University 2019/20 intake: vacations, vaccinations, va-va-voom restored and virtually into their third year

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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Yes. Biomedical sciences, and it needs to be quite specific.

Sorry to hear of dissertation issues for your DD @RampantIvy. Hope she has a clearer idea of her focus once she's seen her dissertation tutor. Not at all helpful though if the data set doesn't make sense

@simbobs sad to hear about your DD too. I hope she's getting the help she needs for her AHD and that this helps with her CFS.

Thanks to you @NewModelArmyMayhem18 we have a hotel booked for night before graduation so that we can head up(4hrs) the night before after work. I’ve asked DD to give me a restaurant choice as she’s vegetarian but she’s dragging her heels and apparently the house are thinking of a group meal with all parents. Not sure they’ll get anything booked at this rate and for such a large party. Anyone else have plans?

What actually happens at the graduation ceremony? Do we sit for hours watching all the students collect their certificates? I don't think DH will go if it's sitting for a long time, he will say his back will hurt.

Ds came home for a few hours Friday, as he needed his wellies. He told me he'd been offered his summer job but turned it down. I asked what he was going to do. He said at least a month of travelling. I said he's got enough time to do that before the job starts in July. He said he wants the summer off, he says he doesn't need to earn money. I don't blame him wanting time off or to travel. But he seems to have no plans to look for a permanent job either. I suggested looking to start a job Sept. but he just shrugged. He's obviously planning on living off the bank of mum and dad.

@icanbewhatiwant I hear the cereal is quite long and boring. I’m imagining it like those school concerts where you sit for hours waiting for your child’s 2 minute performance and you see not allowed to leave.

Cereal??? Ceremony!

You’re not your see. Honestly this phone keyboard literally has a mind of its own!

@Benjispruce5 thanks. Sounds like dh might want to give it a miss then. Does anyone know whether we sit with our dc's or do they sit somewhere else?

I think perhaps it depends on the university. From what I can gather, Durham cathedral is the venue for us and the students muster and process through the cathedral. So I’m guessing we sit to wait to hear her name and catch a glimpse and then catch up with her outside . They have had gazebos and marquees outside in previous years for this purpose.

@icanbewhatiwant How would your DC feel if your DH didn’t go?

On the screenshot DS sent me, they are every 2hrs at Durham so I imagine the ceremony would be an hour and a half max? I actually think maybe an hour max as it looks like it’s subject by subject.

I have also booked hotel for 2 nights with sufficient rooms for DD and DSs gf just incase they are coming and his lease has finished by then !

@bigTillyMint DD thinks it’s a max of 3 guests.

I think I’ll only get a day off from school so it’s one night only for me!

@Benjispruce5, yes - if so any extras will just join after the ceremony

We will have to get at least a half day off (realistically will be the whole day) the day before as well as the day of the ceremony as it’s 5-6 hours drive, and we will have to bring all DSs stuff back so can’t get the train after work.

I see. You’re lucky yours is a Friday for that reason at least. Ours is the Tuesday so not so flexible.

www.durham.ac.uk/about-us/professional-services/ceremonies/congregation/guest-information/

Hello! I dropped off these threads a while back somehow. Glad to see one to remind me of them!
I've asked DD about her graduation date. She says it's May, which seems v early as both her exams and dissertation are due in the summer term she says, and that starts on 19th April. I'll get one day off work from school to attend...if I can convince her she wants to go. At the moment she would rather not go to the ceremony herself as it is.

DD won't even think about graduations just now. she is so stressed that she can't see herself getting over the finish line.

@RampantIvy I'm sorry to hear that. Has she asked about splitting the year, and just doing half the course this year and half the next? It is quite common in some subjects at Newcastle, though when DD asked they told her that she was the first to have made such a request. They granted it anyway.

@Benjispruce5 and @bigTillyMint great that you know graduation dates already and have been able to plan accordingly!

DS doesn't know his yet as far as I know. The related UEA web page just says 'registration will open early in 2022' but nothing more as yet. Things have now been complicated (potentially) by DS, DD and their cousins deciding to go on a five day trip to France in mid July. DS having totally not remembered that his graduation could be then.

Anyone know how the universities may cope with 'graduating' several years of students in the ten day time-frame? Are they likely to do it by year cohort or by department/faculty (and then do three years back-to-back)?

For sure, UEA Sports Hall (where it seems the graduation ceremonies are going to take place) doesn't have quite the same gravitas as Durham Cathedral!

@RampantIvy, I totally get that - good possible suggestion from simbobs.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I think maybe they are expecting less students from previous years to attend? Makes it a lot more difficult for overseas students to pop back (whereas it would normally be at the end of their course) and perhaps they are staggering dates?

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I think there are winter and spring dates too. Must be a massive job to coordinate.
Sorry to hear that @RampantIvy.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 it says on UEA website graduation between 14th and 28th July excluding weekends. I hope we get a date soon. Ds wants to go away too. He doesn't know when exams finish. When they do finish and they aren't classed as students they will be liable for council tax. Ds's rental is until august, even though he will probably leave his house once finished, I'm sure they will have to pay council tax. Unless they are students until graduation. Not sure how it works.

@icanbewhatiwant yep have that UEA 'graduation 2022' saved and keep checking to see if there's been any updates (but none as yet - but term starts today so maybe very soon?).

Agree that there probably won't be as many of the '2021 or 2020' graduates turning up, particularly overseas ones. I'm sure 'the moment has passed' for many and if the ceremonies are on weekdays it makes them less appealing anyway, I'd have thought?

Does their final year at UEA officially end on 20th May? I think after that they're classed as being liable for Council Tax (unfortunately). DS's contract is until August too so that's at least three months to fork out :-(. If they sign on and start claiming benefits, they would be exempt from paying CT but will they want to? Are all your DS1's housemates in the same year as him? If so, the CT will be divided by that many people per month? It's all seems a bit complicated and unnecessary really, isn't it? I can see it being difficult if some pay but some sign on to exempt themselves. The larger the property the higher the CT band it will be in, and the more will be due on a monthly basis but if only one or two will pay they'll end up having to pay half each of the full amount rather than CT per month divided by number of eligible residents? In the 'olden day's with the Poll Tax it was probably fairer in such circumstances? And don't most councils collect the annual fee in ten monthly payments rather than twelve, so they'll probably be then eligible for small refunds (unless the council takes that into consideration when working out what they need to pay)?

Two of DS's flatmates from last year (they were final year undergraduates at the time), seem to have skipped off into the sunset without ever paying their due CT. But I've told DS it's really not wise to end up with a debt against your name before you've even started your working life for a matter of a few hundred pounds!

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 thanks, not sure what will happen. All students are in the same year as Ds. It's a huge 7 bed house (6 students) so will be high council tax. Ds will have to speak to the landlord. It depends on the council, some councils will let a property remain empty for a month or so, without paying council tax so maybe he might let them out the contract earlier. It was a 50 week contract but they stayed 2 years. So last year they paid for 52 weeks, the landlord has let them have 48 weeks this year, so he has already reduced it.