Parents of Durham freshers 2025

[MillicentFaucet]

We've chatted on a different threads over the past few months so do any anxious/excited/slightly overwhelmed parents want to congregate here for Durham chat?
My DS will be starting an MEng next month and has been allocated to Cuths 🐯(but no confirmation of what type of accommodation he has yet).
He's slowly working his way through registration etc and fretting about the important things like what to wear for matriculation <sigh>
How's everyone else getting on?

Has anyone else had problems logging in with the student ID to confirm their accommodation acceptance? (I think it’s accommodation not course.) It needs to be done by 28th apparently so my DS is panicking a bit.

That does help, thanks! I can calm my panic a bit!

We heard from Grey last night around 6pm

DS is in exactly the same position for Castle college. The waiting is painful, especially when others have already been allocated accommodation and been booked in for drop offs. It does seem as though people are hearing in batches so I’m not panicking too much yet.

I don't think your DC needs to be logged in, DS received his offer to his Gmail account, same as the licence agreement. He forwarded the licence to me so that I could make the payment.

Hey MidLifeCrisis -
Which college? My son is at St Marys and I don’t think he has anything from them yet, which is either his failure to do something (highly probable) or maybe they are not that organised - which also seems extremely possible, since their website doesn’t yet have a “welcome freshers” page, which most other colleges do.

In case no one else has mention it WIWIKAU has an offshoot on Facebook for Parents of Durham University students and off that each college has a chat in messenger, also one for DSA, Looking for flatmates chat etc

Yes, the accommodation offer came to his gmail - but to pay the £200 holding deposit he needs to go to a payment page - thru the licence agreement- and put in his student ID, which is not recognised (despite being quoted on the offer email)! Very frustrating! I wondered if it was a more widespread problem…..but it seems like you managed it!

@PrinceRegentLady - I will check with my DD because she was having problems logging in also but she has now confirmed the licence and we have paid for the accommodation.

@PrinceRegentLady - could your son be using old details? DD said that Durham sent an email with a new user name and login details and a password that you have to change when you first log-in (ie different from what she had for UCAS).

My daughter had an email from Durham early last week saying she would be sent email and login separately and since then has heard nothing. She’s also heard nothing from her college (Grey) since the June notification. She’s been on hold with them for an hour this morning, moving from 7th to 4th in the queue. We are starting to worry!

I think there’s a lot of us in the same position. It feels more worrying as there are also a lot of people who have had their college confirmed, been allocated accommodation, booked drop off slots etc. Hopefully the colleges are just still working their way through everyone on the list. If you do hear anything else, please do post an update.

@redblonde DS is Grey, we got our accommodation email late Friday. The bank holiday today may be delaying the next batch of emails?

@redblonde and @Skybluegreen - you may already know but in case not: there’s a Durham Uni Facebook page which gives access to loads of Messenger groups; each college has a Messenger group for parents. The Facebook page is closed but the administrators seem to approve membership very quickly. You may get some useful/reassuring intel on there, particularly as there are parents of existing students in there who pop on to share their experiences of previous years.

Thanks - I’m in that group already and getting some comfort from the fact that we are not alone!

Hello all, was on hols and completely missed this thread had started! Thanks @MillicentFaucetand wave to @Dery from the last thread.

@redblonde My DD is also allocated to Grey and though her place there has been confirmed, she’s still waiting for her details - room, deposit request, registration, the lot. It’s making her quite antsy as she has a friend at another college who’s already received everything. I keep confidently telling her I’m sure it will all be fine, but I’m joining that FB group to keep an eye on things…

Hi @RayonSunrise! Good to see you - hope you had a good holiday!

DD is at a different college (John Snow) and I’ve found the Facebook Messenger thread very helpful.

Exciting times for our DCs after the white knuckle ride of A levels!

Hi all.

@MillicentFaucet My son is studying Comp Sci and Math and is also at St Cuths. He’s been allocated a shared room which we expected. We’ve had email regarding booking a slot though I’ll have a hire car which means I can’t complete the rego number but I’ll think about that closer to drop off I guess.

Nothing so far about paying any deposits but I’ve asked my son to check.

Booked a room at the Bannatyne hotel a while ago. We will be there for a week as we’re coming from abroad, though he is a home student.

Hello @RayonSunrise nice of you to join us. I'll excuse your tardiness since you've been in holiday 😉
I hope you had a great time.
It seems like everyone is at different stages of accommodation & enrollment etc so definitely too early to start fretting. I hope your DD gets her stuff emailed through tomorrow, has she uploaded her photo yet, things seemed to move really quickly for DS once his had been validated.

Hi @W0tnow nice to see another Cuths parent on the thread. Ask your DS to check the email containing the accommodation offer, I think there is a click thru link to accept and pay the deposit. These screenshots are from the email DS received, it was headed "Particulars of Offer"
The Bailey colleges need your reg number so you don't have to pay the £5 fee to Durham county council, I would email the college and let them know that you will provide it once you've picked up the hire car, I'm sure you're not the first parents to do this.
Might see you on the 28th 😁

Thanks, he did have the email in junk folder. Deposit paid.

Phew good catch.
DS received an email from Cuths this morning asking about food allergies etc, so they seem to be quite efficient with their admin

DS has just shown me his timetable & it looks really full-on, I'm hoping his college do packed lunches.
And if he does all of the Freshers week stuff he's probably going to need to come home for a few days to recover before classes start 😮

Great to find this thread. DS2 studying geog, and allocated Trevs (his first choice). I’m excited / nervous for him, he’s keeping his cards very close to his chest.

OMG, just going through the Grey college stuff and some of it clashes with the booked stuff for the fresher fair, aargh.