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Higher education

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

University life for freshers (2019/20) - we're hopping towards Easter with a pandemic to avoid **Title edited by MNHQ**

970 replies

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 19/02/2020 19:28

Previous thread

OP posts:
Benjispruce · 16/03/2020 22:46

They can’t charge for accommodation that they can’t use for no fault of their own. I will fight that for sure as will many others no doubt. Private landlords are not making the decision to close, unis are.

Gettingthroughtheweek · 16/03/2020 22:49

As long as universities confirm students are enrolled they should get the loans; if they’re not enrolled, then Unis won’t get tuition fees, and they will really need them, so it’s in their interests to do that. But some guidance from SFE to confirm the position would be very useful.

Itscoldouthere · 16/03/2020 23:04

I’m sure they will say, well they can still use the accommodation.

Benjispruce · 16/03/2020 23:09

My DD is in catered.

VivaLeBeaver · 16/03/2020 23:45

The universities (that I’ve seen) aren’t closing. They are moving teaching to an online platform. Students can stay in halls if they wish. Libraries remain open.

As a lecturer I’m still providing learning materials, still marking stuff, still answering questions, am setting up 2x virtual seminars a week where there will be a live, timetabled discussion. I know some students will be upset, i know it’s not great but I think people need to see the bigger picture. This really is life or death and people’s lives need to be prioritised.

Kuponut · 17/03/2020 06:17

Our library has reduced opening times down (it's normally 24 hours) and some of the other study areas are closing down (less computer keyboards to disinfect I guess).

I loved one of our lecturers who, while all the others sent beautifully professional mails, sent us one starting with "blimey this is all a bit of a mess isn't it?" Followed by a "bear with us while we figure this all out"

I don't think our chalkface staff have been kept in the loop at all really so I feel really sorry for them and have every sympathy in the world for them all in trying to get themselves organised into online only mode in the few days we're on hiatus to switch mode. I may constantly despair at my uni and their ineptitude but my department I always do appreciate as we've got good eggs who go the extra mile.

bengalcat · 17/03/2020 06:19

Mines coming back on Friday - if trains are empty she might even pass the social distancing test of 1-2m separation .

bigTillyMint · 17/03/2020 06:55

@ VivaLeBeaver, it’s good that lecturers can do online (don’t think my 2 have actually had any online teaching yet) but I think libraries will shut before long - everywhere else is shutting - if you can’t go to a pub, a library is a similar space?

Apart from schools where staff aren’t being given any option atm. Not that I mind - I’d rather take my chances with the kids than be shut in the house for months.

Decorhate · 17/03/2020 07:08

Spare a thought for students at TCD in Dublin who have been ordered to vacate university accommodation and return home due to confirmed cases. Not easy in the timescale they have specified, especially foreign students.

pollyannaperspective · 17/03/2020 07:15

DD has until Sunday latest to leave her US city university as all residences are being closed except for very small number who can't get home - final year and they will complete semester with remote learning/teaching. Not the end she was expecting.
Flying back on Thursday.
Interestingly, we flew back in to UK yesterday and there were no health checks at Heathrow.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 17/03/2020 07:18

No real point in health checks at airports now - we've missed the boat on that one ;-(. If they were going to do it, they should have been doing so from February half-term at the latest.

I would hope the universities would have a continued duty of care to overseas students who are effectively marooned.

OP posts:
Canitreallybehappening20 · 17/03/2020 07:28

Yes totally off topic pollyannna (great name for the times!) but i was wondering why the press conference yesterday said nothing about entrants to the uk when so many countries are closing borders/implementing 14 day isolation. No questions from journos either on that.

Sorry for diversion! Pollyanna, will your dd do online exams or is it coursework assessment? And deco, have tcd said thats it for the rest of the year or is it still 'wait and see'?

Benjispruce · 17/03/2020 07:33

I’m seeing the bigger picture. Student should get some recompense though if they lose out. My trip is cancelled, I got a refund. My DD is paying far too much anyway in my opinion but taking into account her missing all 16 days of the strikes, 1 bathroom between 10 and loos without sinks, her university are taking the p* as it is.

Canitreallybehappening20 · 17/03/2020 07:35

Yes, health checks may not work newmodel, but I am surprised nobody yesterday asked at the press conference why no 14 day isolation for all new arrivals a la Australia, New Zealand etc. Perhaps all those attending were all a bit taken aback!

cinammonbuns · 17/03/2020 07:52

@Benjispruce students will get maintenance loan unless they are unenrolled. All that’s happening is university is going online. I don’t understand why your DD believes students won’t get their maintenance loan.

Benjispruce · 17/03/2020 07:59

Neither do I but it’s tricky getting information at the best of times. Perhaps it’s what all the others around her are saying.

simbobs · 17/03/2020 08:36

I have looked online at the info on the websites for both my DC and it seems to be similar. DS's lecturers are holed up this week presumably preparing remote teaching materials for the next couple of weeks. I don't have access to student specific info but have urged he-who-never-reads-his-emails to mine every source and not to think of coming home until and unless he knows what is happening. He was more concerned about starving to death!

In other news my DD is making her way home from France. She had a flight booked to Manchester on Friday but the Swiss border for Geneva is due to close at midday today, so she found a flight to Birmingham tomorrow and is being driven to Geneva right now. Luckily she has found a hotel at the airport where she will have to remain until tomorrow morning. As she is vegan (and intractable) I really worry that she will struggle to feed herself.

bigTillyMint · 17/03/2020 09:20

@Benjispruce, I think they are panicking, which is understandable.

@simbobs, that’s good that she’s on her way. She will find something to eat, surely?

Decorhate · 17/03/2020 10:00

@Canitreallybehappening20 I think that’s it for the year at TCD. Same for UCD. Kids are packing up and moving home.

Itscoldouthere · 17/03/2020 10:27

@simbobs I hope all goes well for your DD getting home.

Sounds like UEA are also not going back, I’m picking DS up today, we are going to bring everything home. So sad for first year to end like this.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my husband gets home from Canada tomorrow.

Kuponut · 17/03/2020 12:26

OK - to those worrying. I contacted Student Finance England this morning and asked about it:

Hi XXXXX, if your University closes for a temporary period the amount you are due to be paid won't change. Regards, XXXXX

LIZS · 17/03/2020 12:49

@simbobs there is a large Migros supermarket in the concourse above Geneva airport rail station which should cater for a vegan diet.

SchrodingersKitty · 17/03/2020 13:12

DS has just had an email from Oxford saying they will probably not return next term and will instead be taught online. A big deal, as it is a whole eight-week term there, with exams at the end for most of them.

I am still self-isolating, and unsure if what I have is IT or not. Because of the change of rules DH was phoned last night (he had previously told them I was self-isolating with cold/flu symptoms as a precaution but they still wanted him to come in) and told not to come in for his lumbar puncture this morning, but to self isolate for 10 days. He's 71, so would be having to self-isolate soon anyway, but I imagine urgent cancer treatment would be an exception. I would have liked him to get the hospital visit out of the way, but also very worried about if they needed to give him chemo at the moment. The chances of finding anything on the lumbar puncture are pretty low, I think, given his absence of other symptoms that would suggest lymphoma in the body (as opposed to brain), so we are reasonably content to leave it for now. Frustrating, but I see their point about not taking the risk on a ward full of immuno-compromised patients.

I'm not feeling great but not absolutely terrible either. Not quite up to getting my online teaching for next week set up, but perhaps I had better push on with it in case the illness gets worse.

It is all SO strange. I am spending most of my time reading cosy mystery fiction and watching things on netflix from 90s and early 20s. I find the flip phones, phone books, and absence of modern computers, etc, very comforting.

justasking111 · 17/03/2020 13:25

If we go into lockdown like my friends in France will we be allowed to travel to collect our children?

MarchingFrogs · 17/03/2020 13:37

Perhaps it’s what all the others around her are saying.

I can confirm that the response I got from SFE was much the same as that received by @Kuponut.