GCSEs 2018 (15) The Reckoning

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thread 14
The next step of the all new GCSE journey.

EllenJane I could cope with sharing with 15 others, but sharing a fridge with so many students - yuk! I'm imagining moldy food and other people's sausages pressed up against my vegetables.

I'd probably wash cutlery, plates and pots before I used them too and keep a chopping board in my room.

I've just realised I must be a bit OCD about this.

LARLARLAND it may be that that part of the talk - the poor value for money - was referring to the teaching as opposed to living costs. The tuition fees for Oxbridge students are far, far below the actual cost of tuition, so they're subsidised hugely, even those paying full fees. The same doesn't apply to other unis (though I don't know the actual figure for teaching costs elsewhere).

They had two enormous fridges so a shelf each, and two enormous freezers, also a drawer each. Not too bad. But only two cookers and sinks which could be a bit grim. To me, living like that is part of the experience of being a student. I can't get my head around en-suite rooms and kitchens of 4. Where's the squalor?

DS is in Prague at the moment taking part in the international linguistics Olympiad. Yesterday was results day and he got a silver medal in the individual competition, so feeling very proud of him . Hope A level results and GCSE results day are as happy!

They are staying on for a couple of days now to sit around and play cards sight see. Not the same experience as NCS, but still very different from normal school life!

That's pretty impressive, adrinkofwater! Well done your DS. Possibly a bit young to appreciate Prague! Wonderful, beautiful sites and cheap beer! 🍺

Dd wants to go here again next year.

munalfrink.nl/

She went in Year 10 and was chosen to spek at the opening ceremony (in the video link she is the 8th person on the podium). Has anyone elses dc done anything similar. She loved it (but hated the end of conference disco in a nightclub!

Ellen I'd be scrubbing that sink out with cif and disinfecting the drain and taps every day. But that's just middle-aged me. I wasn't like this aged 20.
I suspect DS would come along, either not notice or think yuk, but then decide that he'd rather have it dirty than clean it himself, and most teenagers are similar.

Wow adrinkofwater that's really good. Well done him!

That’s right goodbyestranger. DS said the way they explained it was they set out how the fees for very low ranking universities are the same as Oxbridge. They also named a particular university which they said was poor value money for £9k fees in terms of what they give back to the students. Said university is very popular on mumsnet so I won’t name it!

Wow, adrinkofwater that is amazing!

now MUN and ILO seem much more fun than NCS! Well done to your DCs AH and drink!

LARLARLAND I'm curious which one. Would you consider a PM or a hint?

I have pm’d you.

Also curious LARLARLAND WOULD YOU MIND pm-ing me, too?

(is that a verb 'to pm'??)

didn't mean to shout, either!! Caps Lock fail....

Was it Warwick?

Aargh! I hope Oxford isn't going to be £100k since that's what DS has set his heart on I was very pleasantly surprised by the financial talk at the open day: I too have had preconceived ideas about Oxford and costs. All the colleges he liked offered halls for all 3 years, some in college, some in annexes. And almost none with cooking facilities - the idea seems to be that you work work work solidly for the 8 week term and don't get distracted by mundane things like cooking

I think the £100k figure is just me mis-remembering (it was one slide that i saw for 5 mins nearly two years ago). Or it may be what the US universities cost without bursaries? The main point of the slide was that it is possible to leave US universities debt-free thanks to bursaries and campus jobs.

I'm panicking about how dd is going to get to college now. The train times are awful. The earliest train of the day arrives at the station at 8.46am. There is then a 10 minute taxi ride. The day starts at 9am, not much leeway.

Coming back there are two trains every hour (five to and 25 to with a connection from the 25 to one) except for between 6-7pm. Dd finishes at 6.00pm so she will have to wait until 7.35pm for the first train with a connection as there is no 6.35pm train.

Dh not being able to drive is going to affect us so much. The irony is that mil is unsafe in our opinion to drive yet she's hanging onto her licence as she refuses to go to the dr and the dr refuses to listen/speak to us or fil

What sort of costs do people think are reasonable for catered accommodation (breakfast and evening meal)? I've just been told it will be about £120-140 per week for dd to live with a college approved landlady.

For those with children who have already done NCS, did you go to the showcase? My dd has been moved to a different wave, so the showcase is at a venue at least 50 mins away. Was it worth going? I went to my son’s when he did it three years ago, but it was held at a local college, 20 mins away. And I can’t really remember that much about it really.

AlexanderHamilton do you have a sense of the likelihood that your DH won't be able to drive next month?

I don't know about accomodation costs but what you've just written seems to be in the ballpark for the university accommodation costs quoted earlier in this thread. If accommodation is £20/ night (which is cheap) then 2 meals a day for 4 days/ a week seems to be a bargain for £20/ week and reasonable for £40/week.

I paid £80 a week for B & B and evening meal in 1987, for the first 6 weeks of my first graduate job, so £120 - £140 seems reasonable, sorry.

AlexanderHamilton the student accommodation DS1 has been looking at has a catered option for £140ish per week, but obviously it depends on the city.

It is probably a stupid, and maybe an insensitive question (so feel free to ignore), but how will your DH get to work?
Would the caravan be an option until October half-term for both your DH and DD?