Leave or Suspend.. Universtity..

roxxyx

I'm currently in my first year of University,
During the last few weeks last terms I was highly stressed and was having headaches nearly everyday.. during the christmas holidays this has stopped and since I have not been looking forward to going back to Univeristy due to the stress it causes me.

I want to leave due to the this but I'm worried about financial implications, I have a part time job but as I'm in student accommodation I won't be able to earn enough in time to pay for the rent due in April (3months rent in one). Even if I manage to get a full time job (very rare at the moment) I wouldnt be able to earn enough especially with student finance taking out the overpayed grant.. so I'm a bit stuck with what to do

I don't know if it's worth talking to an adviser at uni explain the stress and see if I can suspend this term and next due to stress and still receive loan and grant.. and maybe give me time to rethink if I do want to return next year..

Or if to just hack it for another 3 months then withdraw after april... I know if I stay I'm just going to get stressed again as I don't feel prepared at the minute for univeristy
Any advice?

V_Chic_Chick

The accommodation you're staying in - is it owned by the university or by a private company? If it's the former, then it's common to allow students to leave the accommodation without continuing to pay rent, if they are dropping out.

roxxyx

Private company, I have to continue paying rent till August 17th

bewildered123

If you suspend your studies, then I'm afraid you would not continue to receive student finance - it would be recalculated for this year, and then start again when you restarted your course. Given your rent situation, I think you need to get some advice on your financial situation so that you know exactly what dropping out would mean money-wise. Most universities will have a financial advisor - you might even be able to get advice over the phone.
Can you work out what exactly is making you stressed? Try to think about what elements you like and dislike. If you can narrow things down, then what could you change? E.g. if you're struggling with the work, have you been going to get help from your lecturers in their office hours? Have you been to any help centres e.g. my university has special centres to give students help with writing and maths. If you dislike your flatmates, could you swap rooms with someone else? Or move into an empty room in another flat?
If it's the place, could you investigate transferring into the second year of a course at a different university? Your current university might be more bearable if you think I've only got to manage x weeks until Easter, then however many weeks after Easter.
I just wanted to say one other thing - lots of people find their first term very difficult. Sometimes it takes longer to settle. I was dreading going back after my first term, but when I got back something clicked, and I was never as homesick again as I'd been in my first term. It might be worth going back and accessing all the advice you can from the university staff to make an informed decision on what to do for the best, and just see how you feel after a fortnight.

roxxyx

I'm not homesick or anything like that, nothing with living in the flat (apart from it's silly expensive!)
I get stressed as I have to juggle uni, uni work, work and the horse, I just never have any time to sit and relax and it just exhausts me..
I sort of know the financial implications .. The job i've got now won't make me enough money to pay for the next lot of rent unless i manage to find a full time job next month..
So it's sort of either take the risk.. or attend uni till April so I can get the loan to pay the rent.. and then pay the slc the grant back straight away..

agrinnall

roxxyx wrote: »

I get stressed as I have to juggle uni, uni work, work and the horse

If this is really what you meant to write, then your finances will surely improve tremendously if you don't have a horse to worry about, and if time is an issue too then not having to look after it will also free up some time (although I can see that the horse may also give you a means of escape from some of your stress).

roxxyx

The job or horse doesn't stress me. It's university that stresses me, and the amount of work we have to do outside of university meaning you don't get time to yourself and half the work seems irrelevant hence considering leaving. I want to leave but it's just Aprils rent I'm worried about if i left now. The horse doesn't really take us much me My time. Yes it costs money at the moment i can afford and i could afford if i left with a full time job. I wouldn't get rid of something ive had 6 years for the sake of a few hard months..

roxxyx

sorry for spelling mistakes on my phone and couldnt see what i was typing

mel48rose

Won't uni be worth it in the long run though? I did a nursing degree a few years ago. It was so so tough studying with a family and 3 children but so worth it now. I have a good qualification and can be more selective where I choose to work. Think you need to look at the bigger picture here. No pain, no gain. Good luck.

Dunroamin

I think that if you put having a horse ahead of university study, university is the wrong place for you.

mountainofdebt

roxxyx wrote: »

The job or horse doesn't stress me. It's university that stresses me, and the amount of work we have to do outside of university meaning you don't get time to yourself and half the work seems irrelevant hence considering leaving. I want to leave but it's just Aprils rent I'm worried about if i left now. The horse doesn't really take us much me My time. Yes it costs money at the moment i can afford and i could afford if i left with a full time job. I wouldn't get rid of something ive had 6 years for the sake of a few hard months..

I could be really harsh here and say welcome to the real world but I really wouldn't want to come over as uncaring.

Quitting seems the easy option now but what happens after you've quit? Dead end job for the next XX years?

Yes half the work seems pointless and maybe it is but they are obviously asking you to do it for a reason - and that reason may not be apparent now.

List all your life time ambitions - and work out whether you could do them without the job that a degree could bring you. You might find that the little bit of stress you have now is worth it to achieve those ambitions.