How much did you spend on open days?

[Budgetbee]

I am just thinking how expensive these open days are, especially train tickets

We did Sheffield last year
Loughborough this year.
Imperial college: but that’s local

Having second thoughts about going to see Bath as the total tickets are £160 for both; plus lunch. on the other hand I think is a nice trip, and bonding experience with DC.

I guess that’s not too bad compared with other people who are doing more

We paid for train tickets for the DC, or we drove them there, and that was it.

We didn't go on the visit with them (I know quite a lot of parents want to).

One of them didn't go to open days at all (happy with what was online), but went to see what the city was like and if they could see themselves living there. Arranged by finding out which friends knew people at that university and inviting themselves for a night.

Sorry that's not giving the costs, but I really can't remember how much the fares were!

Thanks for replying; no problem reg costs was interested in what other people have done as was wondering whether it was worth the expense,

All the open days we have done majority of kids are with one parent

I was sent off to Sheffield on my own. Don’t think I’d even ever been on a train. We just gave DD train fare and sandwiches and she visited Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle on her own.

Dd2 went with school or on the train/coach with friends which school paid for (complicated) dd1 I took but drove as all within the hour.

For us it was worth the expense as they are potentially going to spend 3-4 years living there. Have a look at coach costs which may work out cheaper than trains. We drove to all of the ones Ds attended, some were day trips, the one Ds ended up with is an overnight stay due to distance. He also only did a couple of actual open days, some we just visited to get a feel during year 12 October half term as the students are at the uni and then went back for the open day if it was a contender.

It is more normal than not for parents to attend open days, there are often talks just for parents, some places also welcomed parents in to the subject talks too. After all the parent is expected to financially support their child and if they are on minimum maintenance loan that is potentially over £5k per year. I am definitely wanting to see what each uni has. As much as I loved a particular uni (Dh went there) the "kitchens" carved out of existing rooms in what used to be catered halls and are now self catered were a joke, so it was good to compare their halls of residence.

Thank you. I also think is good to get a feel for it if you can afford it; it does add up but it is an important decision. I can see some people are better at budgeting though: sending the kids alone, with school or driving there.

I will try not to worry about the cost and just make an outing out of it,

It is expensive! My DS visited 7 unis across 6 trips. Each trip required a drive of at least 2 hours or usually 3 or more, with one being visited by train which cost almost £300 for 3 of us, even with railcards.

For 3 visits stays in Premier Inn were needed, ranging from £50 to £100. The other 3 visits, we luckily had friends or family who lived nearby who put us up.

One of them was visited without an over night stay, but for most, with stuff starting at 9.30 or 10am, we found it was better to get there a bit earlier and being there the night before helped that.

Then there was food. The overnight stays required a meal out, and for lunches we had a mix of packed lunch bits and visits to cafes.

I never totalled it, but suspect we spent £1.5k or a bit more.

But that said, we tried to view the visits as mini weekends away and I will always remmeber that spring where we visited all those places and the world opened up to DS. It was amazing to visit the places and see what he thought and share the process with him. For me, it is one of the key events in his growing up that I will remmeber really fondly.

But without a doubt, you have to plan your calendar to fit the stuff in and get hold of accommodation and train tickets before prices rocket, and know it will cost. Of course, you can limit your number if visits or the geographical distance from home that you look at and these things will reduce the cost.

Agree, it is a nice experience to share we them; I bought the tickets; unfortunately a bit late hence the costs; but we were away on holiday and I wasn’t thinking of it, so not much we can do now.

I’m looking on it as being a nice thing to do together - before they leave for uni. DS hasn’t wanted to see lots but the three he wants to see are all fairly far away. We’re going on the train and staying overnight so it does add up… We have also spread out the dates - two in June, one in September.

If he gets offers from one he hasn’t seen he can potentially go to offer days alone. He’ll be 18 by then, so will be able to stay over without me.

Train tickets are expensive, full stop.
We drove to all of ours. Much more economical, and flexible.

One of my dc went in the car with one of her friends.
We took 2 of another dc's friends to another one.
One went on train with a friend (so was only one train fare for us to pay for, not two).
But it is a nice thing to go with them if you are able to. Good for them to have a sounding board. Sometimes useful to have another pair of eyes. I wouldn't make a big life changing decision without talking about it with other people - I think it is a big ask to expect an 18 (or 17) yr old to do so.

Dc went on their own except to Cambridge as I was so befuddled by the admissions system, College application etc.

So young persons railcard, often used the coach, money for a meal deal. Once he stayed overnight in a backpacker hostel.

Prospective students don't have to visit possible universities but I think it is a good idea to do so.

However, those visits don't have to be on Open Days; one of my DC did a summer campus tour of U of Bath because the Open Day clashed with a work shift; they were able to quiz a couple of 3rd years as they went around and found it all very helpful.

Costs can sometimes be dramatically cut if DC are willing to jettison their parents and arm themselves with a 16-17 rail card (age permitting obvs); Sat 7 Sep Paddington to Bath return for one adult with a 16-17 rail card is under £37.

Fully understanding it is not for every DC, mine actually felt solo attendance of Open Days meant they were fully engaged and that staff and students fully engaged with them. For them, if was a different and better experience.

In some cases, my DC returned to a uni on a non-Open Day with me in tow; but the dynamic was very much them in the driving seat (sometimes literally); so there can be different routes to the same destination - which, for all of us, is encouraging DC to make informed decisions about uni selection.

We got train cards. I'm old enough to qualify for the 60 plus discount, and my DD got the 16-25 one. They more than paid for themselves for our trips to Exeter, Glasgow and Durham (we drove to the others).
We also stayed overnight in Glasgow and Durham, so there's that expense too.
The latter two were offer holder days - we didn't make open days.

I figured the costs of open days are small fry compared to the whole cost, so have just sucked it up. We went to Scotland last year (& we live down south) so a 2 night trip with a stop at Durham on the way back. Also another northern trip meant a night away. I really enjoy it as bonding time. Others have been done in a day - visited 6 in total. She hated 2 of them so worth it as on paper they looked quite suitable.

Ahh. The train card is a good idea; didn’t think of it.

I do enjoy going with DC; it is not a fortune but I just want to get better with money, plan ahead , use discounts if available, etc; not waste money

Agree reg bonding time and is a family outing too

We spent loads (two hotel rooms) but DH and I had a mini holiday too because we had never visited most of these places ourselves. DC was left to their own devices on the open day while we looked around the city. We drove too which saved costs.

It's definitely expensive. We're doing a mix, driving when close enough otherwise train. In a couple of cases the train has made for a smoother trip as the stations are close to campus and it cuts out parking issues.

We've got twins and each has one more distant one with an overnight stop in a Premier Inn. Because they're both looking we've tried to balance them seeing a few options without getting carried away.

I drove to three (all within a two hour drive) and bought lunch.

Dd went to a local one with a friend.

She drove herself to a uni 4 hours away with her sister

Her dad took her to one

I think probably £600 - we have done 3 each with an overnight stay - if she is committing to live there for 3 years then she needs to make sure the city is right as well.

So 2 x train and one driving, then 3 premier inns for a night each.

Fourth visit is London so she will just take herself up on the train.

Not sure if she will want to add any others to ucas but she will see those on offer holders days only if she does.

Rail card savings do add up. 16-17 card offers 50% off, the others typically 33%. There can be restrictions at weekday peak times but as most Open Days are at the weekend, this is not an issue. There is an initial fee but that is absorbed into the cumulative savings as more journeys undertaken.

An overlooked rail card is 'Two Together'; you have to have two names adults on the card, so there is no flexibility, say, to swap between accompanying parents. However, this card means a parent can also benefit from the discount. So, Sat 7 Sep Paddington to Bath return is under £96 for two adults using a 'Two Together'.

This was us last year.
People asked me where I went on my holidays, and I replied UCAS!!

We did all 5 choices with DD. 4 we drove to, the furthest being just outside London from where we are in the far SW. We did an overnight in a Travelodge/Premier Inn for all. The fifth was a last minute decision and I went on the train with her and stayed overnight. This was the one she ended up going to. We felt it was important for her to make the most informed choice.

When it was DS's turn, we only did 2. He'd pretty much made up his mind where he wanted to go, although we did take him to his 2nd choice for a comparison. First choice was a 7 hour journey but luckily some relatives live reasonably close by.

You probably need to budget £500/£600 to do them all. It's not cheap and we were glad to get our weekends back once we'd visited each one,

Yes, definitely recommend two together. I’ve now amassed two two together cards on top of our friends and family railcard. I’m the only driver so the train is much nicer than driving between three and seven hours depending.

Plus one of our trains was cancelled mid journey and I got 100% of our return ticket back on delay repay.

I think of the uni visits as a lovely time with my children before they left school. Being with them for the day asking questions together and having lunch worked out to a lovely day with each of them. My "favourite" visit was with ds to Coventry. Frankly the organisation was appealing we were sent 3 different places for the intro talk before finally being sent back to the first place we went. The info talk for his subject matter involved a guy spending 30 minutes telling g us all about his anxiety over his dd starting the year before but she was doing fine. (This would be ok if we were at a general info talk but this was meant to be subject specific)

Noone knew where we needed to go for a 2nd subject ds was interested in. The accommodation stunk of weed that badly I commented to ds we likely could get high just on the smell...

Got to noon we looked at each other. Dropped out of the visit and went for lunch. I recall sitting at this Italian place with him. With a view of the Cathedral and it was just a lovely afternoon before our train. I saw 2 other parent child couples who did the same as us (as they also caught the train back)..

Honestly all other visits even to unis we didn't like were much better. Went to 4 with dd1 3 with dd3. 5 with ds. And dd3 whom went to Aberystwyth never got a single visit. (Post covid etc) she is however thriving at uni.

We found their uni for each of them and for me and the kids those days visiting unis were good days. When they come up on our memories they always comment "that was a good day" for me that is worth the time and travel.. we have spent up to £300 o. Those visits.