University ... and debt

iglimpse

I really agree that you have to think much harder now about whether Uni is right for you. I know lots of people who drifted into it at 18, not knowing anything else. Fees tend to concentrate the issues. I cannot see my kids as investments! But now you come to think of it...

DD is also very bright at sciences, she wants to go, what sort of parents would deny their kids this opportunity - if the kid wants to do it? I don't have a choice...

Myosin wrote:

If you're worried about the debt then don't send her to uni. UNless you see it as an investment, which it is. A family friend's son is doing Medical Biochemistry and uni and they are in the same boat as you, ie same threshold for tuition fees but his attitude is that he's doing a proper course and he KNOWS he's getting a job at the end which will pay off the loan no probs. It's only those doing 'other courses' who worry about debt. It's your call

iglimpse

Thanks for positive news. Friend's son decided to move out of halls, found house, all paying over the odds for bad digs (parents paid!). Now just been evicted because challenged the landlord re repairs. Parents at their wits end and now in debt themselves trying to get him sorted. It might be worth it in the end but all the stress on them has been horrific. Probably worst case scenario...just wanted to check that was not normal!!

superscotsman

iglimpse wrote:

Thanks for positive news. Friend's son decided to move out of halls, found house, all paying over the odds for bad digs (parents paid!). Now just been evicted because challenged the landlord re repairs. Parents at their wits end and now in debt themselves trying to get him sorted. It might be worth it in the end but all the stress on them has been horrific. Probably worst case scenario...just wanted to check that was not normal!!

It's normal.

zar

iglimpse - The standard of housing most students put up with is awful, but the situation varies from town to town.

Don't know all the details about your friend's son, but it sounds like they did the right thing in challenging what sounds like a bad landlord. If he was renting with friends, I hope they can find a new house together but its not easy - the only way I guess is to hope some naive buy-to-letter who hasn't done their homework and got the house ready for the start of the academic year comes along. It should be easier to find something individually, since groups of students who have rented houses on a joint contract, rather than individual ones, are desperate to find people if one of their housemates drop out as the remaining students have to cover the rent shortfall.

When your DD goes to uni, don't get stressed about it but encourage her to think about accommodation seriously. I was quite lucky in that my first year in halls I was in a female flat and a group of us decided to rent together in the second year, and a couple of the girls were both more organised and more fussy than me! At that particular university (Aberystwyth), the norm was to start looking for accommodation for the following September in December - early I know, but that's when the uni list came out. So we viewed quite a few properties, rather than taking the first one which wasn't taken yet like most students. My friends found the advert for the house we eventually took in the laundrette, and took all the posters down so no one else got in there first! We paid slightly more than the average (around £50/week rather than £45 IIRC) but the rooms weren't damp ( a big problem in most of the student houses due to the sea/Welsh weather) and was in good condition as the landlord had bought it for his DD while she was at uni and she'd just moved out. It had a separate living room which the greedier landlords will always turn into a bedroom to get more rent. Sorry for rambling, but my point is that you don't have to put up with sub-standard accomodation as a student, but you do have to be prepared to put a small amount of work in to find somewhere reasonable.

Please do encourage your DD to go to university, don't let the debt put either of you off, and of course science degrees are far superior to arts ones - and maths ones are even better. Read other threads on this forum and university prospectuses and other sources on the web to familiarise yourself with what the processes are, I guess the newspapers should be covering the new system and the school/college should also help - and ask if you have any more questions.