Preparing for university

monaebrook

Some really good advice already. Ref TV Licence, my daughter (half way through her first year) didn't need one as she doesn't have a TV in her room and only watches on her laptop - not plugged into the power socket. We spoke to the licencing people and she is covered by our home licence. In practical terms, life skills are the best thing you can give them. As has been stated, the ability to shop, wash, plan and budget make them independent and confident and everything else is scary enough without not knowing any of that!!! Finally, the are three things which my daughter could absolutely not do without - a memory foam mattress topper to make her bed feel like home, a sieve - it is actually one of her most precious items and I would seem no-one else has one and a small fridge for her room where she keeps juice, alcohol, milk etc. Enjoy the preparation process, we loved all the planning an it helped her to feel in control when she got there!

footyguy

monaebrook wrote: »

...Ref TV Licence, my daughter (half way through her first year) didn't need one as she doesn't have a TV in her room and only watches on her laptop ...!

Ah, the old TV licence requirements debate - just what students and other forumites love

Probably best to get the information in writing from the horses mouth...
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/students-aud1?

Even if the advice given was correct, e.g. because the laptop is never plugged into the mains nor connected to an external aerial (good luck getting a digital signal without an aerial), then you should still advise that a TV licence is not required

Don't watch live TV, but claim to only use iPlayer etc instead. They've closed that loophole too
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/cs/media-centre/news/view.app?id=1369782979800

Remember, its for TV licencing officials to prove an offence has been committed, and they can only do that by witnessing an offence (or obtaining sufficient evidence that one could reasonably infer an offence has been committed).
Unless they can view the offence from outside (e.g. through a ground floor window), that typically means gaining entry, which they have no right to insist upon.
They would never have even got past security at the main door where I went, let alone to individual student's rooms - "Not without your hall card, son!"

peachyprice

monaebrook wrote: »

a small fridge for her room where she keeps juice, alcohol, milk etc.

Most unis don't allow additional electrical items in rooms if in halls.

footyguy

peachyprice wrote: »

Most unis don't allow additional electrical items in rooms if in halls.

I only went to one uni, so cannot comment on others, but would find it amazing if what you state is correct.

There was no such restriction where I went. I'm sure almost every student today has numerous electrical items such as mobiles, laptops, tv, radio, hair straighteners, etc.

Edit: for fire safety reasons, deep fat fryers and halogen lamps are not permitted under their current terms.
(I'm not sure anyone would want to use a deep fat fryer in their hall bedroom, but this prohibiton presumably extends to use in the communal kitchen area too)

footyguy

ska_lover wrote: »

...Some halls won't let you bring any electricals because they wont have been pat tested by them but others are fine and will pat test students property after moving in...

It may depend on university, but at mine, whilst any portable electrical appliance supplied by the university is required to be PAT certificated, there was no requirement at all for a PAT on students own property.

However, student appliances that were considered dangeous (e.g. damaged, have damaged plugs or wiring, have taped joints to a cable, unsheathed cable entering plug, or not correcty gripped by plug, etc) are not permitted unless proven safe.

They charge £15 per appliance for PAT certification if you require the university to carry this out.

peachyprice

footyguy wrote: »

I only went to one uni, so cannot comment on others, but would find it amazing if what you state is correct.

There was no such restriction where I went. I'm sure almost every student today has numerous electrical items such as mobiles, laptops, tv, radio, hair straighteners, etc.

Edit: for fire safety reasons, deep fat fryers and halogen lamps are not permitted under their current terms.
(I'm not sure anyone would want to use a deep fat fryer in their hall bedroom, but this prohibiton presumably extends to use in the communal kitchen area too)

Obviously personal electrical items are allowed, fridges, cooking equipment etc are not.

Savvy_Sue

peachyprice wrote: »

Most unis don't allow additional electrical items in rooms if in halls.

I can't believe any student these days could survive without a phone charger / laptop charger / some means of playing music ...

footyguy wrote: »

Edit: for fire safety reasons, deep fat fryers and halogen lamps are not permitted under their current terms.
(I'm not sure anyone would want to use a deep fat fryer in their hall bedroom, but this prohibiton presumably extends to use in the communal kitchen area too)

I think we were banned from using our own kettles and toasters too ...

peachyprice wrote: »

Obviously personal electrical items are allowed, fridges, cooking equipment etc are not.

Actually, those 'personal' fridges often aren't recommended for use 24/7/365.

In my day (which is aeons ago), the plugs in our rooms were diddly little round 3-pin plugs, so if you wanted to plug anything in, you had to get the plug changed first. I was quite popular because I knew how to do this AND had the wherewithal to do so: the (probably recommended) alternative was to pay for the college handyman to do it.

Actually, I found a small multi-headed screwdriver extremely useful, and at work now I have an IKEA toolkit: anything I can't do with those tools should probably be done by someone more expert than me.

Another thought: anything you do buy, make it distinctive. Every other person who has a decent knife will have a black handle on it.

And we have pretty much one veg peeler for each member of the family: DH and I like the yellow one best, DS1 favours a green one, DS2 likes the fat black one, and DS3 uses the thin black one. If your DD has a preference, get her one she likes. Preferably in a distinctive colour.

Mrs_Soup

littleredhen wrote: »

thanks for all suggestions, she has been doing own washing etc but unfortunately has quite bad mental health issues, I am concerned about her taking medication etc.
She may even be in 2nd year at uni as she is doing a course at a private college this year so may not even be in halls.

If this is communicated to the university they may well have a policy of prioritising some hall accommodation for non- first years who need more stabilty etc.

susancs

I agree with others in that leaving the purchasing of items to nearer the time is a good idea. When my eldest first went to Uni we bought a lot of things that didn't came back with her or were just "lost". The cleaner got fed up with the students and binned a lot of their unwashed kitchen stuff (don't blame her as they were given warnings!).

They don't usually have a lot of space in shared kitchens so a couple of mugs, diner plates, glasses,a couple of knives, forks, sppons, frying pan, saucepan, oven dish/tray. Tea towels. Tupperware. tray. Foil and baking paper. wooden spoon and spatula Buy them as cheaply as possible. Kettle, toaster as usually supplied.

Duvet, plus pillows and covers(x2), bath and hand towels(2 of each). Maybe a throw for her bed. Small First aid kit (get off Amazon) and meds she can take for "freshers flu" such as paracetemol. Get a small basket for her to take shower items to the bathroom.

When she starts paying for Uni accommodation get her to fill in and post form HC1 for help with prescription, glasses etc. She will get a card for the year. Also before she goes make sure she has the MenACWY vaccination (there was a waiting list for this locally so daughter had to wait for 2 months to have this, luckily she applied well before Uni).

We do a big shop at a local supermarket every time we drop our daughter off to university and buy a lot of store cupboard items such as rice, pasta, tins, jars, toilet rolls etc.

Golightly72

My eldest went this September -most things have been mentioned, and I second the mattress topper, the beds can be a bit springy!

We bought her a nice big cosy throw which has been well used; also useful to remember is a pizza cutter, students eat a lot of pizza.

Buy cheap kitchen stuff, lots of will unfortunately get lost/nicked/broken. We got this starter set from Dunelm Mill which has been good value, and we got good value bedding from Ikea.

http://www.dunelm.com/product/essentials-white-36-piece-starter-dinner-set-1000076534?searchTerm=starter%20set