University life for our soon to be Year 2 undergrads (2019 intake): social bubbles (bursting?), the new normal and hopefully no second wave

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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ALGI have perfectly valid concerns about the A Level grading this year but once the government reneged, they realised the centre assessed grades were not necessarily what they thought ( lots of them expected UCAS grades) and turned on schools and teachers in a really occasionally nasty way, rather than seeing teachers as cogs in the machine. It has just all become a little bit over the top and rancorous. I read posts and sometimes wonder how their DCs feel. They could do with the help and support of teachers but have pissed off all the teachers in the group!

That makes more sense that what I was trying to work out!!

Has anyone’s dc got a Santander student account & having trouble with them?

Ds had a letter saying they were cancelling his overdraft (doesn’t use it much tbh) but when he contacted them they said it was a mistake But now they have written again saying they are cancelling it - because his student loan is not paid into this account directly. He does however transfer money into this account regularly - which is what the condition seemed to be when he opened it. As you all will remember, it’s not possible to open a student account until you get your confirmed place but Student Finance needs bank account details when you apply.

My Dd did exactly the same as Ds & has not had any letter. Maybe it’s because he has not used his overdraft as much as she has!

He is cheesed off with them now & thinking of closing his account.

My DD is with Santander and dues to even have a student loan so 🤷🏻‍♀️. She gets a monthly allowance paid in and this is what we told them when we set it up and they were happy about that. Her o/d is £1500 but she’s never used it

*doesn't even Not dues to 🙄

After some googling apparently it’s in the small print ts&cs- so the headline advertising is misleading.

Sorry posted too soon - that say they can withdraw services if the account isn’t used as the main account. Still at this.

DD has one, but I don't think she has an overdraft on it currently.

So I’ve been mulling over the new ‘rule of 6’ that comes into force from Monday. DD is in house of 6 so that means she couldn’t have her sister to stay over, none of the house can have a girlfriend/friend/parent visit. In my DD case the other half of the friendship group are in another house of 6 so they can’t visit each other........or they risk a fine!!
Really?!! Is this what uni students are going to have to deal with?

My (hopeful) interpretation is that they can have visits if the rest of the house are not present (so total occupants are less than 6)? I can’t see Covid Marshall’s checking on individual visitors - if they held a house party of 30 it may attract more attention!

@mum2eim yes I told ds this. I haven't been keen on him going to stay with his gf. She's moved into her student accommodation back at the end of July, ds has been home working, but a drivable distance. I told him he's not going back and forth staying with her and her housemates at the weekend then back home for work midweek. So his work ends tomorrow and he was looking forward to moving into his accommodation this weekend so they could see each other and stay together odd nights. Now she can't stay with him because it's a house of 6. She is in a house of 5 so I'm assuming he can stay there. Though of course, really it would be more sensible to not stay at all.

@mum2eim that’s my interpretation. DD is in a house of 5 so one visitor at a time! However if on any particular day 2 of them were on campus/out shopping/ whatever then if you were to visit and there would only be 6 bodies in the house then that would be compliant

I have yet to break this to DS. He is in a house of 6 so could only have gf to stay if one of the house mates is away. And more than one of them in the house has a girlfriend, so do they have to draw up a rota? There is no way that this will be adhered to. His other option is to stay with gf who lives in our home town, if her parents allowed it. I don't want him coming back and forth but would find it really hard if he was the other side of town seeing her but not coming home. Aaargh! I thought this was supposed to make things simpler!

DS going into second year has opted for halls again his girlfriend will be in same flat which is 7 people. Well that is a head scratcher will they have to relocate one do you think?

@simbobs yes it's going to be hard for them isn't it. If they do test them all regularly and infection rate is low then I don't mind ds and his gf coming back here...that will make us a house of 6. But I'm sure a lot of them will ignore the rules. Ds has hardly seen his gf since March. She went home to Lincolnshire and ds was here in Suffolk. They have met up a handful of times.

@justasking111, no. If the household is larger than 6 they are exempt from the rule, but in the spirit of the law it would mean not having visitors.

@Decorhate my dd applied way before results day with just her firm place on UCAS and the acceptance email and HSBC accepted that. They seem to close the account if the student loan is not directly paid into it.

These two news items don't bode well:

Cyber attack on Newcastle University. Also Northumbria University.

I know it's the Daily Fail, but it is in The Times as well, but I don't pay to read it.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8713083/Posh-lads-Durham-University-planned-competition-sex-poorest-girl-campus.html. Another Warwick?

[quote simbobs]@justasking111, no. If the household is larger than 6 they are exempt from the rule, but in the spirit of the law it would mean not having visitors. [/quote]
It is going to be a challenge DS and girlfriend are 2nd year students some others in the flat/building will be first years so will want to go wild perhaps.

And coronavirus is spreading in student houses. I was chatting to a friend who’s daughter who went back a couple of weeks ago to Leeds for 2nd year. All of them in their student house have tested positive this week. Most (apart from the index student) with no symptoms. Goodness knows what the numbers will be like by the end of September!

That sounds worrying @mum2eim. One of DD's houseshare friends is visiting a dying relative in the Middle East. I hope he isolates at home before going back to the house.

@mum2eim I don’t feel the numbers of infection are that important at this stage - it’s the hospitalisations a d deaths that will show if we are moving to a phase of living with thing. Yesterday’s graphs showed the line for infections rising but the hospitalisations steady if not falling slightly. This is a good thing. We’ve all got to drum it into our kids to properly isolate if they are CV+ but the bast majority will just feel rough for a few days (if they are symptomatic at all) and then get better.

It is worrying, but not many universities are testing the students, so most will not know. I feel much less bothered about a bunch of students having the virus (and therefore hopefully immunity), much more concerned that they are distributing it around the community. The answer would have been to stop any of them going back at all, but that isn't real life, or is it? I want DS to go back as it will reduce our own risk over the next few months.

My DD is at Newcastle. I'll ask her whether they have been informed by university about the data breach.

@simbobs the new rules on gatherings will (we hope!) severely limit the interaction between the students and locals in scenarios where transmission is likely eg pubs and clubs

It's so interesting reading the UK point of view here.

DD's US college is not having 1st or 2nd years back at all because they can't guarantee enough quarantine beds.

They're testing everyone who does come back, on arrival, after a 14 day quarantine, and then weekly.

Almost all lectures online.

This is fairly normal for a US university right now. The universities who aren't testing, and who are allowing relatively normal levels of socialising, are having to send students home after a week or two due to too many cases of Covid.