Daughter left Uni, help needed accommodation costs.

stebiz

dearlouise wrote: »

Okay, so your friends left Uni, 2/3 have jobs, and they are all earning above minimum wage. What's the problem? That sounds good to me!

Too many people think a degree is a golden handshake away from earning £40,000 a year the second you leave.

I think you read my post wrong. What I'm saying is that a degree these days is not everything. I've got a degree in Business. Could go on to be a teacher - 12 months PGCE if that's what I want but it isn't. I got my degree to help me run my own business which is what I do. I know friends who've left with nothing and still earn more than graduates. The world is changing.

Incidentally I value education and if the students enjoy learning that is absolutely fine but to keep them on a course when they don't is wrong.

stebiz

adandem wrote: »

She is looking at nursing courses at a local uni and don't think transfer would be likely even if she completes the first year.
Not a good position to be in but in some ways it's better to find out early on and the world is not short of graduates.
I understand that she needs to learn a lesson and stand on her own two feet, but as her parent I feel compelled to help her.
I am in my forties and still look to my parents for advice.;)

You sound like a great Mum. My daughter excelled in her GCSE's )all As and A*s and took her foot off the pedal for her A levels. In her first year she did not get the grades she wanted and decided to leave and go to college. She is enjoying every minute of it.

In her old school she was getting pushed to apply to all the top Universities and that pressure isn't on her any more. She wants to stay local and study at our local University - just like your daughter.

The extra pressure will be off her and she can study and be happy which is the most important thing.

adandem

Thank you stebiz :-)

I think that's what happened with my daughter, she felt that because she could do something, she should do it. I think that given what she's been through, we are so happy she's got to this point at all and perhaps have a different perspective on what's important in her life.

ThemeOne

adandem wrote: »

I think that's what happened with my daughter, she felt that because she could do something, she should do it.

That was exactly what happened with me. I remember having two places lined up - one for a 4 year sandwich Business Studies degree, and the other for a 2 year Business Studies HND. My results were good enough to do the degree, so that's what I did - only to regret it.

I know now if I'd gone for the HND instead I'd have probably finished it.

Anyway, all water under the bridge, as will be your daughter's experience before long, and I wish her well with nursing. All this stuff with the accommodation is an unfortunately sideshow really - and whatever the outcome of that, she must keep her eye on the bigger picture.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

I sympathise with this situation.

And the usual MSE know-it-all/moralisers can take a running jump.

I also know someone who is having second thoughts this Christmas about the course - much of it is that so much of the real course content is glossed over when the universities sell it. Students get no idea how hard they might have to work on some courses versus how little others around them may have to work on different course yet what on the face of it ought to be just as taxing (different STEM courses at the same uni for example). Also the title of the course can be so misleading. Often the course content is artificial fudge flavour with a little strawberry sauce on top when the title suggested fresh strawberries all the way through.

You just cannot tell until you've tried it.

I know someone else in CRM accommodation (university outsourced/abdicated in other words) so know exactly what the OP means about poor administration.

I expect the OPs daughter had the hard sell on paying a whacking great deposit too well before the start of the course to secure her accommodation which she may not even have been able to view before paying. "We have one next door we can show you - its the same". Then when the money has been paid it all goes slow on such things as fixing things in the accommodation that are damaged or were left unhygienic or unsightly etc.

It really is a disgraceful system. Dropping-out one way or another has always been a minority feature of university suck it and see. Drop outs are not criminals, and they are not second class citizens, they are not fools either. I remember I went through a phase where I was seriously considering it. I am sure an awful lot of undergraduates do at some point, probably the number is just as significant as the number of young people who wonder at some point whether they might be gay! We don't prosecute those anymore or chemically castrate them to teach them some lesson or modify their behaviour to suit the narrow-mindedness of a few dinosaurs, or even less throw them to wolves (like CRM and some university partners?)

I wish the OP and daughter luck. It must be a bit miserable to have this stuff hanging over her.

If the OPs daughter can no longer use it, I would suggest pressing the university for help to get the room confirmed as rented again. There is no incentive for CRM to do so and they probably have empty rooms anyway because they are overpriced in many areas and prey on first year students who know no better. They would rent those before renting this one again.

GoldenShadow

adandem wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your replies.
Okay, the reason she is leaving is very long winded but here's a quick version!
She had to leave her A level course in the first year due to a severe eating disorder, it was not a choice but a medical instruction.
Anyway, she is very arty so when she was well enough, she did an extended BTec in Art and Design although one of her greatest wishes was to be a nurse but always dismissed it due to her own issues.
She passed the course with flying colours and therefore assumed that a degree/career in this area would be the right road to go down.
So.. She is well down the road to recovery and feels that a future as a nurse is now achievable.
She is not enjoying the degree at all and knows it's not something she wants a future in as well as there being very limited opportunities.
I think she was just so happy to get to uni in the first place after bring in a very desperate position with her health.
She is looking at nursing courses at a local uni and don't think transfer would be likely even if she completes the first year.
Not a good position to be in but in some ways it's better to find out early on and the world is not short of graduates.
I understand that she needs to learn a lesson and stand on her own two feet, but as her parent I feel compelled to help her.
I am in my forties and still look to my parents for advice.;)

OK.

With this in mind, I would probably still try and encourage her to scrape a pass in this first year whilst applying for the local nursing ones which start next Sept. Whilst it might feel like a waste 1) it could help her establish definitively how much she likes/doesn't like art, and 2) financially, if she can deal with a few more months of uni, it makes a lot more sense. I totally understand that its not ideal, but you are allowed a false start with student finance and its a lot easier to complete a year and then start again elsewhere, instead of doing a bit then dropping out (I had trouble with them but not as bad as some people).

Do you need certain A Levels to do nursing by the way? I was going to do a medical degree and became aware of an accelerated 1 year course which gave you the stuff if you basically didn't get the A Levels for one reason or another (I had severe extenuating circumstances at A Level and the course was offered to me). As I said I don't know if you need them for nursing or not, I was looking at a full medical degree, but its there as something to look at if she needs it, perhaps.

ETA: I dropped out of a very, very good business school to go to a crap uni near home. Whilst a lot of people would say it was a cop out, I was home sick etc, I had my (very genuine) reasons and it was completely the right decision. Being a 'dropout' for two months before my new course started was very difficult, but it is also a decision that I am very proud of myself for making. I went with my head, not with my heart upon uni choice originally and I have learned from that mistake.

longtermplanner

adandem wrote: »

She is looking at nursing courses at a local uni

The best of luck to her. It sounds as though she has had a hard road for the last few years. Many youngsters these days have a few 'false starts' - what matters is that they end up with a career that they enjoy in their late 20's.

She is also changing from a degree with very uncertain employment prospects (to put it politely) to a vocationally orientated one. Good for her! Britain needs all the good nurses it can get!

ThemeOne

For those who are suited to it I'd have thought nursing could be a wonderful career. Not only are you doing something genuinely worthwhile, but as a British-trained nurse your employment prospects are good worldwide.

adandem

Thank you for the supportive comments, it means alot;)

One good thing is that the student finance which she owes for her course fees and loan element are not payable immediately, the same £21k rule applies.

The grant element is not repayable, just any overpayment there may be between end date and the date the course was left.

Still not ideal but better than she hoped. Just need to get the accommodation sorted now.

timestar

Your problem is that many universities - including my own - now contract out much of their student accommodation to private providers. This means that her contract for the room is with them and not the university. While the university may well be sympathetic, in terms of her room there is pretty much nothing that they can do. Even though I have not seen her contract I am 99.9% sure that she will be liable for the year's rent and unless the private provider takes pity (unlikely) then she will have to pay and live with it.

In terms of her degree - why is she unhappy/wants to leave? As someone already suggested is it homesickness/first time away from home? Or is there a bigger problem? In my experience many young students (18 to 19) go to university as it is just the next step, without fully thinking through why they want to go and if it is right for them. If she just drops out then it is not the end of the world BUT she will spend every job interview in the short term having to explain why she quit. Ideally she needs to finish out the academic year and take any assessments so that at least she that full year on her record and would walk away with credits for that year. If she just quits now then unfortunately she will leave with nothing. Has she talked to the university's counselling service or student services or her personal tutor (all universities have to do this now) or programme leader or head of undergraduate studies?

I hope she sorts thing out one way or another.