DD still doesn’t have college or accommodation at Durham - should we panic and who do we call?

[Mommybunny]

DD is definitely confirmed to study at Durham this year but hasn’t received her college allocation (it was her firm choice and she’d been given a provisional allocation before A level results) nor an accommodation assignment. She can’t enrol until that’s all sorted and can’t pick her modules. All her friends who are going seem to be all sorted. Every time she has tried to phone or use their useless chatbot she is told to wait for the email with all the information about getting an email address.

She is really starting to stress about it and frankly so am I because I will need to take time off work and arrange a hotel to bring her up there - we are in the West Country. Does anyone know who we can call to find out what’s going on, or is anyone in a similar boat, or otherwise familiar with the process?

Thanks @SlightlySalty that does make me feel a little better. I gotta say this is keeping me awake at night. It shouldn’t (and tbh I wake in the night anyway - the life of a menopausal woman) but with every day that passes I worry more and more that DD is going to be left with nothing and turned out into the private market. And then I wonder: is that designed to try to get people to defer entry? It really isn’t what she wants, she’s got friends who are all sorted and starting this year. She has no plan for a gap year because she did everything she needed to do to start this year.

We are in the same situation @Mommybunny and likewise I can’t get it off my mind (partly because I’m trying to absorb some of the angst from DS who is very down about it all)

There’s no way he’d want to defer; he’d rather have gone somewhere else tbh but of course that option’s not open any more! He says that on all the chat sites there are people chatting through their timetables and upcoming welcome events and he has access to none of it. I’m so cross with their incompetence

From what I’ve seen the Colleges are planning, so if they think they will be over capacity they are getting alternative accommodation for a group of flats, or group of students. Not just sending out one or two students to private accommodation.

Thanks @MollyButton I just can’t believe they don’t even know whether they’re oversubscribed, more than three weeks after results day. It’s literally their job to know this stuff!

With the state of the student housing market in Durham, I think we know what they can expect at this late stage 😭 It’s a pretty rubbish conclusion to the years of hard work, great grades and high hopes tbh, to just be seen as “overflow”

thanks for that info, a glimmer of hope 🤞🤞

I was hoping they might be working this weekend to catch up? Some students have had modules confirmed which seems a little unfair.

I really hope admin are working this weekend, but I doubt it. It’s a real slap in the face to treat some offer holders like this. I’ve seen other uni’s do similar, how do they get away with it! This is not how a uni selling itself on a collegiate system should be treating its students.

I completely agree my DS has been in Durham for pre season training for the last three weeks and has no idea where he has to go when they leave their temporary accommodation! Such an awful way to start what should be an exciting time!

My YP wants to live in her college! Not unreasonable expectation as has an offer and the college system main focus on open day. Can’t remember one Rep that was not living in-college, at least we would have had a heads up.

Well yes - if my team had cocked up so badly, yet could ameliorate it by putting in extra hours, you bet we would all be working through the weekend, as well as actually being in communication with them during any further wait

It shows such a casual disregard for our YP; we as parents try so hard to model respect and professionalism but this one is hard to excuse!

The thing is was it made clear to you that a lot of colleges have some standard accommodation that is separate from the main site? I know both Castle and Hatfield do, and while rooms in Trevs have been being refurbished they’ve been using Soichi (sp?) Hall. They still get a Uni experience. (Even Oxbridge colleges have some accommodation spread around the cities.)

Can anyone see if Durham have issued an update since their last post on the 2nd?
I can’t seem to find anything.
i just can’t believe they are not doing more to reassure students still waiting that all will be well and they will still get onsite accommodation, possibly still in their allocated colleges.
The switchboard operator must be fed up fielding all the calls.
Nobody ever answers any of the numbers you are given to call anyway.
I don’t know what we’ll do if we still haven’t heard by the end of next week either (which I fear could very well be the case).
Good Luck everyone still waiting. 😣

I have seen someone received a Uni email and could see which college they had got via that route. The emails were in the wrong order but seem to be correct.

I don’t think it was made clear to me tbh on open days that you could be located in PG accommodation (Ustinov) or private accommodation. College re-allocation, yes, all understood (including current college set up eg Hatfield) but obviously been naive on this.

I can absolutely guarantee that admin are working this weekend. They have also been working nine to ten hour days followed by another three or four hours late at night. They are, in fact, working their bollocks off and will continue to do so.

If you do get Shoichi it is right next door to trevs 😊 absolutely no reason to be sad about it, it has plenty of plus points such as standard size rooms and a bit more private. It certainly won’t hinder your YP from getting involved with it all and having an awesome time 😊
They can go in all the college bars, and do! My YP spent most of his time in Collingwood despite not being in that college so please don’t worry 😊

durham-student.org/living-in-shoichi-hall-trevelyan-college/

That’s good to hear, I am grateful for that and I sure they want to get sorted just as much as we do. We’ve still not heard anything

thank you for the reassurance. Not heard of Shoichi so will check that out, location seems more positive as opposed to others I’ve heard YP placed in eg a bus ride away

I don’t think anyone should have to feel grateful that the admin team are working over the weekend! The whole system is clearly not fit for purpose, hasn’t been for a long time and shows such sheer and utter disdain for their student customers. It’s like this time of year has come as a surprise 🙄 Which other industry could get away with such shoddy treatment?! Definitely one to avoid.

I hope those still waiting are given a confirmed college on Monday. My dd (going into her 3rd yr) waited 2 weeks for confirmation (firm and exceeded offer). We assumed she was going to be reallocated but was confirmed into Chads (her provisional allocation). It was a miserable time when she should have been celebrating amazing results.

However once she had been confirmed into Chads - when she was essentially passed to her college as opposed to the centralised DU team - her experience was amazing - her college couldn’t be faulted in any way.

Our understanding is that college allocation isn’t straightforward in as much as they need to wait for people to accept / refuse offers before they can make further offers. Also in colleges like Chads where there is a high number of shared rooms there is the additional challenge that, of course, shared rooms are single sex.

My DD’s experience at Durham has been amazing - she has chosen to move back into college this year and will be frepping again - the stress and upset of the wait is now just a distant memory.

I honestly don’t think they are working over the weekend 🤔

That announcement on the morning of 2nd September said they’d already sorted 90% of students - but five days later there are still some in priority group one (firmed offer, met grades) who are waiting to hear - not to mention all the other groups. That just doesn’t make sense, numbers-wise!

If it helps, I can only echo what KittyMcKitty said. A couple of years ago my DD missed her offer but was accepted, it took a couple of agonising weeks before she was confirmed as relocated to another college. She loves it there, the freps were amazing and there were activities for everyone. She felt settled from day 1 (which surprised me) and never looked back.

Hang in there.

I just hope we hear tomorrow. My DS is training all morning but is going to go to the office in the afternoon and see is he can see someone, they had left by 4pm on Thursday and Friday. I will let you know how he gets on. X

Thank you @KH1227 that would be great; and I hope your DS finds out good news for his accommodation etc. I imagine it is really annoying for him not knowing his situation, when everyone around him will be discussing it all

(pre-season training sounds fun though!)

Friends who were at Van Mildert (it's opposite Trevs - the ugly as shit one that looks like someone tried to turn a 1960s office block all zany and angular... with ducks and a lake) lived in Soichi Hall back in the late 90s and had a whale of a time - were up in college as much as they wanted to be but didn't have the loud idiot on the corridor blaring music like a twat factor going on as much as being on the main college site.

Least it's less stairs than if you end up at the top of the Castle Keep - epic postcode, epic thigh muscles!

I actually only clicked on this as I was idly scrolling Palatinate website the other day (I must have been really bored) and they had an article on this situation - which of course I can't find again now I'm looking for it - they've effed up fresher accommodation allocations for a good few years on the run now by the sounds of things.