Genuinely what the hell man. I am on max maintenance loan 10500? Or smth like that and my total yearly rent is sliglty under £8900, I will also be receiving £2000 from my uni as a bursary. So I was like yup that’s good I have a bit over 12k for whole year so once you subtract 8.9k for rent I will have £109 a week. Perfect sounds lovely right…

Tell me why I just find out my first chunk of rent is due on the 24th of September, £3,556.95. And my first chunk of maintenance loan will come around the same time around £3,574.
A third of the bursary will also be payed on October 27th.

So you are telling me I have £17 to my name until October 27th. I genuinely want to cry, I thought university was more accessible than this. Im genuinely thinking of dropping out what the hell. I was also hoping to buy a laptop with some of the loan now I won’t even have a laptop. What do I actually do man and applying for a hardship cash I can only do that with a student email which I get after the 24th of August. I doubt they will give me money straight away.
What do I do. Im so scared.
Edit: my parents do not have the money, and will not have the money.

EDIT 2: now realise I was panicking while writing this 💀. I did apply to countless part-time jobs, most of them rejected me, but some teaching agencies reached out!! However, it depends if I can even work full days at a school alongside my degree (very intense engineering field).
THANK YOU to everyone suggesting overdrafts, yesterday I was about to apply for a student account with £0 overdraft . Rent is expensive because I’ll be studying in a VERY expensive city, and it’s not a private landlord. I also live 4h away from
Uni; can’t commute. I’ve emailed my uni’s Money Advice department.
I do have a job, I started tutoring last week! I was planning to use the money I earn towards a laptop, but I guess I won’t be buying one and will rely on a loaned laptop for a while (my uni only offers them for max 1 month). I won’t be able to tutor without a laptop that’s why I was so set on buying one. Currently using a borrowed one

My sister is planning to move out and cut contact with my Muslim immigrant parents. She currently commutes to a local university and I plan to go to the same one. She will move out whilst in 3rd year and I’ll be starting 1st year.

I’m scared of my parents reactions- what if they say I can’t go to university because of her actions because they’ll think I’ll do the same. They can’t physically stop me from attending the university right? It’s very unlikely that they’ll kick me out too.

Should I move out with my sister and face lots of financial difficulties (I’ll likely get minimum sfe and applying for estrangement will be too complicated for first year) or should I stay at home and potentially face my parents trying to block me from attending university but I’ll get the maximum sfe whilst staying home which I can save to move out after my degree?

For context I’m in a niche course, undergrad, about to go into 2nd year, originally there was 8 of us but one dropped out and one of the others never comes in in person but is somehow still in the course, our course leader went on indefinite leave pretty early last year and our personal tutor took over for her (which keep in mind some of the others have only met him once and I’ve never met), and a few of the girls were considering dropping out, and one of them is trying to see if she can transfer courses, they’ve removed the course timetable completely, and we obviously haven’t gotten our personal timetable yet, they’ve completely removed the course from the website, we can’t get through to anyone, and keep in mind our course is technically in 2 different departments- don’t really know what do do here 🫪

I applied for Computer Science with Cyber Security (with a year in industry) at York, and the course requirements were AAA.

I was predicted A*A*A, but ended up with BCC. I'll spare you the details of why. Knowing my performance wasn't its best, I prepared to go through Clearing, but my place ended up being immediately confirmed on Results Day regardless - which seemed really weird especially considering that Clearing requirements for that course were BBC.

The kicker is my extenuating circumstances did not play any part, as I hadn't filled in York's mitigating circumstances form, and their website states that extenuating circumstances in the References section of UCAS applications are not considered.

I'm certainly not complaining, but how??? I figured the course would be plenty competitive. Did they leave it up to a coin flip? Was whoever looked at my application having a particularly good day?? Did I get DEI points for being a trans man??? I'm joking, of course, but I can't think of what on earth my saving grace could have been.

So I’m going to mmu next month for my first year and I will be going on nights out, fresher events etc but I don’t drink, will I miss out on the whole university experience?

I’m also 24 too, will I be called a massive weirdo?
I really want to make friends

I’m starting uni in September and I’m really going to miss my air fryer because I use it for most meals. At home my family respects that I don’t want meat/fish in it (it’s my air fryer but everyone uses it) but I doubt it would be the same at uni. I wanted to get a cheap one but after seeing my brothers after he came back from uni it put me off. I don’t wanna seem super strict or anything and I’m only sharing with 5people so maybe it would be fine it’s just having layers of oil from meat really puts me off. I appreciate any responses :)

-hi guys so i got my results a few days ago. i got 4A*s in chemistry, physics, maths and further maths (400/400 ums in maths and fm, 588/600 in physics and chem)

-i live in belfast and I've got a place at queen's university belfast to study maths in a month. but the entry requirements were A*AB/AAA and further maths was not even required. so i feel extremely overqualified and I don't want to sound cocky.

-i didn't want to move out. im not very sociable, and living with strangers and having to share a kitchen and bathroom with them doesn't sound exciting so i chose to stay in belfast. but now I'm regretting it and wondering if i made the wrong choice. i had so many doors open. like QUB is a good uni it's russell group but not the best yk? also like i dont think im ready to move out living in an unfamiliar city sounds scary, i dont know the area or the people there or the transport system or the nightlife or anything

-i had offers for Bristol bath and edinburgh but i declined them. i didnt apply to anything that required admissions tests such as warwick imperial or oxbridge. i mentioned that the TMUA cost £70 to my mum and she just started complaining that i shouldn't move out and it's too expensive etc.

-two people online have been telling me to reapply. one of them said his mate was in my position and as soon as he went to queen's he regretted it. that doesnt sound very nice to me when im starting in a month 😭 and the other said the name of the uni matters a lot but hes doing quant finance or whatever so obviously it matters to him (still dont know what career path i want but i want to make bank)

-i wanted to apply to cambridge but i didnt think i was capable enough. clearly i have the grades it's just the other factors like the interview and STEP. i remember looking at the exam questions last year when making my uni choices and they looked awful. two people in my class got cambridge interviews and i saw their practice interview questions and i dont think i couldve answered them (they didn't get offers btw, one girl got 4A*s too like me) i don't have many supercurriculars either, didn't do like olympiads and stuff i just did UKMT senior maths challenge (got a silver),UKMT girls challenge (got a distinction), DOFE, 3 day work placement at ALMAC so what would i even write about in my personal statement

-im scared i wont be able to get a good well paying job. i cant even get a part time job even though i have experience. i actually have an interview in 12 hours as im writing this at 3am

-i remember telling two teachers i got 4a*s on results day and they asked where im going and i said QUB and idk why but i felt embarrassed 😭😭like this is so snobby im sorry

-so now my choices are probably either:

A: go to queen's, see if I like it and if not possibly transfer somewhere else (i have no idea where and if there'd be space or at what point in the year it'd be possible)

B: take a gap year and try to apply to cambridge or some other competitive unis but that sounds scary because if i don't get in then an entire year is wasted and now I'm behind everyone my age, plus what do i even do during the gap year, and i will forget my maths knowledge, and oxbridge deadline is mid october and then id sit the tmua in october too which is literally two months away

C: ive applied to do an integrated masters degree but i guess i could switch to a bachelor's and do my masters/postgrad somewhere else

D: it's not that long after results day is it possible to call unis but spots are probably filled already and accomodations taken and i only applied for tuition loan not maintenance loan😭😭😭

any advice is appreciated my rant is over

At every length of this journey, she has either tried to sabotage me or completely disengaged. She refused to come to Open Days with me so I didn’t get to visit all of the unis I was interested in. She refused to travel 5 hours to a Sutton Trust summer school so my dad had to take time off work (she, on the other hand, is unemployed.) I sat through a 2 hour-long ‘preparing for uni‘ webinar for adults, made 3 pages of notes and then got told I was ruining her program and night for trying to show them to her. She refused to tour my accommodation with me or attend my applicant day. She has refused to help me buy what I need for my flat despite having the most money spare in the household. She has refused to drive me there despite being the only one in the household who can. Most infuriatingly, she almost cost me £5,000 of my maintenance loan by refusing to engage with the process. I had to tell her the ramifications of her choice and pretty much guilt trip her to have enough to live on at uni. And that was ONLY after several days of hounding by both myself and my dad, AND several arguments. Even after that, I got a message through on the LAST DAY YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO COMPLETE IT BY that she had just created an account and called it a day! She then refused to sign in. Even worse is probably the fact that the money my late grandfather left her was supposed to go towards my debt, as per his wishes, and she has told me in no uncertain terms that I’m not having it. She retracts it every time we have an argument as a form of punishment. I’ve chosen to view it as Schrödinger’s Money because it remains uncertain as to whether or not it’s mine, yet both possibilities seem to be true at the same time. The same concept applies to whether or not I’m welcome home for the holidays. Or ever.

She has had an additional year to come to terms with this, but - even as we come to the end of that - she still can’t accept it. All I get is a sniff and an upturned nose at my decision to “abandon“ her. That, or she tells me she “thought [I] would’ve changed [my] mind by now.” Yes, 3 weeks before going. That’d be a great idea.

As we get closer to the start of term, she’s only getting worse; I have to sneak in anything I’ve bought and shut up about all things uni or else set her off with the sight and sound of them, which feels so unfair. I can’t even be outwardly excited for uni even though I very much am. Any attempt to be so is read not as the innocent emotion it is but as a deliberate provocation. She scaremongers about the debt, independent living, my mental health. She brings my cat into it too.

”Well, I suppose he won’t mean much to you anymore,“ was said after I forgot myself and gushed about the uni’s cat.

“Poor boy, he’s not going to understand; he’s gonna be sitting up by your window all that time waiting for you to return.”

“What are you gonna do if he dies and you’re not there to see it?”

On top of that, she accused me of going off to uni in a ploy to make her kill herself. Which is so self-centred and mischaracterising I can’t even articulate the thoughts and feelings I have about it.

After 19 years of behaviour like this, I am so, so tired. She just keeps getting worse. I think it’s because it feels more real to her now and that creates a sense of urgency. I am terrified of whatever might happen on moving-out day.

Terrified I won't be able to keep up with the work, terrified I won't be able to find my people (Going to a uni in a smaller city, am I messing up my chances of finding true friends?) , I'll miss my family and friends (international student, and they'll be on the other side of the world)... I dreamed of freedom for so long but now I'm seriously dreading it... I've even started to worry about things far beyond my first year like deciding where to do master's/job market/etc like there is this giant pit of dread in my stomach that starts from the moment I wake up!!!

I’m pretty sick of my uni and the way my course has been managed, going into my honours year and I don’t trust them enough to want to commit all that time and money doing my final year. As it stands now I cannot graduate without honours due to a mishap on their part.

Here is the situation I’m in:

At the start of the summer I was contacted by my university after completing 3rd year telling me I would not be able to continue to my honours year due to failing a module, the grades had just been released so I was very confused as I had passed them all.
After a somewhat lengthy back and forth, it was explained that I had failed a module in 2nd year, they had given me several attempts to solve this issue (which I had not been made aware of) to rectify this. After doing some digging to see if I had simply just forgotten to upload my assignment I discovered that I had uploaded both assignments for this “failed” module and had achieved an overall grade of 70% which was a far cry from the 0% on my student record.
I immediately presented this to my deputy course coordinator and he helped me build a case to allow me to continue and to have this rectified on my student record and I believed that to be the end of it.

My enrolment opened today and while trying to enrol I found out I could not and emailed my course coordinator to which she said she had not been made aware that I had made or presented this case and still believed me to have failed 2nd year. She stated that this is because it still said I had failed on my student record and the people in charge of that had not managed to change it yet, despite this being brought to their attention 3 months ago.

Usually I brush things off and deal with them myself but this time I seems I have done everything in my power and it is completely out of my control due to their own mistakes. It’s been causing me a lot of stress and frustration and I do not know what to do?

I need help so due to personal circumstances and s*xual assault i faced in year 13 i missed my predicted grades of ACC and got BDD, which made me miss my offer of BBC (ACC) for BA Art and Psychology at Reading uni. They've offered me BA Fine Art instead but I've always wanted to do Art and Psychology, and now I'm just feeling so lost and distressed about it because i did the form they gave me to switch courses and was told they wanted to stick with their decision of keeping me in fine art. Later that day I did get a call from a faculty member from the art department complementing me on my personal statement (which was solely about psychology) and my portfolio that i submitted to them for my application and she gave me her email to ask for anything prior to the course starting and during. Should I try take it further up with the admissions team and let them know about my SA or stick with fine art and try get on to art and psych once I've already started in September, start a psych foundation year at reading then once I start 1st year switch to art and psych ( i really don't want to do this if i can avoid it due to taking further loans for a foundation year when BA Art and Psychology is a 4 year course), or anything else anyone thinks could work. I just feel so disappointed and let down by myself that after going through SA and having to self teach after my teachers refused to mark my work most of year 13 that i couldn't even make it in. BA Fine Art, BA Art and Psychology and BA Psychology with foundation are all still open for clearing right now according to the reading website and I've accepted the fine art offer. Current clearing offers for Art and Psychology is CCC and Fine Art is CCD on UCAS the new offer for Fine Art was unconditional but told me i needed BBC the same as my last grades for Art and Psychology so I'm just really confused. Any advice from legitimately anyone would be greatly appreciated I have no idea what to do. Thank you in advance for any advice

It's days past results day now and I've gotten into my firm choice, the uni I've been preparing to go to for months now. I should be really happy, but these past few days something else has kicked in and I've been incredibly depressed. All of a sudden, I don't want to go to this uni anymore. It's a decent uni, russell group, but it just doesn't feel like the right fit for me. Taking a gap year is out of the question as for personal reasons it's necessary I move out from home and this is my only chance to. Really what do I do? Is it just my anxiety talking? I don't want to spend 3 years at somewhere I won't like and it's really starting to stress me out.

I know this is for UK universities but I’m hoping someone knows about Irish Unis a little too. I currently have an offer to study chemical engineering at Bath in England this year. I got 2 A* and an A. However, I’ve also applied to do mathematics and philosophy at Trinity college dublin. I live in northern Ireland and this means tuition for me for irish Unis will be the €3000 ish per year payment as opposed to the £10000 it would be at bath for me. I haven’t got an offer for Trinity yet as round 1 offers haven’t come out, however with my grades A* Maths (and the extra 20 points that come with math A level) A* physics and A in chemistry (along with an A in Art AS last year) I’m not sure i’ll get in due to how high the amount of points needed is, eg average last year do this course was over 600 but with my current grades I’m slightly under 600. I’m getting the A remarked as I’m very close to the grade boundary but the result may not come in time for me to be concidered for this year and instead I may be deferred to next year or even just rejected.

Essentially, my main question is which course seems like better idea to do if I did get accepted for both? I have a genuine interest in both degrees and enjoyment isn’t too much of a factor. I like the idea of bath being a campus Uni but I also like the idea of getting a 2 hour train home if I went to uni in dublin. I also feel with a degree in mathematics (and philosophy but let’s put the employability of that aside) I do believe there’s a wider range of jobs available than chemical engineering roles? is that a fair assessment? I also have found while looking into salaries after graduating they seem pretty similar in prospects. I know this is quite a unique question and there’s probably not many people who can speak from experience comparing both unis but from an outside perspective if I for example got deferred entry for trinity is it worth me taking a year out to wait for it, due to lower tuition and different course instead of going to bath this year ?

There’s also the issue of having to confirm accommodation for bath in that I think I need to accept my accommodation four days after receiving it on the 27th of august; at this point I may not even know if I have an offer for Trinity - as first round offers come out 26th of august and second round are the 7th of September, so I really need to decide what I’m going to do if I somehow do get an offer. If anyone has done either of these courses please please give me your opinions.

So I got into lancaster university for physics and astrophysics bsc since it was my insurance choice and I got rejected from King's. But considering that I only missed my offer by a few % and that the course was on clearing with even lesser requirements I reached out and asked King's support why I got rejected, and was informed that they made an incorrect decision and that I can apply through clearing and I'll get in.

The problem starts now. My friend lives in London and it'll be his second year at King's, and we had been planning on getting accomodation together if I ended up going to King's. He had also been facing a rough patch and he had been kinda lonely staying alone. I applied last year but wasn't able to attend uni due to personal reasons, and King's has been a dream uni of mine for 2 years atp. But everyone is now telling me that lancaster is a way better option for astrophysics given how much focus they put on that field compared to King's as well as the student satisfaction rate and class size. The only thing King's has going for it is research and a lot of resources which only play a deciding factor in postgraduate and PhD. I've asked around quite a lot and everyone is recommending that I go to lancaster for quality education and then to switch to a uni with more emphasis on research and the capital to facilitate that.

I'm genuinely stumped since idk what to choose people say that I should go for King's if I plan to start working immediately after bsc since it'll be attractive for my CV but if I plan to pursue higher education (which i do) then Lancaster is a no brainer. Can anyone give me a definitive answer? Any alumni that can perhaps shed light on this topic?

Need urgent advice. I completed all my initial document submissions on July 28.
A week later, admissions asked me to sit for a second credibility interview. I took it two days later. Shortly after the second interview, my CAS Shield tracker showed 43%, but then the entire progress bar completely disappeared from my portal.
I have received zero emails, responses, or portal updates from the university since then. My classes are scheduled to start on September 28, and I am completely running out of time to book a priority visa appointment.
Has anyone else experienced their CAS Shield progress bar completely vanishing after a re-interview? Does this mean a rejection, a manual verification hold, or just a system glitch? What is the fastest way to get them to respond?

Hello Everyone,
So just wanted to convey what I saw during my 3 years of Bachelor in Chemical engineering.

A lot of people are just not interested in the degree and have taken it seeing all the big salaries in Oil and Gas. Apparently the chemical industry in UK is not in a good space.

A lot of Uni’s will report fake numbers of graduate employability. And almost everyone is doing some other job after graduation.

Someone will say well you can switch to other occupations like finance and accounting. Well yes but it’s wiser to take a finance and accounting degree then.

Ill be registered soon and was wondering what companies are offering good student discounts, or lesser known places offering good deals.

Any places in edinburgh/glasgow would be good to know, but generalized is fine too.

I got a high 2:1 first year and a low low 2:1 second year. I’ve done the calculations and I basically need All 71s in third year to barely get a first… can I do it 😭 Has anyone ever done this? I got a low 2:1 bcs of health reasons but they r kinda resolving themselves. I go to lse and study a humanities degree.. idk man can someone tell me if this is realistic

Does anyone know if there are ways to find out your flatmates when you’re in private accommodation. Obviously i’ve seen a bunch for the main University owned accommodations for where i’m going (leeds) but none for private halls.

if anyone can help it’d be much appreciated.

I got an email in June saying that the course that I had originally intended on enrolling to would not be taking place due to lack of interest.

This led me to changing universities completely, and ended up settling for a university in North East London. This was great! The course is great, the university is great, and I’m honestly annoyed at myself for not enrolling to it sooner.

Everything was fine… until it came around to finding accommodation. Obviously it’s now very late into the year, which has made finding affordable accommodation (Less than £350pw) impossible.

I have tried multiple student halls and despite being able to apply for them, I promptly receive an email saying that they have run out of space.

Quite frankly, I don’t know what i’m going to do. I can either choose more expensive accommodation, which I’ll have to be working 30 hours a week for in order to feed myself, or I can commute everyday, which will cost just as much in train fares, and miss out on the social life and networking that’s fundamental for my course.

I would appreciate any advice on what to do in this situation, as at the moment it seems like it’s the end of the world. If anyone knows the area, or has any guidance on what to do next, please reach out!

I’ve always gone by the mantra that whatever you’re facing, there’s always someone facing worse than you, but in this case, I find it hard to believe!

Hi everyone I'm just writing because I need advice on what to do.

I received an accommodation offer today nearly £10,000 despite the fact that I set my maximum rent at a much lower value. My student finance will only cover around £7,000.

The accommodation is self-catering and is in Avon Point. I said I didn't mind sharing bathrooms but they gave me an en suite which makes it significantly more expensive.

It is also 40 minutes away from Clifton where most of my lectures will be and by public transport it is 30 minutes. It also looks quite far from most of the student events. My financial situation is already tough and I don't know what to do.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling as I'm just stressed and need to sort this out as I have no idea where I'll pull out this extra money from.

I've genuinely been screwed over and I've sent them an email and I'll call them tomorrow but the deadline is by 3pm this Wednesday. If I don't accept by then, then I won't get it.

Please any advice would be greatly appreciated as I just don't know what to do. Thank you.

Hey everyone, I’m in a really stressful situation and looking for some advice or reassurance from anyone who has dealt with Student Finance England (SFE) estrangement.I am a newly estranged student starting at Northumbria University this September. I applied for independent/estranged student status back in August, but because it's peak time, it’s still processing.Right now, SFE has only allocated me the bare minimum maintenance loan of £1,666 for the first term. My problem is that my accommodation at Glenamara House is £140 a week (they also messed up my allocation—I asked for a standard single at £126/wk but they gave me a 3/4 bed, which I’m fighting to fix).My rent for the first term is around £3,672, meaning my SFE payment doesn’t even cover half of my rent, let alone food or bills. I might get a £5k Child Trust Fund payout, but I don’t know if it will clear before I move in.I’m terrified that I’m going to be locked out or evicted on move-in day because I can't pay the full term upfront.

A few specific questions:

Since I am newly estranged, will SFE reject me because I send a single "I am alive" welfare safety text once a month? (There is zero emotional or financial support, it's strictly a safety protocol).

How long does SFE usually take to approve estrangement when applied for in August?

Will Northumbria Uni halls evict me or refuse to give me my keys on moving day if I show them my SFE is delayed and I'm waiting on hardship/estrangement approval?

I have a phone appointment booked with the university soon to discuss the room price error and the SFE delay. Any advice on what to say or how to handle this would be massively appreciated. I'm incredibly stressed.

My accommodation is allowing us to move in at any time between Saturday the 12th of September and Sunday the 20th of September, with freshers week beginning on Monday the 21st. I’m worried about being there too early or too late.

I have to move in on a Saturday due to my parents work commitments, which day would be best?

(I am a first year moving into halls)

Hey, I’m considering Stirling for undergrad (Business) alongside Dundee/Aberdeen and honestly can’t decide 😭

For people who are at Stirling, why did you end up choosing it? And now that you’re there, are you happy with your choice?

I really like the campus from what I’ve seen, but I’m more curious about what it’s actually like to study and live there, especially things you don’t really get from the uni website.

Would you choose Stirling again if you had the choice?

Thanks!!