in early Sept.

I don't think my twin would sign on - he presumably could get a job at a supermarket and he has savings and rental income and living with me. He did mention law school again today instead (which is what his twin is doing and he was originally going to do when they talked about it last summer but there are loads of other careers - I don't need them all to be lawyers- their sisters and I are very happy being lawyers) - I think he just wants to know if they can do their travel round the world from Jan 2021 as planned or not and he realises no one really knows. I think he needs a group conference call with the 2 people he would go away with so they can have a good chat about it.

dd will finish in June, she's living at home and considering a post grad if she gets the grades (in another country) can she apply for jobseekers in the meantime? she's very airy fairy and has not really had a job since school ( oxbridge course so we did not pressure her).

I am not a benefits expert but I thought all the income of everyone in the household was added together for families but I might be wrong.

..and don't you have to be over 25 these days unless cast out from your family? I may be misleading everyone though...

@Sophiesdog2020 She's in Edinburgh. I'm not sure of the official end of term but graduation date is July 6. To add a complication it seems that her name isn't on the bill but her flatmates' are - she thinks she put her graduation date and they may have put the end of course date, so technically she isn't liable but of course she feels obliged to share the pain with her flatmates. It's a big shock to them, with no income on the horizon and £70 a month to pay.
Anyway, that's a welcome to non student life for them all

Thanks FannyCann.

Interesting that she isn’t on bill, I am wondering when DS house will get a bill, but I don’t think he wants to go over before June and none of his housemates live anywhere near. I have told him to expect a bill and he must pay it. Fortunately he has landed a retail job earning him around £200/wk, and had some of his loan left over, so can afford it!

We may tie in a visit with a walk near his uni city sometime in early June, to see if any post is there. Then he can go again to empty his remaining things in July, he has a car. His graduation was mid July but end of term is end of May, I am assuming that the council will know that from the uni.

I will be interested to hear from others who get council tax bills, and if so when.

carriemac I haven't a clue about JSA but I would have thought your DD stands a far higher chance of getting a job for the summer if she looks around herself rather than going through the medium of the local jobcentre.

Yes, but surely you need to be registered at the job centre in order to receive JSA. No reason then not to do your own job seeking in parallel.

I would have thought there might be issues with the definition of 'availability for work' if a foreign Masters is in the offing Needmoresleep, though that's off the top of my head (but carriemac's DD is reading Law, so it will take her two seconds to look it up and judge for herself!). I more meant that the chances are that with a bit of motivation, a temporary job can probably be found more swiftly than any JSA payment would come through/ job suggested. And don't you forfeit JSA if you decline a suggested placement?

It looks like job seekers' allowance is probably not available to a lot of students with no NI record in the last 2 0 3 years www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/eligibility

I suspect the only other benefit is universal credit and the whole family's income is included if you live in the same place but not if you were say 4 students in a house share who are not in a relationship but I might be wrong.

They can apply for universal credit as a single person living at home or in their uni house. I think the rate they get if they are living at home as an adult is something like £59 a week.

I think the problem with finding a temporary job is that there will be many more people looking this summer than normal, including those who have been made redundant, or been furloughed (they can work with permission of main employer, my friend is doing 8hrs/wk at Asda, although doesn’t need money as her DH has a good job!). Plus no hospitality work at present.

I guess it depends where people live, cities and tourist areas (when they re open) will have more availability.

My DS, with previous retail experience, started searching as soon as his finals were cancelled at end of March. His chosen career area is unlikely to recruit for next 6mths, so he wanted something to tide him over.

There were very little retail opps around, most temp jobs had been filled early/mid March. He applied for 4, all well know retailers, but not the big ones. He got one interview and was very lucky to get the job. The other 3 all replied with “overwhelmed by applications” and he has never heard back regarding the food bank volunteering!

job seekers' allowance is probably not available to a lot of students with no NI record in the last 2 0 3 years

That would only be referring to what's called 'contribution based' benefits i.e. if they've paid enough NI contributions into the pot to get some out again.

As Hellsbells says, if they haven't paid enough into their NI pot they'd still be entitled to 'income based' benefits (Universal Credit) as a single unemployed person (unless they're living as a couple of course). They'd have to show they were doing everything feasible to get a job - any job - easier said than done at the moment.

Sorry everyone if this has already been covered (I've scrolled back through the last couple of pages and couldn't see anything) but those of you whose DC's stayed in Uni accomodation and have now finished their course, are their DC's now coming home - assuming they've got no job to go to?

DS has just submitted his Dissertation, has one more assignment to submit which should be in by tomorrow - although there is a 2 week extension available due to the current situation and has no exams (his one exam he was due to sit was cancelled at the start of lockdown). He is planning on returning to the same Uni in Sept to do a Masters - although he hasn't actually applied yet and usually works in the Summer whilst at home (his casual bar job is no longer available but his food warehouse job may still be an option - even though he hates it - but needs must). His Uni issued advice in March that those still in Uni/private rented accomodation had to stay where they were - and those who had returned home also had to stay there. But now his course has ended and the Governement is permitting house moves, can he legitimitely come home? He has foolishly renewed his tenancy for next year - on the basis he will be returning, although even if teaching is only on-line at the start I think he will work better if he is away from home! I hadn't considered the Council Tax implications of the house following the end of his course - 3 out of the 4 in his house have now finished their courses (one is on a Masters so course is until Sept) and one other of them is also returning to do a Masters in Sept. Rooms are rented on separate agreements (HMO style) so they are not responsible for empty rooms - seems to be the way it works in his city fortunately.

The difficulty is that he is a 3 hr drive away and will need to bring a fair amount of stuff home if he is going to be here for nearly 4 months so can't carry it on the train. He usually travels home by train but could'nt carry all his stuff so the only option is for DH to pick him up. That makes social distancing a problem - and as DH is still working out of the home mostly at the moment he needs to be careful. Social distancing/quarantining DS when he's home isn't a problem - bedroom opposite end of house with own bathroom. DH wouldn't need to enter the student house - as long as he uses the toilet at the last motorway service station before he gets there!

His other option is to stay there and look for a job but without transport that would be difficult and more risky than here - would need to use public transport in a city but could use a car at home - and would seemingly become liable for Council Tax for the whole house if he stays there.

What are your DC all doing in this position?

You might look at firms who will move stuff. We had, without thinking, booked holiday the weekend DD started University, and people here were able to recommend firms who would collect and deliver baggage. (A quick google comes up with my baggage.com but there will be others.)

I would expect liability for Council tax to be based on who is on the lease rather than who is occupying. If only one, there is a 25% discount. If separate tenancies he cannot be responsible for others.

In terms of transport. Bike? London also is full of people on electric scooters. Don’t forget waterproof overtrousers!

@Needmoresleep Thank you, I had forgotten about the baggage firms - remember reading about them at the start of DS's Uni journey. He would still need to come home on the train then though which involves changing trains in another major city station (as a minimum - can be up to 3 changes depending on trains) and then try and get a taxi from the station at this end - rural area so not a huge number available in normal times - in order to keep him apart from us. It's doable but each solution has it's risks.

bigbluebus we were simply going to drive to Durham to collect DS4 and all his belongings and then drive back. He's not finished with exams for a while yet though.

Haha. That was probably about me and trying to get DD to University. In the end we just bought a couple of cheap extra large suitcases with wheels from TK Maxx into which she crammed as much as she could, including duvet wrapped around breakables, took a taxi to the station, then a kind DD of a MNetter met her at the other end and took her to her accommodation. I drove down later with the rest of her stuff.

It is surprising how much you can fit into 2 suitcases and a rucksack. If he is returning, does he really need to move more.

Also are his work prospects better in a city. Unless he has additional risk factors, provinding he is careful, the risk of infection can be managed and even if he is, the chance of major illness is low.

On moves back home - the original March regulations allowed people to move by the way and the latest version allow more moving that before even so in my view he could have moved even before the recent change. My 2 are at home but will go back for end of term I think when they have got essays, dissertation (one still has that to finish) and on line exams are over.

Depends on distance - when one went back (briefly) his twin drove him all the way there without stopping and drove himself back same day and saw no one so the journey was risk free although going back presumably not entirely so and then changing mind within 4 days - that was when he got the train home and tube - but about one person on the train and he had his mask and gloves so that felt pretty safe.

I am amazed you can live at home with parents at age 21 and get free money from the state even if your parents are millionaires. We have obviously not cut back on state benefits anything like enough if we do not add up all the earnings of the parents and their children to decide who gets UC surely?