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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

How much did you spend on open days?

67 replies

Budgetbee · 03/09/2024 15:13

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

OP posts:

TheChosenTwo · 04/09/2024 07:33

Dc1 had virtual tours as it was still
covid and narrowed it down that way. Then went to see one in person with dh as I had Covid. So the cost of driving 200 miles and lunch. Not bad at all I’d say. There was human suffering for dh though as he said it was all nonsense (the talks they sat through, he said it all went over his head and that he hadn’t a clue what they were waffling on about most of the time 😂).

aramox1 · 04/09/2024 07:35

About £250 I think. We got a 'two together' railcard and then ds got a young persons one and went alone to 3. The far away ones are hard, once he stayed over for an offerholders day but the uni reimbursed that one so look into it.
I really encourage yp to go alone or with a mate.

ShanghaiDiva · 04/09/2024 07:36

we visited bath as part of our uk summer holiday. You can do a self guided tour. There is also an enormous amount of information online complete with virtual tours so it doesn’t have to be hugely expensive. We also had a look around Cambridge as part of the same holiday

aramox1 · 04/09/2024 07:39

Definitely book well ahead! I got ds to decide which ones to visit (and realistic choices based on his grades) and booked tix early. You don't have to be there at 9-10, all the sessions are repeated through the day and in practice a full day is pretty shattering so arriving 11-12 is fine.

ouch44 · 04/09/2024 07:45

DS did 8 open days and 3 offer days!! I'm sure if he'd done more research online he could easily have cut that down. One was our local city so will have cost very little.

No one has mentioned that you can claim funds back for travelling from most universities. I'm not sure how but it's usually in the info they send out. Possibly submitting train tickets.

We always use club card vouchers to pay for railcards. Luckily DS only visited places within a few hours so all were day trips and we drive. All the family went to 3 of them because we had been to uni there or had family there.

listsandbudgets · 04/09/2024 10:18

Dd went to open days alone but I went to offer holder days with her.

The prices varies really according to distance and what time you need to be there. For 2 of the offer holder days we needed to arrive by 10.30am which meant travelling the night before, staying overnight and going home afterwards. I don't drive so all trains. For the 3rd it was close enough for us to take early trains.. happily that's where dd is going

We were able to stay with my sister for one if them but had to book a hotel when we visited Sussex which was about £100 plus fairly extortionate rail tickets. However Sussex refunded us £75 of the travel costs and I believe some other universities offer similar.

Make sure your DC has a 16-17 or Young persons rail card as you usually save the price of it on the first journey. Book advanced tickets if you possibly can and if you need to stay over night try to find friends or relatives to put you up even if not in the doorstep. Travelling from Manchester to Liverpool for example is a lot easier than Bristol to Liverpool

Impossible to tell you cost as it depends on where you are where you're going and what sort of tickets you book

Underlig · 04/09/2024 10:19

Nothing. DC didn’t go to any.

Comefromaway · 04/09/2024 10:21

It was mostly train fayres for ds although we did stay overnight in a Travelodge at Leeds. A couple of London ones coincided with when we were down there for theatre visits anyway.

I do think they were important. A couple of places were ruled out after visiting. But it must be difficult for some families to afford it. Salford gives a travel grant to anyone living outside greater manchester which is good.

StrangewaysHereWeCome · 04/09/2024 12:56

We're basing our usual October half term short break for all four of us around two open days this year, so I suppose you could argue there's no extra cost, as we book a couple of nights in a Premier Inn most years.

DC1 has done two really cheaply - one was a bus ride, and the other paid the train and overnight stay through an outreach programme. I'd really recommend looking for any assistance available - I was pleasantly surprised that we qualified for outreach for that one University.

Soontobe60 · 04/09/2024 13:01

You could reduce costs by travelling by coach, cut train costs by booking well in advance, car share with a friend who’s also going for a visit?

MumApril1990 · 04/09/2024 13:02

My parents didn’t take me on any or pay for anything, I just used my wages to get the train to see those I was interested in.

caringcarer · 04/09/2024 13:09

If the Zuni is not too far away maybe DC can go with others from their school/college who want to go. If further away and need to stay overnight if DC is under 18 they can't stay alone in Premier Travel Inn or similar so parents have to go unless DC has family or friend they can sleepover with. It is expensive. When did went DH took her and a couple of her friends to one uni and brought them back same day and DD went with friends parents to a couple of other unis. A bit like car pooling.

Original poster

Budgetbee · 04/09/2024 13:28

Thank you all.

I didn’t know reg the two together, didn’t think of rail cards of club vouchers either. I do want to go with DC and see what they think. Support them in the process; I just need to get better at budgeting and use discounts, etc.

Will check if I can get refunded, buy a rail card or two together and book again

OP posts:

redskydarknight · 04/09/2024 14:45

We treated them as days out to a new place, so did them in lieu of other family things we might have done.

DD is disabled, so there were things she found at from an Open Day that would have been difficult to work out online. We also used the time to have a look around the area so she could think about how her life might work out if she moved there.

They are spending a lot of money and at least 3 years of their life to live somewhere IMO it's a decision you want to make with as much information as you can.

lanthanum · 04/09/2024 14:57

We quite enjoyed the bonding time - but we only have one so didn't have to drag another child around and we only had to do it all once - no, twice - because she wanted to do the offer holders' days too. We managed to schedule nearby universities on consecutive days a couple of times.

For anyone heading up north, the George at Piercebridge (off the A1 near Darlington) has family rooms which are actually two rooms with shared bathroom - cheaper than most places. We didn't try the food.

Investinmyself · 05/09/2024 13:36

Yes we spent money and time off work, think we did 7 open days and 2 offer days.
Book in advance, use Trainline for searching for trains certain times are cheaper. A few were very long days. A couple of premier inn overnights.
Only one on our list that paid towards costs was Queens Belfast £100 for all GB students.
No regrets. A couple good on paper she hated.
I’ll look back fondly at our days out and very useful for narrowing options.

Investinmyself · 05/09/2024 13:37

She did 3 with school too and we just paid for her place on coach.

Digimoor · 05/09/2024 13:58

We used railcards and didn't stay overnight
Time off work and school pick up for younger siblings were more of an issue but my child didn't want to visit the open days alone

randoname · 05/09/2024 14:03

Look at is a bonding day. I stood on a windswept hill in Durham listening to mumbling student who didn’t have much to say or even know much about any colleges of courses and calculated the cost of the the 20+ parents and youngsters getting there, it was about £10,000!
But DS went there and had a great time and we had a lovely day 🤷🏻‍♀️

cornishschools · 05/09/2024 14:24

We have been to five in total and spent £100s on them. We live at the very end of the country so they've all been an overnight stay - the furthest involved two overnights. We've done a combination of driving and trains; I've been to some and DH has been to some (we've been able to combine a couple with work trips, so we've saved a bit on travel costs). It's been good fun - we've treated them as a bit of a mini-break and enjoyed spending the time with DD - but it's been a big undertaking financially and in terms of time away.

It's been useful, I think. DD really liked one place on paper, but didn't feel it at all when she was there (interestingly, I felt exactly the same about it 30 years previously!). A couple have really exceeded her expectations too. We'll try to do the same with our younger children if they are keen to do it.

PuddingAunt · 05/09/2024 14:36

We got lower prices by using the 16-17 Railcard, which is useful to know about.
It might be 3 or 4 years of their lives, or it might be forever. DH and me live in his university city decades later.
However, I am interested to know if being closer to home is beneficial for education results and for mental health.
My university was unusual in having lots of students living at home, and I wished I had thought of that.

WithIcePlease · 05/09/2024 14:38

St Andrews cost me a lot! Uber to airport both ways, return flights, transfer from Edinburgh airport (one way was shared, the other wasn't) and a night at malmaison plus meals.
Better than 4 years though and I enjoyed the trip.

Filingmyshoes · 05/09/2024 17:38

We did loads with DD (only one with DS) but always drove as much cheaper. Long journeys over 3 hours DH and I shared driving. I think we went to about 7.

Only one we stayed the night - and as it was close-ish to DSs uni he got the train and met us there for supper before going out clubbing and staying over with a friend of his at the uni. Handy to chat to the friend over supper about the uni too. We took DDs friend to an open day at another one with us, which was really nice.

So for us the big expense was actually our time rather than petrol and other expenses which weren’t that much. We took food with us - except when we stayed overnight, and just got the odd coffee etc (offer holder days there was free lunch and drinks though). I much preferred the offer holder days to the open days as you see the uni on a proper working day and get a proper feel for the department.

DH and I didn’t go to uni so our DC haven’t grown up knowing about all the little details of being at uni that people have chit chat with their DC about. So for us it was good to go with DD (and she very much wanted us to) to have her ask questions and research what was important.

Changes17 · 05/09/2024 17:43

Interested to hear that parents also go to the offer days. I thought DS might go to those alone. Is it better to go, even if you've already seen the uni at an open day?

Investinmyself · 05/09/2024 17:53

Changes17 · 05/09/2024 17:43

Interested to hear that parents also go to the offer days. I thought DS might go to those alone. Is it better to go, even if you've already seen the uni at an open day?

Offer days we did most were with parents. Mine was really town between 2 Universities so it was useful to have second pair of eyes on it. It’s a lot of info to take in. We stayed overnight for both due to distance.

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