Can someone please explain university to me.

[Whitetablefan]

Dd has decided she might want to go to university next year.

Can someone please explain in stupid terms how it all works.

She’s just about to go into year 13.

Unfortunately we don’t know anyone who has been to university and her sixth form haven’t really mentioned it apart from a small workshop on the last day of year 12.

PS Sutton Trust as suggested by a PP is a great shout!

I also agree with another PP that for many students, being either in a city or on a campus university is important. If your DD is one of them, making this decision first can help a lot

There are often other ways into careers, In had a friend who even 30 years ago went into accounting through apprenticeship rather then university. It would be good if there where more options available.

Degrees were not so essential 30 years ago!

I'd be interested to know how you genuinely think they are going to get a career they want without a degree. Unless they want a manual type job - plumbing, hairdressing etc.

Give over. Both mine went to uni but there are apprenticeships and higher apprenticeships in all sorts of areas - health, business, marketing, customer services, estate agency, etc etc

Both of yours went to uni though eh?

Most non degree apprenticeships - and a lot of the degree ones - are absolutely shit and exploitative.

Yes, it's usually mumsnetters whose kids safely went to uni that wax lyrical about apprenticeships, safe in the knowledge that their kids will never have to get paid peanuts with patchy 'learning'.

In terms of finance, everyone can get a student loan to cover fees but the amount of loan available for maintenance (rent, bills, food etc) is based on parental income - so there is an expectation that parents will contribute if they earn over a certain amount. Martin Lewis (moneysavingexpert.com) has quite a good explanation of the system. Many students do have term time jobs but I think you need to be realistic about how much paid work they can do without it affecting their studies. That depends on the course as well. There are often ways around it (eg they can apply for a deferred place - so they apply this year but to start in Sept 2026 - and then take a gap year to earn/save up, There are usually long holidays when they can work, they can choose a local uni and live at home etc).

In terms of application, they only need to apply by Jan 2025, and can apply for up to 5 unis. The unis then offer places based on their predicted grades. Then they decide which university they would like to go to (if they get the grades) in something like May 2025. The unis are then committed to offering them a place if they get the grades (in August) but the student can still turn the place down if they decide they don't want to go after all - so you only 'owe fees' once you have actually started.

Open Days normally happen in the autumn (Sept/Oct in particular) so that a good place to start.

You might find there is a lot more information in Year 13.
DD's school scarcely mentioned university in Year 12 either, but there was a fairly full on coordinated timetable of activities and information during the first term of Year 13.

Why the sneeriness about apprenticeships, that can be very good (I agree there are some poor ones) and be more suited to some young people than going to university.

My "kid" is doing an apprenticeship so I assume that means I am allowed to wax lyrical about them? Plus (based on his predecessors) he has a guaranteed job at the end of it, as is not the case for those graduating university (and in fact the job market is quite slow for traditional university graduates in his field).

A bit like failing a module at university means you won't get the degree?

Good luck to your daughter :)

My only advice (and it will sound a bit boring and sensible) is to scope out what job she’d like to do after the degree, and do as much research as possible into that - ideally some kind of placement. Firstly, to check that she feels she’ll actually like and be suited to it, and secondly, to prepare somewhat for the financial implications of the next stage. I’m thinking things like: 1) What does the job pay and what kind of standard of living will that offer in your region; 2) How quickly will she be able to pay down student loans; 3) Will some other qualification be required before she can start the job properly (e.g. masters/phd/professional qualifications, all of which cost a lot of time and money). I absolutely see the value in education for education’s sake, however if she’ll be the first in your family to go to uni, and won’t have a lot of financial fallback options, then I think a career-focussed degree is her best bet for future security. There are an awful lot of graduates with degrees in random subjects who are saddled with debt and struggle to get a decent job.

Before @Whitetablefan super panics, the £90k of student loans mentioned by a pp is a bit overstated.

Tuition fee loan will be £28k fir a typical three year course (this is not means tested so most students take it on) and then a max loan for living expenses (outside London) of about £10k pa so a total of about £60k debt, not 90k.

Plys v few students get the max loan anyway - your Hh income has to be pretty low to qualify (ours is well under £60k and ds will get about £5k loan this year.

On the course that I studied the network of friends and contacts that I made has proven to be far more valuable than the actual topics that I studied. 'Having a degree' was vital for me to get into the career I wanted - but the individual modules were not so important.

With this in mind it might be worth considering numbers of international vs UK students, percentage of private educated v's state educated, types of accommodation, what sort of social clubs are available.

I came from a rural, small-town, white, state educated background. Going to a highly academic University in a small city with a large number of private educated and international students was massively educational and opened up new worlds to me.

@Whitetablefan

I cannot add much as our experience was years ago and even with DCs it seems an age. It was free at our unis!

People get worried about the student loan debts but IMHO there is no real need,

Unlike USA there is no requirement to repay it in full. There is a website which helps on the Government web. I could not find the detail.

In essence nothing is paid until the course is over and you do not pay anything till you earn a certain amount [I cannot find it but think it may be about £29000] at that point you pay a surcharge of 9% on income tax. So if you earned £30000 you would pay 9% extra over the year on £1000 so that is £90 [or about £8 per month extra]. Interest is charged so the debt may increase but the joy is that after a long period of time [?40 years] the outstanding amount is written off.

The Student Loan people will keep checking as to how you are earning and assessing how much you need pay [if any]

This is one of the most amazing things about university imo.

Exciting times OP!

Get her to have a look at whether she would be eligible for the programme the social mobility foundation run. That includes university application support. https://www.socialmobility.org.uk/student

FirstGens is another source of support https://firstgens.co.uk/students/a-level

A lot of universities have widening participation programmes to support first generation applicants. Could just be extra information, right up to bursaries. Worth searching for any university she is interested in.

The WIWIKAU FB group is good, but also prone to over the top and hysterical, so take it with a pinch of salt!

Unfortunately we don’t know anyone who has been to university and her sixth form haven’t really mentioned it apart from a small workshop on the last day of year 12.

That's really sad. Her school should be encouraging pupils to think about post-compulsory education plans.

If it's a "low-performing" school, or in an area seen as socio-economically disadvantaged, you might find a lot of specific & targeted information & support from the Sutton Trust.

Also, I second/third PPs' suggestions to go to a University Open Day if there's a university near you. Low stakes - not much travelling, just looking around to see what it's like.

Make sure your DD talks to some real, live undergrads! We always have a two or 3 current students on our Open Day team, and they can talk to your DD in terns that she'll understand and relate to. As an academic, I can talk about the ideas which guide our degree and our overall aims for our students' learning etc, but current students can talk about their experience of studying and university more generally.

I think that most of my undergrads do some kind of paid work - either during term time or in the holidays. The finances are scary & seem huge sums, but maybe look at it as your DD investing in herself and her future.

DD is going into year 13 and looking at doing biomedical. It would be very difficult for her to get the qualifications she needs a different way so it looks like university for her.

@MigGril if you'd like some positive vibes, DD2 did biomed (finished in 2021), absolutely loved it. She did a 4-year course and the placement year identified exactly what she did (and didn't!) like most about the subject. She has since done a Masters in a specialised field (which she also loved) and has had no trouble finding work in related areas.

Sign up for some open days - advertised on uni websites. You could do a couple in sept / Oct and she (and you) could get a better idea.

For some careers and people Apprenticeship route is better. But it needs to be a good one, and ideally they know they want that career.
I have one child doing one but they already had a job before the apprenticeship, and that employer is paying for their apprenticeship. They do have a guaranteed job at the end (the same one they have now), and they can even go for promotion.

I have another child going for the University route, in a totally different subject. And at present they don't know what career route they want to follow afterwards (there are two main routes plus research, and then a lot of other alternatives). It makes more sense for them.

Also as we have fairly low household income, they are eligible for a lot of scholarships and bursaries on top of the loans.

Have a look at websites that list the best universities for criminology. Different websites will list different universities but you will get a good idea.

She should read each university’s prospectus entry for criminology and look at their entrance requirements. Once your daughter has her predicted grades you’ll know which universities are possible. If she can she should go to any open days to help her choose. Your daughter also needs to choose an insurance offer, so a university where the entrance requirements are lower than her predicted grades in case her A-level results are lower than expected. She should also visit these open days if possible.

She should apply to 5 different universities that she most likes. She should be sure that she is interested in how criminology is taught there.

They might not all offer her a place. She’s aiming for one first choice and one for insurance. I think it’s best to get the UCAS form in promptly. The deadline is January, except for Oxbridge and medicine, dentistry and vet where it’s middle of October. I’d aim to have it in by November but the school will advise.

She should consider whether she wants to go to a campus university or not, whether she wants to live a city etc.

I wish her the best of luck.