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?

Ah that's lovely to hear (not the 3 day hangover)
DS had actually met one of his college parents earlier this year when he was doing a STEM ambassador thing and was surprised that they remembered him.
First day of real work tomorrow, I hope all of our DC enjoy it!

My DD’s college parents cooked her and another dinner at their house! However their talk was all about past drunken escapades, and as a non drinker my DD felt they had nothing in common so didn’t really interact with them again. Despite everyone saying kids don’t drink much these days she has been challenged more than once about it, once at a social. She’s happy to go out and have a soft drink, but it’s no fun being the only sober one in a group and it’s terribly boring when they all talk about their drunk nights at this or that club.

As a resident of Durham, please, please, tell your young people, and to pass it onto their friends, USE BIKE LIGHTS. I passed three cyclist going home from work with no lights, no high viz. Durham roads are too narrow and busy to suddenly avoid a cyclist you didn't see sooner because they have no lights.
Also. If the foot path us closed, use the one they direct you too, don't walk on the road! Last year we had students walking down the side of a duel carriageway because they couldn't be bothered to cross the road!

Be safe, be seen.

DS has forwarded his accommodation invoice this morning 😬
How are everyone's DC settling in to their routines? Now that the novelty of living above a college bar has worn off, DS has bought earplugs so that he can get some work done in the evening.

My daughter is loving it. She has a roommate she gets on well with, their floor in Grey seems to be a ready made gang (they have already decided they all want to live together in second year!) she’s taken up Brazilian Ju Jitsu and loves it, been to the races, clubbing way too many times and has a swim test this eve for the rowing club. There might be some studying going on too! We are visiting her next weekend and I can’t wait.

I’ve had the pleasure of the accommodation invoice today too. I’m so pleased it’s in 3 separate payments so it’s not as heartbreaking 🤣

Judging by the lack of contact, I’d say that DS is having the time of his life. I’ve already had to have a few stern words with him about being too ill to go to lectures but not too ill to be out the night before. Hopefully that one is resolved now. He’s due home this weekend so I’ll try to find out a bit more. It’s definitely got easier for me than when he first left but empty nest syndrome sure hits hard. I really feel for the parents who can’t see their children (if I can still call them children 🫣) until they break up for Christmas.

This is lovely to hear, it sounds like she's living her best student life!
DS has also joined college rowing, just ergs so far though as he's waiting for his swim test.
We might bump into you at the regatta next summer lol

@Skybluegreen it looks like we need to deduct the £200 deposit from the first installment I think?
We've seen DS a few times as it was his birthday 2 weeks ago, but I'm also struggling with the empty nest. Being self-employed and WFH isn't helping, ah well at least their bedrooms have been thoroughly cleaned ready for Christmas holidays.

My dd paid her own accommodation invoice . I assumed they would have deducted the £200 deposit- Is that not the case? I might need her to check

The invoice is saying due 1st Dec which seems a very long time, have you all got that too?

First installment due 5 Nov on DS's, when I clicked through to the payment portal the £200 deposit had already been deducted @Brienneoftarthismyhero

DS invoice says the 1st instalment is due by 5th November and the £200 has already been deducted. This is for Castle in case it’s different across the colleges.

Thanks, we are Grey.

I have set up a direct debit so it should be ok but will check and call if needed

Direct debit payments do come out later than the invoice date. It’s the 1st of the following month so it looks like you have nothing to worry about.

Ah thank you!

@MillicentFaucet - thanks for posting: i have been missing your posts! DD also received an invoice for accommodation this week.

DD seems to be settling into John Snow and Durham life quite well. She has done some partying and seems to still have freshers’ flu. But she’s making it to lessons and seems to be enjoying that side of things also.

Apparently she’s the worst cook in her flat (JS is a self-catering college and she applied for catered first) but is planning to do a cookery course over Xmas hols.

She’s home this weekend so am hoping to prise a bit more information out of her!

@Dery I'm enjoying all of these positive updates, the stress of college allocation and enrollment seem like such a long time ago.
I'm sure your DD's Freshers flu will be gone after a weekend of home comforts and tlc, have a lovely time catching up and spoiling her.
DS is doing some voluntary work at a heritage museum nearby so he may grace us with his presence for a few hours (more likely he'll just run in, grab the car keys then disappear for the rest of the day)
He's already mithering on about Michaelmas ball tickets and dinner jackets, it's going to be Christmas holidays before we know it!

@MillicentFaucet - your DS sounds very busy but i hope you get to see a bit of your DS this weekend!

thanks for clarifying. I assumed as much but getting info out of DD is slow! Haha

she’s loving her time in Durham already and made some good friends too.

As I predicted he dashed home to pick up overalls & boots then spent six hours shoveling coal. Then home for a soak in the bath then dinner so we got the full scoop; loves his course (especially the labs), swim test passed so now eager to get in a boat and making more friends from other houses/colleges.
He gathered up some stuff for a pirate costume for Halloween parties this week and left early to finish a maths test.
It was lovely to see him so happy but I miss him so much.

Hello all! DD seems to be settling in nicely now. She’s met a nice little cohort in her college and is getting out quite a bit, despite her course ramping up from 0-60 almost immediately so she has lots of work to do. Lots of happy little updates about clubs and societies coming in now, which is very much what we were hoping to hear!

Morning all. Anyone else’s YP pinning down next year’s accomodation already? We had a call with DD last night to discuss a house she’s looking at with around 7 others. It looks like reasonable value (for Durham), but discussing deposits for next year when we’re only just paying the first instalment on this year’s college room feels bizarre. It wouldn’t have happened in my day, etc!

Morning @RayonSunrise hopefully we're dodging that bullet as DS is coming back home next year.
A house for 8 sounds fun though, it must be huge, where is it?

It‘s in a fairly non-studenty area around 20mins walk from the town centre - not sure what it’s called, but on the south side of the Wear just north of Gilesgate. They sound like a fairly sensible bunch of kids - all quite studious, no massive party animals among them, already discussing cleaning and garden care rotas, etc - but we did make the point to her that the neighbours will have little tolerance for mess, noise, and general childish student flakiness. They do seem to be aware of that much, at least in theory!

My son is a part of a group of 16 that are currently looking at properties. They are hoping to get 3 in same area . Already doing viewings , discussing costs etc. It does seems strange for them to do it considering they have only started, but student housing at Durham seems to be a big problem and i guess they are being proactive, which is not a bad thing.