Failed 1st year but not told parents….

[Watermelonsugar44]

My dc’s housemate (2nd year uni) has apparently failed first year, but is already contracted in to the house share.

The housemate is planning to move in anyway and find a job to pay rent and council tax, and retake the exam they failed in the summer, then hopefully join year 2 next year.

This sounds a bit worrying to me, especially when dc said they haven’t told their parents, who will probably still be supporting them!

Is this common?

Sounds like a sensible approach. Stressful, but sensible.

A friend of my niece did exactly this. At least they are looking to get a job to help with costs.

Happens every year. Many years ago now, but in my uni days two kids got full time jobs and continued in shared house as dropped out/kicked out for failing and wanted to enjoy uni life. They only confessed to parents at end of third year when graduation should have been looming.

planning to move in anyway and find a job to pay rent and council tax

Check this, I think if you have students and non students together it’s not so simple? Not sure how, but I heard something about it.

They will be fine. Here is some advice https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/debt/council_tax/student_accommodation

When my husband was a student and I worked I paid with the single person discount.

In the normal course of events, a single non-student living in the house would negate the 100% discount for a house where all the tenants were students, but there would be a 25% discount applied. However, they need to check whether the university considers the housemate still to be a student during the coming year, because if so, the full discount would still apply.

It's fine. My son shared with 2 student friends in a student house but he worked and wasn't a student! Only thing was he was liable for all the council tax.

It sounds the most sensible way forward as long as can get job apart from not telling parents but that's up to them.

For confidentiality reasons universities don’t inform parents on grade matters or illness.

I've heard of a friend of DCs who didn't tell his parents that he was retaking exams each summer and scraping through his degree (he said he was heading for a 1st). They obviously found out in the end.

The housemate may have been liable for the rent anyway until a replacement was found even if he had returned to his parents, so perhaps that's what his thinking is in staying... that his parents will give him a load of shit for dropping out and still having rent to pay.

I suppose as long as pays rent and council tax it’s ok but if you are a guarantor I can understand the worry, what if he doesn’t get a job etc.
My friend is a graduation manager and has horrible situations each time where yp haven’t told parents they have dropped out. Obviously for confidentiality they can’t disclose info no matter how much parents shout at staff or complain. The worst she had was international parents flying in for ceremony and their child wasn’t on list as not graduated.

If the friend is retaking exams then they're still registered with the uni as a student. My son failed his first year and was invited back to 'retake' his first year (later crashed out by the Easter) so it's possible. Nephew has decided to leave uni without completing his degree and is living in a student house this year. Uni won't inform the parents, it happens a lot.

If they are still registered as a student with the university and intend to return to take those resits they are still classed as a student and exempt from Council Tax. They can work just as a student can.

This exact situation happened to DC's mate, he was in a house share and moved in with all his mates as planned, not my DC they were in private halls of residence. He did the resit and passed and entered his second year when all his flat mates were entering their final year.

Apparently they aren’t classed as a student, I don’t know the full details as heard it from dc. No idea why!

Resitting with attendance is classed as a student for council tax purposes. Resitting without attendance, not classed as a student. At least that's how it used to be.

Yes I think the plan is to work full time

We looked into the various possibilities when DD had a difficult first year which ended with her not able to sit the exams at the end of the year or the ones in the resit period. If she had had a year out then she wouldn’t have been classed as a student although she would have been able to sit her exams at the end of the year but wouldn’t have had access to any university facilities. She would then have been liable for the full amount of council tax albeit with a 25% discount as the other house mates are students.

Instead she found out as she had submitted enough assignments earlier in the year this meant she was able to have a supplementary first year where she is a student, gets full student maintenance loan but has only half the tuition costs for this year. Tuition is funded for the length of your course plus one year so this is possible. It also means she is having an easier first part of the year.

There really wasn’t any way I couldn’t have known about what was happening due to the circumstances but I am very glad that I do know. This has been a time she’s needed support and I’m glad I’ve been able to give it.