How Expensive

[nomdegrrr1]

Son would like to go to Cambridge to study computer science. Apparently he has a reasonable chance of getting there, but it's hard to know as he is still in Yr10.

There is not a huge amount of money in the household, but willing to do what we can to support if he makes it. How expensive is it to be a student at Cambridge? How much should we save? No grandparents or relatives that can help, so it's just what we can sort out.

He may never get anywhere near there, but I would like to be prepared.

You're welcome.

It's just a university at the end of the day. If you are lucky enough to get in you have to work hard and cram a lot onto a short time. And you have to cope with no longer being the best - you'll be very average. Some young people find that difficult to adjust to.

But you get very well looked after - everything is set up try to help you get on with your work and other interests.

Iron Oaks has just reminded me, for Cambridge they sit the TMUA entrance exam, Cambridge call is CTMUA as they pay for it instead of you and they get the results directly to them. It is sat in the November along with all the other entry exams for uni for medicine, languages etc. No other uni wanted an entry exam, just Cambridge.

Look at GCSE requirements too, some ask for grade 6 for English Language.

And I agree with Bumps it is hard work when you get in. Ds has friends at Oxbridge and they play hard and work hard. There is a thread on here somewhere where someone asks if the rumours are true about workload at Oxbridge. Everyone says yes.

Agree with @TizerorFizz Warwick is definitely worth looking at for computer science. My ds graduated last year and accommodation in halls was pretty reasonable with a range of options.

Maybe your DS can get a job in y12. My DD is at uni worked as a lifeguard in y12 and still occasionally works at the same leisure when she is at home in the holidays. She saves nearly all the money she earned and has managed to amass ££££s. (Lifeguarding is a good job to have if your DS is a good enough swimmer - lifeguards are always in demand)

She is in London. The student loan covers her rent and bills. She also gets a £2,000 bursary every year from the uni and she spends that on food.

She says she has hardly dipped into her lifeguard earrings.

Help your DS budget. Tell him to keep notes on what he spends.

Dd went to Cambridge and Ds is just about to graduate from UEA. Cambridge was by far the cheaper in terms of accommodation. We didn't have any grants or bursaries for dd but we paid around £4.5k per year for dd for fully catered. Ds was about £6k per year for self catering. I wish this was more widely publicised about Cambridge (and I assume Oxford but don't know) as it would surely help with widening access. They really are amongst the cheapest places to study.

Accommodation is the huge variable in how much a degree will cost.

Cambridge accommodation will be provided by the colleges and is cheap. I agree that whilst they are super prestigious it can be a lot cheaper to go to Oxford or Cambridge due to cheap accommodation and availability of bursaries.

London accommodation for my dd was £10k per year. My goddaughter paid £50 per week for a northern Uni.

It took us 10 years to save, and we only paid for accommodation, not living costs or fees.

@nomdegrrr1
i would say working in the holidays is ok if he really needs the money. Otherwise do something around his subject. Leeds is ok of course but is it a safe choice snd near to home? The best unis are in the Complete University Guide for this subject.

@merryhouse has said most things. From DD1's experience at Cambridge in a college with strong links to Yorkshire, accommodation is banded in terms of price. DD had no choice in year 1 as all freshers live in the same block with en suite rooms, which is quite expensive. Then in the ballot for her 2nd year, she ended up in the main court in a small room with shared bathrooms and kitchen with an amazing view over the lawn to the chapel. Because they were high in the ballot in year 2, they were low in year 3 but this was good as they got the Victorian house in the college grounds that needs redecorating. It has shared bathrooms, so it is really cheap, but had a fully equipped kitchen including a freezer, so she saved a lot. In her 4th year, she had to go back into the 1st year accommodation, as that's how it works. When DD went there, our household income was around £35k.

OP, keep your eye on the website as they do offer courses, admittedly more at Easter, but there may be some over the summer where state school students are invited to come along to experience the lifestyle and lectures as well as get info on the application process. You could also try Sutton Trust as they run summer schools. One of my students has won a place on an Engineering Summer event at DD's college later this month.

Cambridge students also run Twitter accounts each year for difference subjects. DD was in charge of Physical NatSci's feed in y2 and her own sub-part of that in y3. The students chosen get the job based partly on their ability to interact with prospective students and their parents, so it is worth following therm and sending them questions. I think undergraduate exams are now over (as rowing events are on) so now would be a good time to follow them and get some idea about the lifestyle.

Thank you everyone. This is really helpful stuff and I'm so grateful.

I'll share this info with son, as he is the one who will be taking the next big step.

Thank you again

Great!

Best advice is

• choose a levels carefully
• see what open days/summer schools/outreach is available
• devote yourself to your subject as that's what interests them at interview rather than loads of extra curricular stuff
• have a go, in the spirit of giving it best shot whilst also knowing that at the end of the day it is a bit of a luck of the draw. There are 3,4,5 even 6 times more great candidates than they can offer places to.

So if your DS doesn't get in, it's not a verdict on him.

And finally if you're dead set on cambridge and don't get in, you can try to get good A levels and try again the following year.

@Bumpsadaisie Thank you - you are awesome!

We paid dds accommodation which was about £1500/term. She got a minimum loan and a smallish bursary from college. She managed to get relevant jobs/research placements each summer, but didn't work in other holidays. She had a 4 year course. She's ended up with some savings out at the end of her time there.

We could have lowered how much we paid towards it, but felt that making up her income to the full loan was fair. However, we could have given her less if needed and she still be comfortable.

To do this, we worked out we needed to pay in to a seperate account £200/month from Year 10 onwards. That amount would be also about right for a 3 year course if accommodation rose to £5k a year.

Just a word on the way Cambridge conducts outreach. (At least, as I experienced it five years ago). As each college recruits independently and they're all looking for untapped state school talent, they have divided up the UK into various areas with each college taking a region. I live in south west Wales and a few years ago it was Churchill College that was in touch with the state school sixth forms. I was helping to support an Iranian and Afghani asylum seeker who were hoping to read Medicine and they were both offered access to summer schools and special events. They both, in the end, opted for dentistry and both got into other universities. As one of them explained to me, you can be making serious money in dentistry more quickly than in medicine, you run your own business, you don't have to work nights and weekends and you don't really have to talk to your patients!

You can apply to any of the Cambridge colleges that takes your fancy, but the college that covers your area will give you a way in. It can be good to do a taster session so that your son can get a chance to experience what Cambridge and the colleges are like.

If your son is good at a sport and there's any chance of him achieving a high level of competence then that might give him an edge. Rowing is the obvious one, but you can get a blue for all sorts of sports, from cricket and soccer to fencing and judo and golf and water polo...

@Pluvia You can be a self employed dentist and have your own practice but the investment required is huge. I’m bemused that asylum DC have this sort of money or think they can borrow it. The ambition is good though!

I don't imagine they expected to leave university and immediately start their own practice.

Tuition is no more than other universities. Colleges tend to provide accommodation, so it can be cheaper than some places which don’t.

Overall it should cost no more than going away to many other places.

There will be funds available to assist in cases of hardship, and of course the normal student loans as well.

Cambridge isn’t in London.

They both, in the end, opted for dentistry and both got into other universities.

Cambridge doesn’t have a dental school so they would have to go elsewhere?

There are eleven full blue sports;

Boxing, hockey, football, cricket, rowing, rugby, gymnastics, squash, table tennis, lawn tennis and golf.

Colleges do not take sporting ability into account for academic degrees.

I boxed for mine. One of the highlights of my life so far.

Of course they say they don't take sporting achievement into account. But when faced with fifteen prospective students each with the required A levels, all of whom have passed the entrance exam at the same level, they will look for other ways of weeding people out. And if you can be an asset to the college in some way — like winning a sporting trophy...

Thank you for spelling out the ruddy obvious.

Yeah that's utter bollocks.

You’re very welcome.

I like to be helpful as not everyone may know that neither Oxford or Cambridge has a dental school.

HTH

What makes you say that? Did you have friends when you were there for whom that made a difference, or did your tutor claim that that’s how they did it?