Students parents - any tips

kittiwoz

Know what you mean. I viewed a room in Vicky Park where the loo turned out to be leaking into the kitchen downstairs! And the draught excluder I fitted was very necessary because there's a gap of about an inch under the door so it's keeping out both draughts and slugs which we had problems with before! Our sofas were infested with mice and though I haven't seen one for a while there's no way to get rid of the droppings. We have a rickety little dining table that isn't flat but is OK with a cloth on it and for which I provided the chairs. There's six of us in here and the small kitchen is a mess.

We don't live in a very civilised manner but we'll have a goood tidy up before we leave and we haven't done any real damage. After all what sort of damage can you do when all the furniture, carpets etc. are so crappy in the first place? As you say yourself it's a lot to expect people to care for your property when you yourself bodge all the repairs and seem to look on it as double money for nothing (rent + equity which is massive around here). I think if lanlords take care of the property and the tenants they will generally find the tenants will show more respect for the property. In my last house I had an excellent landlady and we didn't have the minor breakages we've had here, probably largely because the furniture was good quality and didn't just break in the course of use/ wasn't already broken and fixed back together with sellotape etc.

It realy pees me off when people complain that students live like animals when the reason this is often true is that that is what their accomodation is fit for. Like when I moved in it took me a while to get the landlord to provide a wardrobe though the contract says fully furnished. He said most students just keep their clothes on the floor. Well, yes, if you won't give them a wardrobe of course they will!

skippie

When i moved in, I has some interesting stains on my carpet and in a couple of the draws.

My bedroom furinture (wardrobe and chest of draws was a shambles and falling apart). I had two different types of wallpaper, both falling off, mold growing in the corners and around the radiater and i found used condoms underneath my bed.

Oh and my chair was in the process of falling apart.

Savvy_Sue

quality wrote:

I just wanted to see him alright and was after any advice on how I can help fulfill this extremely expensive time when he is at Uni.

University is as expensive as the student makes it. Like the rest of life really.

lisa_75

Savvy_Sue wrote:

University is as expensive as the student makes it. Like the rest of life really.

I agree. He would do better encouraging his son to get a job while studying. All the people I know who have been supported by parents past 18 (including me) have ended up in debt.

Learning to stand on your own two feet is the best life lesson any parent could give.

Emmzi

quality,

I just noticed a lot fo people are saying this is an unwise decision! Just to give a different viewpoint..

lots of students study in their home towns, especially with costs being what they are. It's not all like brideshead revisited these days with popping over to sebastians for a dry sherry in the quad before tutorials...

And a lot of unis have get together groups for those students who aren't in halls, precisely so they get that sense of community.

In his own flat, he'll get more sleep and more study time. If you're both happy with the decision, enjoy it! He'll also have somewhere to stay if he decides to work in the same town (quite common); and if not, hey, you can sell up, or keep it as an investment. If there's a profit, good for you; if not, well, there isn't. Big deal.

(from woman who never stayed in halls!)

For money tips - I agree, everything second hand (except a matress, eww)
Don't buy anything until he has his matriculation card and can use it to get discounts.
Let him choose and build his own bits and bobs - more likely to look after them then.
Get him a copy of 'grub on a grant', the seminal student catering bible.

Bossyboots

My son was supported by us through Uni and lived at home. He is not in debt and he found it easy to integrate into the social side of it all. There was always someone willing to lend a floor and sleeping bag if he wanted to stay over past the time of the last train home. He lived at ours rent free and I would pay for his essential clothing but he had to pay his own fares, books and anything else. To achieve this he would take on jobs here and there.

My reservations about what is proposed are the legalities of how it will work. It all sounds a little simplistic but it may be that the OP has spared us technical details and that everything that side has been worked out properly.

I would just tag on that I work in a University town. It is well documented in our local press that many students living in privately rented properties and indeed on occasion the purpose built flats are making the lives of their neighbours complete hell. Most of the students I know are polite, nice young people, but a large proportion of those studying local to me are not.

This all needs very careful handling. There is a proposal to make landlords responsible for any problems their tenants cause so that is something to keep in mind for the future as well.

freebie_junkie

Bossyboots wrote:

My son was supported by us through Uni and lived at home. He is not in debt and he found it easy to integrate into the social side of it all. There was always someone willing to lend a floor and sleeping bag if he wanted to stay over past the time of the last train home. He lived at ours rent free and I would pay for his essential clothing but he had to pay his own fares, books and anything else. To achieve this he would take on jobs here and there.

My reservations about what is proposed are the legalities of how it will work. It all sounds a little simplistic but it may be that the OP has spared us technical details and that everything that side has been worked out properly.

I would just tag on that I work in a University town. It is well documented in our local press that many students living in privately rented properties and indeed on occasion the purpose built flats are making the lives of their neighbours complete hell. Most of the students I know are polite, nice young people, but a large proportion of those studying local to me are not.

This all needs very careful handling. There is a proposal to make landlords responsible for any problems their tenants cause so that is something to keep in mind for the future as well.

omg! how is your son handling the real world now after getting used to all that pampering?!