Uni students

robmiller said:
Me! And I don't get anywhere near the maximum loan either (my loan covers my tuition fees and 90% of my accommodation, everything else I pay myself).

Luckily I work ~40 hours a week and therefore don't starve
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Well the taxpayer picks up your entire council tax bill for you of course :)
 
tom26 said:
Yeah my flatmat after 6 months of being here asked me how to use the iron the other day.
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Why do you need an iron? Hang up your clothes after washing. ;)

I moved away from home to go to university and I'm very glad I did, most of my mates from school stayed at home for uni and I think they missed out on some of the experiences. It isn't even necessarily about going out although that was an important factor for me, it is the random nights in where someone decides to go wheely chair racing down the street or staying up playing cards all night and drinking as a couple of small examples that I would have missed out on by not staying in halls. Not to mention the experience of having to get along with lots of random people, I was lucky in that I got on with all but one of my flatmates, in fact I moved in with 4 of them after halls but even if I hadn't it would have been a valuable experience and it has certainly made me more confident.

You can have fun if you stay at home without a doubt but it wouldn't have suited me in the least, I enjoyed the fact that I was more or less entirely responsible for myself and that everyone else was in the same situation which if nothing else gives you a common link. :)
 
[TW]Fox said:
40 hours a week? How do you find time for essential student tasks like dossing around playing pool in the union, surfing 100mbit internet and getting up at 1pm after rolling in at 4am the night before from the Union?
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I work around it, freelance work is pretty flexible tbh—so long as I meet deadlines, it doesn't matter when I do my work.

It also means that, all being well, I'll be able to finish uni without debts (and next year buy and run a car). Which is nice.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I am at home for Uni.

Provided you find it easy enough to make friends you get *most* of the Uni experience for considerably lower cost. The only thing I really miss out on is the experience of living with people your own age - everything else is just as easy to do when you live at home - the socialising, the 3-4 nights a week, that sort of thing.

The two best things about living at home is the financial side of things - money wise its MUCH easier - and the certainty. Living at Uni can be either the best or the worst thing you can possibly do and which of these it is is largely down to luck. Of my friends, some are having the time of their life yet another moved back home becuase the experience of living in a shared house was so utterly awful.

At least with living at home you know what you are going to get. How well it works depends entirely on your situation, though - if your parents are the sort who would care if you roll in at 3.30am after a particularly good night at the Union then it might not quite be as enjoyable as it is if they couldnt care less or don't even notice you arriving home.

Location is another thing - I can get to Uni in 15 minutes, just over 10 at night, so random 'Union? ok mate' things are no issue becuase it takes me as long to drive in as it takes them to walk down the road anyway. But if you live 10-50 miles from Uni travelling in becomes a drag and you'll be more tempted to skip social occasions, or you'll find the cost of a night out really mounts up.

It also depends on your finances. If you are entitled to max loan and your LEA will pay your fees living away is a hell of a lot easier than it is if you don't qualify for any of the assistance.

It's worked out great for me - I thoroughly enjoy Uni, have a social life as active as any other student (placement years excepted when everyone is spread randomly around the country), but have the added bonus of not being totally skint all the time.
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I'm 100% with Fox here. I've also stayed at home and I've made a shed load of mates along with my current mates . . It's absolutely brilliant :cool:

The financial aspect is by far one of the strongest points, I have no loan, I don't have to worry about anything financially. I've just been shopping and I've spent £80 on food/random rubbish, that's excluding the nights out, eating out every other day and being able to treat myself to expensive gadgets. One of my close mate is on a budget of arounds £2.50 a day which is somewhat one of the harsher examples.

There are times where I do feel living away would have been a valuable experience and more of a laugh with friends.

I would rather be well off and supported than having the noisy halls with paper thin walls. That does somewhat add to the fun but I'm pretty happy with where I am. My parents aren't the pestering type and home is good :)

I'd try to stay home, it's a lot easier . . seeing friends having to travel 200 miles across the country to see their families or go back home as an urgencies is pretty rubbish. That's assuming you're happy with where you are.

I've got my own car and I get to drive to uni and it takes about 20/30 minutes which is great :D
 
robmiller said:
Perhaps a time machine to become not old might be in order?
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Might it?
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MOVE OUT!

I cannot stress that enough. Three years living away from home has turned me into a new person. Even after all this time I still can't wait to move into a new house in Cardiff.
 
Your first and only reason for going to uni is to get a degree. The 'University experience' is basically getting wasted 5 nights a week. If that's what you are after then just get a full time job and at least you will have enough money to do it.


If you stay at home your chances of succeeding in your degree are far greater.
 
I wouldn't say that's the only reason. I want to make a load of friends and have a fantastic time, as well as getting a good degree.

I picked my first choice university purely on the fact it has excellent night life. That would be Newcastle :D

OK, maybe not purely, it's fairly good academically to do economics anyway.
 
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big_white_dog84 said:
Your first and only reason for going to uni is to get a degree. The 'University experience' is basically getting wasted 5 nights a week. If that's what you are after then just get a full time job and at least you will have enough money to do it.
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Only reason? Not even close. Part of the reason that I came to university was that I wasn't sure what career I wanted, I can happily admit I'm still not sure but I've eliminated some options and opened up a few more. Part of the reason was to meet new people and experience a lifestyle different to that I've had before, there will be few times in my life where I am as free as I am at the moment. There are a myriad of reasons why people go to university and I've just covered a couple of mine. Gaining a degree, while important obviously, is far from the sole reason in most cases I'd dare to suggest.

Also not too many jobs will be happy if you turn up after being on the lash 5 or 7 nights of the week, it might be acceptable once or twice but most will frown on it if it occurs on a regular basis. In university, for better or worse, it is almost par for the course with some people.

big_white_dog said:
If you stay at home your chances of succeeding in your degree are far greater.
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Maybe but you might just miss out on some of the experiences that make university so much fun, if you don't then great but I would imagine you have to work harder in your social life also to experience the same degree of integration that your peers will have just by dint of staying away from home. Halls don't suit everyone of course but they can certainly be good practice for living with other people in a vaguely controlled environment before venturing out into the 'real' world where you don't have wardens and the like to sort out disputes.
 
I moved out and I'm loving it. I don't talk to my old friends as much but we still meet up and have a good time during holidays. My friend stayed at home for a while but hated it as all her new uni friends lived together so she moved out.
 
I think there is definately a hit on social life if you don't live away. And i also think that if you don't move out you are losing out a bit on the transition from living at home with parents to being in the real world on your lonesome! I say move out, with a shadow of doubt.
 
I moved out and i hated it.

Got stuck with two older lads in their final years, and a strange guy who was very hairy and drank lots of tea.

The place was always noisy, always, the walls were paper thin.

Trying to sleep didnt happen as every night got woken up by people racing up and down the cobbled street on the bread trays/wheels (that got old rather quickly) shouting and being general drunkards coming home. Or cars with loud exhausts/stereos parking up or dropping people off etc apart from the one night when they seemed to have a "sound off" for 3 hours from 1-4am.

The cooking facilities were poor, kitchen was fairly small and the shower was crap.

Moved home, have my friends here and the uni here.

Its a bit of a trek to travel into Manchester if its rush hour but im better off as im working twice a week as well as saving money.

Dont see myself as missing out on much tbh.
 
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