Why me? - sorry rant warning!

[tammybear]

I cant believe my luck. I was suppose to start college today at 9:30-12:30 doing photography. Takes me half an hour to walk there from my mum's house. When I got there, went to reception to find out where I was suppose to go. Turns out my class isnt til Tuesday and noone was told!! Was extremely pissed off, as I cant do Tuesdays as I have no childcare. So been ringing around all nurseries to see if anyone is willing to do it. Luckily the nursery up the road (15 extra minutes walk) has a free spot on Tuesdays. Went and had a look (which took me 45 minutes to walk back that way although I had already been that way once today). Seems nice but they only do full days but can pick dd up whenever so its going to cost me £41 a day from 9-1 every Tuesday. I cant afford this so need to see if I can help since Im in college (who dont have a creche anymore) and I will have to do all this Monday (as well as do dd's settling in time) as Im suppose to be leaving for dp's house in half an hour but need to have a shower, get changed and actually get back to my house before I get to leave as Im at mums. Rant over, feeling better now

It seems like you go to the same college I did. they were for ever changing lessons, days, times even exam dates. How I got my degree I'll never know.

Stick with it.

wow, this is an epidemic. My dh just started college and the whole application procedure was pathetic. Each time I called they gave a different set of instructions. I was desperately trying to find out what the schedule was so that I could organize work and childcare around it. Well sure enough, the schedule they finally gave me (about 3 weeks before the course started) was wrong! Dh supposedly had class 3 days a week. And then he finds out that in fact it's 4 days a week and then he finds out that several of the times in the schedule handed out on the first day of class were wrong!

Ive heard similar storys from some women going on courses at our local college, scary that the people that are meant to be teaching you new skills cant even get a timetable together and sorted.

Just interested, are we talking about the same college here? Or is this a pattern set around the country.

So without namin colleges, I'm in South Yorkshire.

In defence of the timetabling people - you can't plan a timetable until you know how many students are going to be in each class, as you need to book rooms and teaching space too. You can't do this until students have formally accepted their places or enrolled, as the numbers really do vary dramatically.

Plus, if its an FE college, many tutors work in more than department, so could be teaching several courses in one year, and the timetabling people have to fit all that in too.

I work with part time HE students and this is one of the biggest problems for them year after year, but unfortunately its a chicken and egg situation - they can't commit to the course without knowing when its running, and the timetables can't be completed without knowing how many students will be there. Its not just your college, tammybear, its practically every one in the UK.

Has your college got a student guidance or advice office? If so, go to see them and ask for a list of childcare providers, and ask them to note your problems. If they are worth their salt they should be able to find a cheaper nursery place for you if nothing else.

Good luck.

How about this - I'm applying to Greenwich Uni for a course that, up until yesterday, started in Sept 2005. Today I was told that they've changed their minds and it now starts - in May!!!

Stick with it, tammy. You'll get it sorted in the end and it'll be well worth it.

Well, I don't mind naming names, my dh is at Ealing Hammersmith and West London College.
BadHair, I do understand the scheduling issues, but if they weren't so untogether about the admissions process...took them forever with my dh, then maybe they would have a much better idea early on how many students were going to sign up. In fact.....if they offered a small discount to students who put a deposit down in advance, they would have an even better idea of how many students they were going to have. I guess, the real problem in my mind is that it's a little suspicious when the college that is supposed to teach you business skills (my dh is doing an access to business course) is one of the worst run businesses I've seen in a long time.

I really don't understant why they can't sort the timeable before the start of the term. The university I attended published the schedule between 3 and 6m before the start of classes including lecturer name and room. Now... that was in the USA,don't know if it was because they are more focused in customer (student) service, or it's just that everything was so oversized that there were always more than enough rooms.

Last year, I was the student rep and really, the last minute time table gives a headache to many students and believe it or not, to the teaching staff as well...

SofiaA... I see you came fom the same background as myself

Well after a lot of messing around, I went to my first class last night. (Im in Herts btw) On Friday, I managed to get round to seeing a nursery down the road from college but it was double what we were going to originally pay for another nursery that dd is on the waiting list for (we were going to use that nursery when I was going to start work which never happened) so kept trying to get a hold of that nursery Friday, Monday and Tuesday. Noone phoned me back although I left messages with both home and mobile number.

Spend weekend at dp's, who came back to mine on Sunday as he was ill and would have been on his own which I didnt like the idea of. On Monday, I was suppose to do the settling in period with dd at the nursery that was charging double, but rang up and changed it Thursday to give me a few days tp try and contact other nursery (sorry very confusing I know) Well, the first class was suppose to be yesterday (Tuesday morning) but I didnt go, although I did have dp to look after dd, we all decided that it was just too much money and effort for the course.

So went in around lunch time to see if I could get off the course and enrol for another one, but has it had started that day they said I couldnt get a refund so would have to write to a person. However the other course I wanted to do may not be running as not many people had shown an interest. But did manage to enrol for a first aid for young children/babies course which will be quite useful but hopefully never needed.

Well... at 4pm yesterday I got a phone call saying that there was confusion with the tutor, so it was now going to be held on Tuesday evenings. So in the end it all worked out and we now have a different tutor. It was really short notice and luckily mum was able to look after dd last night, and will be able to do from now on, but only 4 of us turned up as it was such short notice!

Every year that term/semester started we were given a timetable about 3 weeks before classes started. We got into the habit of going in on the monday morning (Whether we had classes or not) and checking the timetable for classes. It got so bad last year that even the tutors were turning up for classes and being told that they had changed.

As for childcare my college had its own nursery (at £20 a day), so most student could use that , if they could afford it, I know I couldn't. some of us got around the problem by bringing the kids into class with us. this was OK by the tutors because they all knew what problems we had.

The very worst was when I was supposed to attend an exam on the Thursday morning, to which I turned up for in plenty of time and got informed that the time had been changed to the previous Wendesday! I wasn't the only one either. This happened over the full three years of my degree. we had some people in classes from 9.15 until 3.00 without a break, one person was even in the same room the whole time, she took sandwiches and ate in class.

Every year we complained and every year we got given some sad excuse as to why the problems ocurred, but every year the same problems happened again. The ironic thing is every year the same classes are taught there is no variation in them at all, so why couldn't they find a timetable that works and stick with it?

My dh is an american and he attended college there and was appalled at the standards over here.

I guess that's the difference. I am an american with 3 (american) degrees and I've never experienced anything close to the chaos at the colleges here. I suspect it may have something to do with the difference in price. My various degrees cost between $13,000 and $25,000 a year, all of which was paid for by me or my parents. If any of my profs turned up late for class, believe me they would have heard about it, considering how much it was costing to get taught by them. My dh is only paying £20 for the term for his college course.

What a carry on tammybear, but glad its all sorted. Do you think you're going to enjoy it? Our course has been a cock up, weve had no lectures yet in 3 subjects cos one tutor is too busy to teach us and the other is off with the flu, and we cant even read up on the subject ourselves because it is a new degree that they are just writing as they go along and so the library were not given any books to order, so no material there. I have been buying some, but the new ones cost between £45-100!! And you cant really make do with one or two. But its not as bad as your situation cleankitty, we do get breaks and the rooms change a bit, i would have gone mad in there!

After finally fighting my way through my degree I decided to stay in education longer and get my Masters degree. This time with the OU.

For my BA I got my teaching fees of £1100 a year paid for. SHOCK HORROR!! NO financial aid available for any post grad course except teacher training. So I now have to find the £1010 per subject myself. Please let the ou be better than Doncaster College!!

I go back to Uni in feb..just had first baby so taking a semester off. Not looking forward to probs with childcare after reading all your stories. Will have MIL helping me so hopefully won't have probs.

I cant believe how much trouble it is just so you can get an education! You'd think they'd make things easier for us, but I suppose thats asking too much.

Harrassedmum - the first lesson was quite good and quite looking forward to the next. Are you enjoying uni although you havent learnt much yet?

Im quite lucky that the courses Im doing aren't too expensive and I am entitled to a discount as Im on benefits. I go to West Herts College btw. My dp's course is costing him £thousands but he's gotten a student loan for that.

Cleankittycat - how comes they dont do financial aid? Can you apply for a student loan? My dp went through this i think it was. Thats so bad.

Tammybear Don't know why just nowhere gives Post-Grad financial aid. thanks for the link anyway. Checked them out but same story there as well.

CleanKitty, there is something called a career development loan ? a few friends of mine have used them to take masters'. Not sure where you get them from but the Learning and Skills Council should be able to tell you (Government agency).
HTH