DD doesn't have a uni Term 3

[Globules]

Just that really.

She chose modules this year, her first year, that all completed in terms 1 & 2.

She has no lectures and no assignments, nothing, until October 2025.

£9250 academic fees, plus 39 week let fees.

Surely this can't be considered ok?!

2 semesters is normal. Exams and finishing coursework in last few weeks is normal. Oxbridge have 3 terms and modules up to the end of the academic year and it brutal. My kids went to Sheffield University and the semesters were not the same as school terms

I finished undergrad 20 years ago, Russell group uni and very traditional degree - it was. 2 semesters plus exams, always finished by early/first week May and not back until end of September. It was very normal then, I've never actually heard of 3 terms for unis rather than 2 semesters other than for courses like nursing etc which run more all year with placements etc

DD just has exams and some optional revision sessions now, no Lectures or teaching of any kind.
I can't get worked up about it

This is normal, depends on your course but most will be 2 terms. I think each term is usually about 12 weeks but depends on the University itself. Same with exams, some courses will be exams and coursework, some will be coursework only.

That's very common. DD (Eng lit) finished each year at Easter apart from maybe a couple of assignments due in at the end of April. She chose modules with no exams for various reasons. She could still stay there and use the library, there were some social activities etc as well.

DS’s course (science) at a different uni has a proper summer term with lectures and exams. Was chatting to a student I know at Durham who has exams and then lectures etc until the end of June (that may be a function of her course (engineering) tho).

Mine had two, I actually really enjoyed it, I had so much time to get work experience in my subject doing internships etc and do paid work, travel etc

Really? In the 90s May exams were a thing. May Ball. And uni was finished for the year. Same for all my friends at various unis. I think we were done by mid May.

DD had had her last lecture at the beginning of the month, her coursework deadline is early May, then she's home.
DDs applied for loads of jobs and got nowhere - everywhere wants experience....so she won't be earning/saving lots of money over summer....
I am also feeling a bit aggrieved at the weeks of unused accomodation I'm paying for!

2 semesters is normal. 2 teaching terms, exams, all done by June. Holidays are long but needed to work. I graduated in 2000 so this isn't new.

Your dd should be working and doing voluntary work otherwise employers are not going to look at her.

I didn’t have any teaching after Easter holidays, but had exams or essays to finish. If she doesn’t have much to do however, it’s the perfect time to get a job. She could earn a lot of that £9k.

30 years ago I also did 3 x 10 week terms and started in October and finished around the 3rd week of June. We had teaching assignments and exams in term 3! I don't know how we did it.

DD has 2 semesters September through to May with a week or 2 of teaching following the Easter break. Then exams during May.

However, I had 4 weeks off at Christmas and 4 weeks off at Easter and DD only has 2 weeks off for each so all seems to even out. It's been useful for DD to have 4 months to work during summers.

Are you sure your DD's university doesn't do semesters?

Yeah, I don't remember ever finishing before June either in the mid 1990s. DD1 finishes in June and can move her stuff straight into her house rental in July.

Friends are all complaining that their young adult children have been home since mid March and don’t need to go back at all. Some have an option to go back to do an exam or two, but online options exist too!

It seems a lot of money and the kids are saying that they didn’t seem to do that many lectures in the two terms they had. Given the cost, it doesn’t seem like value for money.

Universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and some London universities have term until mid/late June.

No, they aren't. DD did a STEM degree and had modules and exams after Easter. Her exams always went on until June. Her last final exam was 10th June.

I had 2 months between having to leave Halls and moving into my 2nd year student house. I had a job in my Uni town so needed to stay there and sub let from the existing tenants of the house.

I graduated fairly recently and was never at university in May.

I had 2 semesters at uni Sept til Xmas folowed by an exam diet in January then another 12 week block and another exam diet around AprilMay. In our final year we had barely a class or tutorial after Feb courses run in different ways

Ulster University didn't take an Easter break, just powered on through to get all the weeks of teaching finished before Easter, so apart from exams they're finished too. If Easter had been earlier I think they wouldn't have been in such a rush to start in January, and would have taken a break for Easter so would have been finishing off the teaching after Easter.

My DD was the same. I was so shocked!

I get where you are coming from!

At the weekend we worked out that between fees and halls DS had paid about £120 per hour of course content.

In the mid nineties we had two semesters and finished around the end of April.

Same for DS’s course OP. Russell Group uni, academic course. Last lecture was a couple of week ago. He’s got some assignments to do, but no exams.

I’m with you op, my dd has 2w worth of work until the end of May then nothing. Some of her friends have finished at Easter. At best it’s 5 hours contact time, some of it with PHDs, not even the lecturers. She is acing the few assignments that have been set, and doing all the reading. All the lectures are accessible online as well as in person. They might as well make it all online and save us the accommodation costs. This is a Russell group uni too.

I have come to the conclusion it is Emperor’s new clothes. We are paying for next to nothing. It’s paying for entry to a club to say you have a degree. It is a rip off and it needs reviewing desperately.

Did you factor in the cost of admissions, course administration, library books and subscriptions, library staff, student support, IT support, IT software, Careers, Well being, registry...

Mines finished now too.

Odd