Staying at home for University

[Orangesandlemons77]

Reading in the papers that since Covid and with the cost of living as well, more Universities are having applicants from students living at home.

Wondered what others thought of this? I have a DS who will be applying this year, and yes think he may be applying to one nearby.

@yogabbagabba134
Integrated masters or not really depends on subject.

For Engineering it matters. BEng and Meng are not the same. That’s the point. MEng is the quickest route to being a chartered engineer. BEng is the slow route. To be equivalent to MEng (integrated) you need a masters. So either you or your employer pays. They might not want to do this though and recruit BEng employees who will become Incorporated Engineers. They can become Chartered but it’s a slowish process. Employers might prefer the MEng candidates for their Chartered fast lane employees.

Hope that makes sense. If computer science/engineering has differing professional qualifications then decide which courses provide a better route. Chartered usually increases earning power and status and is required in some engineering disciplines to sign off work.

[quote yogabbagabba134]@LegMeChicken I meant a real one. If you already have a bsc in compsci.... how much better off would you be career wise if you took the extra year and did an msc in computer science?[/quote]
A lot of people just do a Master’s because it’s integrated (so why not), or they think more education = advantage. But it makes no difference in ‘ordinary’ programming jobs, someone with a better portfolio and BSc will be ahead of someone who only has theoretical knowledge and an MSc.

Of course there are jobs where the Master’s makes a difference, but not many. As opposed to certain fields where a Master’s is the minimum requirement

Maybe it would be a good plan to start a new thread about masters courses etc, this one is meant to be about staying home for university?

Dd's BF is doing masters in Computer Science at Glasgow Uni(Scotland so 5 years, he's almost finished 4th year)
I doubt it's a waste of time or Employers don't care
I suppose time will tell but he's happy with his choice.

He went to a home Uni too, but moved out into a flatshare with his brother, which became a flat with Dd, who similarly is going to Glasgow and moved out at 17, but is attending a "home Uni"
She's not doing a Masters, a Bsc in Microbiology.

My daughter's BF did a masters in Comp Sci at a top university for that discipline. He has landed a great development job in a prestigious tech company. He claims he would never have got to interview stage without his masters and great work experience.

One advantage DD2 has found of having done a Masters is that now when she is applying for jobs or (particularly) PhDs, the interviewers are really only interested in her Masters – her under-grad rarely even comes up for discussion. This is extremely beneficial for her as her Masters was at a much higher-rated university and she did very well in it

@ISpyCobraKai @shingleskittles it’s not that employers ‘don’t care’. It’s that you can get a good job even without it.
Compared to, say academia, or research, where a Master’s is a minimum requirement.

Having worked in the field for the better part of a decade, and recruited for large grad schemes, startups etc we get people with undergraduate degrees and Master’s hired into similar positions.

Computer Science Masters are very diverse anyway, and while some grant deep theoretical understandings into a specific topic (like Computer Vision, Machine Learning).Others, especially integrated masters are a collection of third year optional modules with a dissertation added on.

I always tell people to go for a Master’s if they’re genuinely interested and want deeper understanding. If they just want to ‘get a job’ it’s not necessary, and they can always get one later! Even better, paid for by employers :) a lot of industry specific qualifications are more valuable anyway

Also sorry OP this isnt really relevant so I’ll stop here

*only undergrad degrees vs with a master’s

@LegMeChicken some employers do seem to care though. DD's BF had a first class degree from Oxford and then a subsequent Masters with part spent at MIT in the US. He has started on a serious six figure salary with a top US tech company, not a typical UK grad scheme. I'll stop here too as not relevant to OP's post.

Ah yes we have moved on from the original discussion. But I assume we all should give DC the choice if they want to live at home or not?

@yogabbagabba134

Ah yes we have moved on from the original discussion. But I assume we all should give DC the choice if they want to live at home or not?

Yes. However I will talk them through the financial aspects of this decision beforehand, given that as a low income household we won't be able to say, pay for the accomodation as some others on here do.

They would probably need to use all of the loan and maybe get a part time job if moving away. Which could be fine.

I did that myself, back in the day, worked for the University in their cafeteria which was fine. Just something to think about.

@Orangesandlemons77 it’s actually middle-income families who struggle, as the government expects parents to top up partial loan. Difficult if you have multiple DC.

Low-income get the full maintenance loan which is ‘generally’ enough. Plus a PT job to supplement. If your son is so inclined higher value jobs like tutoring bring in a lot more.

OK. But it's interesting that in the research upthread, it is more low income students who are staying at home.

I reckon it's the savings they could make when living at home. Probably needed by those on the lowest incomes.

I've got 2 DC, each has a CTF of around 15K. 30K in total. If each got the full maintanence grant of around 9K a year that is 27K in total each.

If they then had a part time job, to pay for their buss pass and possibly some contribution to food or living costs in the home, together could save 2 X 27K= 54K and 30K (CTF) 84K in total- could be used towards a deposit on a flat if they wanted to buy one together.

It's a massive difference to just using all that money for accomodation costs and going out etc...

Several possible reasons in addition

• Being needed to help out at home
• Not wanting to take on ‘more debt’.
• Lack of aspiration

Also… what percentage of people is this even a viable choice for?
You need to live within commuting distance of a uni that a) offers your desired subject and b) you can get into.

No point in living near an ‘RG uni’ that needs all A’s when you get B’s and C’s.

There are also people who just go to the nearest uni for ‘a degree’ without really caring about the subject

Yes, I suppose we are in some ways in a fortunate position living in a city centre with two universities close by. Most people live further out away from bus routes etc I guess.

@LegMeChicken

Also… what percentage of people is this even a viable choice for? You need to live within commuting distance of a uni that a) offers your desired subject and b) you can get into.

No point in living near an ‘RG uni’ that needs all A’s when you get B’s and C’s.

There are also people who just go to the nearest uni for ‘a degree’ without really caring about the subject

Good points. The nearest university that DD could get to is about an hour commute from our house (providing trains aren't cancelled). It was never on her radar as an option.

Yes. I suppose it is more suited to those living in cities e.g. Bath, London, Glasgow for example.

Here's the original newspaper article I saw about this - in case anyone is interested.

inews.co.uk/news/education/pandemic-cost-of-living-crisis-students-stay-at-home-university-ofsted-1562921

@Orangesandlemons77, the £15K that you have saved for them isn't a saving though. They have that if they go away or live at home.

I would find it very unlikely that two siblings would want to buy a flat together.

If your ds is aware of all the facts, and has researched courses for what he wants to do and researched costs of accommodation against the amount of loan he would get and the amount he could earn, and then he chooses to go to a university near home, then great.
However, it should be his decision and it should be an informed decision.
I presume he will be taking out the loan to cover his fees?
So, when he starts to earn above the threshold (currently about £28K), then he will be paying 9% of his income that falls above the threshold ( ie 9% of £1K, if he is earning £29K), regardless or whether he has taken the maintenance loan or not. The payment each month will be the same.
It might well be that he thinks it is better for him to go to the University he wants to go to, to do the course he wants to do, even if, over 30 years he might end up paying out more (though he might not).
The point is, he needs to be armed with all the information and then he needs to decide what is right for him.

Yes I did explain upthread that he would make the decision.

I think it's a bit patronising to say that students who live at home don't get the full experience and are mollycoddled. DH and DB both lived at home with parents till they were 30 (didn't do uni) and are both far more capable/practical/mature than me who left home for uni at 18. Of my DC, I think it's likely one will stay at home and the other will want to go to halls and I'm happy to support both options.