Thread 43 - GCSE Covid Cohort ..November 22 Remember Remember

[OrangeCinnamonLatte]

This is a support thread for our young adults post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting, and their results ( or life updates for those who went into work or have had results earlier). It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, uni vs employment please don't within this thread.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue. We were previously on the secondary board and then further education, now we shall be here in 'Parents of Adult Children' gulp

Our DS/DD may continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed). Be warned there might be lots of 'Uni Freshers' chat this time of year. My experience is that everyone is welcomed wherever, whatever their child is doing we have some in work, gap years , apprenticeships etc too. Lots of contributors with different experiences and always sympathy and advice to be had

Previous Thread

To be guarantors we have been asked for a copy of our title deed! Where do we get that from? We were not asked for this last year when we were guarantors.

That’s extreme!

Banks used to keep them if you had a mortgage but now they are digital. We onky moved house 2 years ago so I know we had a copy in our pack from the solicitor.

the family I’m thinking of rent. I was thinking that if it came to it I’d offer to be the guarantor as I trust the young person involved to pay rent as a priority (he’s very good with money) as the cost of using a guarantor service is quite high.

Hopefully it won’t come to that.

I've signed as guarantor for DS and I earn peanuts (work p/t). They haven't come back and asked for payslips or title deeds!! All completed now.

Congrats @OrangeCinnamonLatte , another one working for a uni!

In Nottingham they seemed to panic a couple of weeks ago and rush into £140/150 pw houses but I knew there would be some cheaper. It seems that certain agents only have houses at £130 plus whereas others are cheaper. Dd missed out on 3 yesterday and was thinking she’d have to increase her budget but I said more would come on the market and they have - including one at £80 today. I’m just concerned that waiting two days to view means they’ll constantly be beaten to it!

£360/month? Amazing!!

DD and her friends got their 2nd year accommodation sorted today. It’s £100 each. The rooms are a bit small but she seems happy.

Congratulations on the new job Orange!

I have done the guarantor form and we haven’t had to provide any proof of income and it didn’t ask if we own or rent our home (we rent)

What does guarantor insurance cover us for? I didn’t know it was a thing.

congrats on the new job @OrangeCinnamonLatte hope it’s going well

@OrangeCinnamonLatte congratulations on the job. If you are based in Milton Keynes, I worked there for a few years and loved it! They did not move in the creaking way of admin at UCL, where change was so hard to achieve that we generally gave up!

When we guaranteed DS1's rent we didn't have to provide any evidence. I was glad he was only sharing with 3 others, makes it easier to feel confident that no problems will arise, and because he was a Covid first year, he didn't meet people enough to share in second year and knew who his friends were for third year.

Congrats on the new job OrangeCinnamonLatte! If it's where I think it is, I have half a Psychology degree from there (was planning a career change after having dc, but then something else came up and I pursued that instead).

DD is off to a cv writing workshop today, if she can make it into the building. Here's hoping...

DD2 all set to send off her UCAS application, although she had to redo it as she hadn't made it clear that her grades were predicted rather than achieved.

@PaddingtonPaddington that's great rent. ds1 in Norwich was paying £110 a week plus bills for his private rental. The landlord put that up after they left. I know ds2's rent will be a lot more. He's not viewed any properties yet. He's now on the train in his way home. The train left falmer at 10am. He's due at our local station 2pm. This time of day I'd be pushed to drive it in 4 hours. There are always hold ups on the journey.

Dh had to be guarantor for ds1 as I don't earn enough. We didn't read into all that stuff about joint and several. So maybe we should check for ds2. There was a lad who didn't stay in ds1's house at all second year as he fell out with another lad. But he paid his rent for the year.

DD has had her first assignment feedback today.
2 marks off a 2:1, but so frustrating for her because it’s the usual comments about good content and interesting Ideas, but let down by dodgy punctuation and grammar, and incoherent lay out - all ADHD/executive function issues.

Shes been advised to use the writing advisory service, so is going to email them.

She had a panic last night, as she was sent an email suggesting uni had concerns that she wasn’t engaging with the course, ie not attending lectures.
Thankfully, her subject group chat went into overdrive, and it seems that the students haven’t been given instructions to log in their attendance - all of them had the same email.

Is that with or without bills?

Do you know what agency they used at all?

@OrangeCinnamonLatte Congratulations on the new job! Hope you receive a warm welcome even if it's an online induction.

DS doesn't get grades in history - just feedback. I assumed that was a uni wide policy but ti seems not.

It would have been better if she hadn’t got graded, Piggy, because she now says “ loads” of people got firsts, so she’s feeling crap about herself…again.

Ah, she'll be fine @Alsoplayspiccolo , it's only her first essay. Remember the start of sixth form when they were getting D/E grades? (at least dd was in Psych and History - and ended up with As in both).

This finding a house business seems to take a lot of time. Dd has a job the last two weeks of term working 3-9 every day, so I'm keen she sorts it out before then.

DS seems to be in no great hurry about finding a house but they have at least decided on a group. Houses for 7 are tricky to find though, initial look shows they are looking at £150-175 per week . Most of these are without bills although one at £179 says including bills.

I can only see a few 7 bed houses left so wish he'd get his finger out but he says they are all busy...

We never fell into the trap of saying we’d pay rent. We top up his minimum loan to full loan and he deals with everything. Like @Comefromaway we also top up minimum loan to maximum, but if that won't cover his rent we will clearly have to top up enough for rent and him to live a reasonable, but not extravagant, life.

Congrats on the job @OrangeCinnamonLatte !

Hope your discussions with DD are productive and helpful @Seeline .

DS has decided he may have ADHD, which is possible but if he does I would think it to be fairly mild. To put it bluntly, I think he can get distracted (as I can and I think most people can sometimes) but I don't think there is necessarily an issue there but I am no expert. I have not told him those thoughts but said he should have a think about why he thinks he has it and what would change with a diagnosis, then to go to student support and ask for help potentially being diagnosed. I presume that is the right way to go? He is registering with the uni GP but they won't know anything about him and he has hardly been near our GP in years. Any thoughts?

He has now paid holding deposit and then in 14 days has to pay 4 weeks rent as a further deposit... it's mad really!

If we are paying rent, does DS actually need a guarantor?

£175 a week is a LOT!

Possibly yes because it’s his name on the tenancy, not yours.

Yes, I’m going to remind her that she went from a D to an A in geography.
Shes a slow burner, and it’s not her content that’s the issue, which I think is a positive - writing skills can be taught.
One of her flatmates got 4 A*, including English, and got a 2:1 for this essay, so DD shouldn’t be disappointed, given she got a B in English.

279 I remember my niece saying Bath was most expensive university outside London. I think St Andrews could give it a run for its money - DS looked at place which was £840/month plus bills and knows people paying over £1,000/month each. His group were unsuccessful in their application for that one, so he is paying £550/month in the "Badlands" , which means more than a 15 minute walk from centre of town.

I knew it would be expensive but when you add in that it’s for 11/11.5 months instead of 40ish weeks, it soon adds up.

blimey £1k pm in St Andrews is mad.

DD missed out on a house that was £160pw but only an 11 month contract which would've really helped overall.