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Higher education

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

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Original poster

Paying for Accommodation - for 100% online teaching!

114 replies

DidoAtTheLido · 02/09/2020 14:36

This year's students are getting such a rough deal.

My DS is about to start Uni. To begin with they promised 'blended teaching' - online lectures, in person tutorials, and lab time. It is a lab-based practical subject.

Now he has had an e mail, ALL teaching will be online until at least Christmas.

So basically they are paying full price for a course that is delivered in a second best way, and paying to move cities and live in expensive accommodation (in hall) when if it is all online they could stay at home.

Teachers are having to go back to work , this is the age group least affected by COVID, they are away from families so not spreading to older members.

I think this is totally unfair treatment of young people taking out massive loans and parents paying huge sums of money. If they really can't deliver the education properly, the students shouldn't have to pay for it.

Does anyone know of any campaigns or petitions about this?

OP posts:

JaJaDingDong · 02/09/2020 14:38

I can't help, but I do agree with you.

Alfiemoon1 · 02/09/2020 14:44

Dd is in a similar situation she’s going into her second year has paid for her accommodation private let on the basis of having face to face tuition now it’s online bar one day a week in which she could commute No reductions in fees for this year or last that was cut short and affected by strike action. There were petitions on Facebook but nothing seems to have changed

monkeyonthetable · 02/09/2020 14:49

Would people be prepared to name and shame the unis doing this? It seems like a very underhand way to get some money for HoR that would otherwise be standing empty and lying about student need to be on site when they clearly don't.

titchy · 02/09/2020 14:53

If they really can't deliver the education properly, the students shouldn't have to pay for it.

If your dd feels that strongly about it she can always vote with her feet and defer....

RaininSummer · 02/09/2020 14:55

I don't think I would be encouraging them to take up the course this year.

RomeoLikedCapuletGirls · 02/09/2020 14:57

I agree, but I think it is hard all round. I work at a uni and I´m taking a pay cut on an already very low salary. Admissions are down. If they also cut tuition fees the unis won´t be able to survive, and there won´t be courses in the future.

All the staff where I work feel for the students we are preparing to welcome. We know they won´t have the same experience, but there isn´t much we can do about it except make them as safe as possible.

StraffeHendrik · 02/09/2020 15:08

All the students I have spoken too are really looking forward to coming back, even if teaching is online. They are feeling depressed at home and can no longer concentrate on their studies. I think for a lot of them it will make a world of difference. That said, it is expensive!

StraffeHendrik · 02/09/2020 15:08

*spoken to not too!

sallyshirt · 02/09/2020 15:30

Does your son want to live at home and not at the uni?
Do you have the space?

If yes to both, why doesn't he just stay home until classes in the labs start up.

Oh wait.....he wants to go to uni for the social life and not to live with his parents? Then he'll have to suck it up!

TheEndisCummings · 02/09/2020 15:33

Just because universities are teaching online does not make it suddenly cheaper. In fact it is more expensive given how much digital revamping has had to do on. Where precisely would the rebate come from? I do think the accommodation thing is a scandal though, but if you privatise a sector what do you expect. It all went wrong when fees came in.

Vinoonasunnyday · 02/09/2020 15:39

Lots of unis are doing this

Surprised more haven’t gone with the OU given it’s a few grand per year less and is also online

Xenia · 02/09/2020 16:15

I agree. My sons' institution put out such a complex announcement pretending they were doing so very much but the essence was they are starting 100% online and will not say when that will change so I am paying £6000 for his accommodation (since July and counting - not spent a night there yet)....

The complexity with us is his twin is doing the same course but from London living at home so no rent but the fee is £2k a year more. Yet both will be purely on line until goodness knows when - the course entirely ends in mid April and I m paying rent that is not needed for one and £2k more than the one based regionally for exactly the same on line course. They don't mind as they are post grad and it is a means to an end (law) but it is not helpful that there is apparently nothing other than on line without any timetable for that to end yet many universities are going to have some small groups face to face from day 2 as indeed have schools. My sons start their course on Monday.

mumofBeth · 02/09/2020 16:19

I would think they would want to be close to campus for library/stacks facilities at least. Just because teaching is online doesn't mean that all resources are. Also the pubs and other students will be there 😉

Gymntonic · 02/09/2020 16:25

I agree op, it's rubbish. Even one to one session with tutor is online. And they're pushing lab based work to the end of the semester - the middle of winter when we'll probably be locked down again. Mine has every intention of meeting her small study group in real life, for a sd coffee or whatever, in between their online meets and I'm glad she's planning ahead in that respect.
You can't blame healthy young adults for wanting to get on with their lives after the mess of exams and school shutdown and the alternatives aren't great - stay at home until the next lockdown then stay at home again, few jobs, limited travel? The young people I've talked to are incredibly positive and excited about this next step and good for them. Their positivity is refreshing not something to be exploited. Just because the universities can screw them over doesn't mean they should.

Frazzled6 · 02/09/2020 20:32

Totally agree... I think they should either make Uni has normal as possible for DC to be on campus given they are paying the accommodation fees or do the first term online and start on campus in January when there will be a better idea on what is happening with the pandemic.

Totally wrong to bring them on campus, let them pay quite hefty accommodation fees and not offer any form of learning other than online and any form of social life.

There will be a lot of dropouts because you are throwing students together in confined accommodation space without giving them a chance to find their tribe or by giving them any other form of social interaction.

I think 2nd and 3rd years may fair better because they have had some opportunities to mix.

dwnldft · 02/09/2020 21:17

this is the age group least affected by COVID, they are away from families so not spreading to older members.

What about the staff who work at universities? Thousands of people mixing around campus has led to large clusters of Covid in universities around the world. While most of the students may well not be seriously affected, the staff and their families are. Look up how many staff from New York universities died.

There are arguments for living near campus: apart from access to libraries, study areas, computer labs etc, there is also socialising with friends, access to university sports facilities, quiet study space in room in halls etc.

Original poster

DidoAtTheLido · 02/09/2020 21:20

@titchy

If they really can't deliver the education properly, the students shouldn't have to pay for it.

If your dd feels that strongly about it she can always vote with her feet and defer....

Already deferred because of a serious operation needed during last year.

OP posts:

Original poster

DidoAtTheLido · 02/09/2020 21:21

@sallyshirt

Does your son want to live at home and not at the uni? Do you have the space?

If yes to both, why doesn't he just stay home until classes in the labs start up.

Oh wait.....he wants to go to uni for the social life and not to live with his parents? Then he'll have to suck it up!

They sent out the accommodation contracts and had them sign it before being told that everything will be online. So the money is owed even if they do stay at home.

OP posts:

titchy · 02/09/2020 21:25

Can defer again. Can go to uni at any age!

nachthexe · 02/09/2020 21:29

Ds has deferred for the second time (not a big deal as his gap year travel plans were somewhat disrupted - and now he gets to earn more money which will help). Dd (4th year) is staying home this semester and taken classes deliberately for online and registered for her labs second semester. Landlord was very understanding so not out any money.
Friends have decided to go and pay, even though online, because they want to be there. It’s all a choice. We are not choosing to pay rent.

cologne4711 · 02/09/2020 21:29

I agree it's wrong and unnecessary. Online lectures I understand but it cannot be that hard to have tutorials with small groups in a safe way. I never had more than 12 people in a tutor group and the rooms were not that small.

I wouldn't want to pay for rent in that scenario either.

cologne4711 · 02/09/2020 21:30

They sent out the accommodation contracts and had them sign it before being told that everything will be online. So the money is owed even if they do stay at home

Hmmm, could be a misrep by omission. I wonder what Xenia thinks.

cologne4711 · 02/09/2020 21:31

Look up how many staff from New York universities died

I have and there was nothing immediate by the third page of Google results.

Frazzled6 · 02/09/2020 21:33

Most students are starting Uni not having friends at the same Uni.. Yet they are expected to pay out between 5 and 9k to live on campus and sit in their rooms and study or try and make friends with complete strangers who they are thrown into living with. If you look at some of the accommodation chat rooms the students are already bickering... Spending 24x7 days with complete strangers and no other way of socialising (finding others with common interests) is total madness...this situation will wear thin within a few weeks.

The Universities have to be fair and if they are not offering anything other than online learning or any form of social interaction then I'm afraid they should not be making on site accommodation a condition until they can offer some normality. If students want to payout for accommodation and be away from home that's fair enough.. But I still think the drop out rate will be high and sadly many will feel like failures and won't want to admit they are unhappy and things are not working out.

Angelik · 02/09/2020 21:43

Don't understand moving to town if teaching virtual. That's not univ decision. That's student decision. And £9k us NOWHERE near the cost of delivering teaching. I'm not denying it's expensive to families but it's not a con and univs are not taking the piss. Univs are struggling massively and will struggle for years following covid impact. So go ahead start another petition which if successful will lead to univs closing down and whole local economies failing in town-based univs, brain drain as leading academics leave the country, leading to even more limited education opportunities...

I'll remember to tell my colleagues who have been working 70 hour weeks (professors to programme administrators) to create content and new services for students that they shouldn't bother because it's second best. And that the positives we have been looking at such as creating equivalent quality courses for students who REALLY can't afford to travel to different cities or have to haveflexible learning to accommodate caring responsibilities/jobs is also a waste of time?

Get over yourself and suck up the shitty situation that we are all in.

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