University experience is awful at the moment

[Cupcakke]

DD moved into university on Saturday. The rules are very stringent, both campus bars are closed, the university library has very little capacity and the restaurant is take away only. There are virtually no freshers events in person.

Her flat mates are very shy and not very social and she is in a small flat.

Large gatherings keep occurring but the penalty for this is very severe so DD very cautious not to attend these.

She is essentially watching Netflix in her room. I fear for the loneliness. The online events she has attended are poorly attended and just very boring.

Teaching starts next week and her In person contact hours are just 4 hours a week.

Anyone else’s dc thinking this years university experience is non existent.

It's so sad to read all these accounts of young people and their experiences at uni.

My dd is due to move into halls next week. We've already had tears with her saying she doesn't want to go and that it's going to be rubbish and she'll be lonely. Some of her friends have already gone so she's seeing what it's like. She doesn't know how much f2g teaching she'll get. I'm worried before she's even gone!

On the other hand I work at a uni in a non-academic role and I see the effort and work that has gone into trying to offer something of value to all students. But nothing is going to make it anything near the experience it should be. So sad 😞

the third girl is not quite her sort (she's been trying to impose a cleaning rota)

Aah, the Kitchen Monitor. DD had one of those in her flat last year. Not someone with whom she has chosen to houseshere this year, although to be fair, even DD may be driven to have words with one of the lads about actually finishing one's washing up before going away for a couple of weeks.

This is so sad and worrying, I've been seeing lots of posts on the WIWIKAU Facebook group and there are so many in the same lonely situation. DD is doing okay but she had a friend from school going to the same uni and they've been meeting.

I don't know what the answer is, but it's worrying to think that so many are feeling the same. On WIWIKAU they are trying to match up freshers who aren't happy with others at the same uni. That might help some of your DCs, if they are at least meeting people.

I don't want to post the link here but you should be able to find the group on Facebook.

What a shower of shit this year is.

I'm a lecturer and can assure you that we are doing all we can to encourage group work, socials etc and to get our students talking to each other. None of us want to be online but we have to be. But we can't organise this away. Staff will do what they can but I would encourage students to arrange their own socials - a Netflix party (like a book club but for films) small study group outings - whatever works for them. Talking to their tutor about how they as students can do some of this for their own group is going to help everyone- the tutors can't do it all. Indeed I'm appointing a student social rep for this very reason.

DD has been very lucky so far. At Oxbridge in a smallish subject and 2/3rds of those on the course have been in touch for months online, so have already got friendship groups. She's had quite a lot of work to do before the start of term. She's in a choir and they've adapted things so rehearsals can still go ahead, using social distancing and plastic dividers.

@tinselvestsparklepants

I'm a lecturer and can assure you that we are doing all we can to encourage group work, socials etc and to get our students talking to each other. None of us want to be online but we have to be. But we can't organise this away. Staff will do what they can but I would encourage students to arrange their own socials - a Netflix party (like a book club but for films) small study group outings - whatever works for them. Talking to their tutor about how they as students can do some of this for their own group is going to help everyone- the tutors can't do it all. Indeed I'm appointing a student social rep for this very reason.

@tinselvestsparklepants a social rep is a bloody good idea, I might suggest that to our academics because they’re asking students to choose reps now. I’m in professional services and I know how hard academics are trying to make this good for the students. It is an enormous burden on your shoulders, you didn’t ask for this.

I am increasingly not happy about what I hear from DD (Exeter). Everything is online and although she is spending time with people she has met I am not sure why I am paying for accommodation when she could have done it all online from home. The quality of the online bit also seems so so but it’s the first week so we will see...she says so far they just give them stuff to read!!!
I am mostly annoyed with COVID of course but unis could have been more honest about what they would offer too.
Glad she did not defer as at leaust she is doing something.

To be fair reading is a huge part of any degree ! Lectures are really just an introduction to the reading. The problem is though that with libraries closed it’s difficult for people to extend their reading. JSTOR and other online databases are great but quite difficult to navigate for students who are new to it.

I’ve removed the random horse picture 😂

My daughter has reached the point where she’s just laughing about how rubbish it all is.
It seems the academic staff are trying to help them connect with each other even though it is all online. But the people running the accomodation have set draconian rules. I think it’s completely disproportionate and goes beyond the government guidelines, common sense and their pastoral responsibility.

We’re waiting for them to impose a ‘no visiting outside your household’ lockdown in which case my daughter will be totally isolated. One Chinese girl has moved onto her corridor but when my daughter tried to speak to her she backed off in terror.
I think my daughter’s situation is particularly bad as she knew nobody at her university and is isolated on her corridor. She’s made some friends from her course but can only meet them outside or in pubs (where the rule of 6 is limiting). She finds it hard to meet people in her hall because of the single seat eating arrangements and closure of social spaces. She’s making lots of effort and I think lots of students feel the same. Really what would make all the difference would be having a couple of people in your household who’s company you enjoy. A basic human need I suppose.
She’s considering sticking it out, although we fear it might get worse in Scotland. She’s applying for a change in accomodation but there is a waiting list.
Getting her to do another 2 weeks and then come home to discuss options.
Certainly I’m thinking she’d be better to drop out and reapply at a later date.

@Stationclare - just read your post. Fingers crossed for your son. Maybe being a bit older now he will cope better?

Garibaldi - it’s heartbreaking when you know they are trying everything and the rules are stricter than at home. Get her to check her uni accom contract. My dd has a 21 day covid clause which she is probably past now. She may we’ll be able to save some money if she leaves early - or not - and could return in spring if things improve.

Course appointed social reps would be a good start. Can older students help a bit?

But the people running the accomodation have set draconian rules.

This really needs to be addressed. I agree with the uni lecturer PP that they need to be pro-active and create their own social groups, in lieu of usual freshers' stuff. But when they are banned from having coffee in a kitchen with their self-created bubble but can go out to cafes and pubs to have that coffee, it just makes no sense. Educational establishments are allowed to create large bubbles. If the teaching is all online, which it now is, then the Residences should become freshers' bubbles.That would enable them to mingle and to find like minded people and to create their own study and social bubbles within their Halls of Residence. That would result in much better spirits, lower attrition rate, fewer MH issues, stronger friendships going into 2nd year and probably better study as they would be able to work together in study groups, face to face.

Legally this is allowed so why are residences being so draconian when they know students only have to step outside the door to meet up as freely as they want in groups of six? There is no health benefit to the rules but many serious mental health dangers. And a risk that unis will lose their students.

If the teaching is all online, which it now is,

Surely, that depends on the university. How many have switched to 100% online?

Gosh, that’s awful! I’d see the value of paying for accommodation even when lectures are online if it was a way to make friends but it foesn’t look like that’s working with underoccupied flats and unfriedly flatmates. What’s with people not ansewring the door/ not replying to “hello” 🤷‍♀️ I used to have a bad anxiety but most people (yes, I know not all) should be able to perform basic politeness.

@Bwlch

If the teaching is all online, which it now is,

Surely, that depends on the university. How many have switched to 100% online?

Hardly any because they don't want to lose rental income from Halls. Most have said 2 or 3 hours a week face to face, thus ensuring most people still have to physically live in the area.

@Bwlch - I was talking about DSs course. He arrived having been promised 50% online 50% F2F. He's now learned that F2F means you are allowed into a room on campus if you want, with socially distanced desks for fellow students, you set up your computer and from a separate office room, your tutor zooms the F2F content. So not F2F at all.

Obviously I don't speak for all courses at all unis but I've heard an awful lot of freshers say they were initially told lectures would be online but seminars and tutorials wouldn't and now they are learning that they will, after all, be online. A lot of Freshers are paying for accommodation but could do 100% of the course from home.

Most have said 2 or 3 hours a week face to face, thus ensuring most people still have to physically live in the area.

Interesting - where do you get that figure from? DS has nothing at all F2F, which he found out this week, having settled into halls in the expectation of needing to be on site for some of the time.

@monkeyonthetable

Most have said 2 or 3 hours a week face to face, thus ensuring most people still have to physically live in the area.

Interesting - where do you get that figure from? DS has nothing at all F2F, which he found out this week, having settled into halls in the expectation of needing to be on site for some of the time.

When my uni initially announced their "blended" approach (it's more of a completely pureed with the occasional lump approach - there's very little blend in it) there were a lot of students asking if they needed to come back to the city if it was going to be largely online and uni DID put a LOT of pressure on them that they needed to be there for the campus experience and campus teaching etc.

In our first term we have 4 days with on-campus teaching and it's blocked so it's all on a single day (4 hours worth), not an hour here and an hour there. The rest of the time... online in your room. They've REALLY mis-sold it to the kids badly - and from talking to my own tutor... the face to face stuff HAS to have an online equivalent (I'm suffering dreadfully with mental health at the moment and I've been told there's no need for me to come onto campus at all if I'm not feeling capable of it - I can engage with it all at home.

I'm really worried for the new freshers - it's potentially a very very lonely place they're going to be in.

Monkeyonthetable
You talk such sense.
I completely agree with you on all points and have 2 DC in very similar situations to your DS.
I hope your DS manages to find a way through this.

@monkeyonthetable

Most have said 2 or 3 hours a week face to face, thus ensuring most people still have to physically live in the area.

Interesting - where do you get that figure from? DS has nothing at all F2F, which he found out this week, having settled into halls in the expectation of needing to be on site for some of the time.

Certainly the uni where I work all courses are 3 hours average a week face to face as part of the blended learning plan. Talking to other academics I know round the country they say their unis (certainly their courses) are doing the same.

I'd be really cross if I was your son. Would he still have physically moved in if he'd known this before? I guess some students would still want to go for social life, the library, just being independent. Some would ratehr have stayed at home and saved the money.

Liverpool John Moores has just announced it will go fully online. I expect that all universities will be forced to do the same within two or three weeks - as has always been inevitable amid a pandemic.

It is terrible, and incredibly unhealthy for young people.

I don't see any way round this, unless social distancing rules change which isn't going to happen.

I'm not sure though what people expected? This was always going to happen? Universities' hands are tied, but maybe they should have been more upfront about how things were going to work- because somehow people seem to have had an overly optimistic view of the way things would operate.

I would be welcoming my DC home with open arms unless they really wanted to stay and live like this for the foreseeable future.

outbreaks in halls
FFS
a few positive tests is not an outbreak

Freshers flu has laid the little dears low for a few weeks of the first term every year for decades
The health risk factors for students are so unbelievably low
crossing the road to the offie is higher risk
that they should be allowed to get on with their lives

so long as they do not mix with old (over 65) people

I don't have DCs at Uni yet but reading some of the posts here is just so upsetting. My DD will (hopefully) be going to Uni in 2 years and if she was in that situation I would have serious concerns for her.

Uni is about learning yes but the social aspect is equally important. I'm sure Unis are doing a great job with the online offer but if, as some posters are saying, the students (particularly first years) are totally isolated in their halls/flats, that is not only poor planning, but dangerous in terms of mental health.

A poster earlier on offered to be contacted if someone wanted a friendly adult for their DC to be able to contact and I'd be more than happy to do the same for anyone whose DC is at one of the Edinburgh Unis and is struggling.

St Andrews said they would aim for some f2f week 3 with ALL students by week 7. Yet that has already been cut back and the first session my dd has is week 9. So it was ‘missold’ although carefully worded to cover themselves. It’s a science too so I imagine the arts students have even less hope of f2f. It’s a load of spin to get them on campus and paying accom bills.