FAQs: School Advice
What do we need to know before deciding on a university?
In the US, where a university education has always been a luxury purchase, worrying about ‘college’ starts in the delivery-room, but in Britain we’ve not yet developed the same think-ahead habits. It certainly makes sense, however, to start planning for ‘uni’ as early as you can.
Parents nowadays will normally be involved in the entire application process from ferrying their children to distant campuses to double checking (and helping write) the complex entry forms. They may be asked for - or insist on giving - advice about a course of study, and then, of course, there’s the money.
Fortunately, for bewildered parent there’s plenty of useful information on offer.
The Right Course and The Right University
From early in the sixth form parents can help by gathering all the necessary facts and figures. The best sources for official data are The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education and the Teaching Quality Information site. There are also some excellent university guide books - The Times Good University Guide and The Guardian University Guide are both informative and clear. The internet too is an invaluable source, with such student-oriented sites as studento.com giving their own interpretation of league tables and facilities.
It’s no longer considered unusual for parents to accompany a prospective candidate to a university Open Day and most universities and colleges welcome their presence. With the clear understanding that leavers’ destinations and campus security may be higher on a parent’s priority list than the low down on the union bar or the local nightlife, separate talks are usually laid on.
Visiting universities across the country can be costly and time consuming and though most candidates cram visits into the five or six weeks before applications are due in, it will certainly ease the pressure if you string out the process over the two sixth-form years.
Try your best, when weighing up the advantages of one course or university over another, not to be a ‘grumpy old parent’. If your college days were spent a quarter of a century ago, almost everything has changed and if you aren’t familiar with today’s set up your opinions could be, at best, counterproductive.
The UCAS entry system is the usual bureaucratic obstacle course and, though good schools will also be efficiently on the case, a watchful eye on deadlines and a willingness to sub-edit submitted forms is one of the greatest services you can offer.
As with most other areas of parental responsibility, it’s the crisis moments too when ‘being there’ will be most valuable. Make sure you’ll be at home before the interviews take place - perhaps to help ask mock questions - and when the A Level results come out. If grades don’t turn out as expected, your role in helping devise a speedy action plan could be essential. Gen up in advance on the clearing process, stay calm and encourage clear thinking. It can be easy to make a snap - and wrong - decision at this point.
- Universities and Colleges Admissions Service www.ucas.com
- University and college open days www.opendays.com
Money Matters
Money has now become the chief concern of most parents with children on the brink of university, particularly if they are resident in England and their children intend to stay in the country (parents in Scotland and Wales don’t currently suffer quite as badly).
The cost of attending university is now equivalent to sending your child to an independent day school and Nat West calculate that the combined burden of fees and living costs - depending, of course, on where you live or go to university - is in excess of £11,000 a year.
In 2006 the funding system changed entirely. Fees rose (most to the £3000 annual maximum) but the way they’re paid has become slightly less burdensome. The fees themselves, at least in England, are now paid with a loan directly to the university, and deducted equally directly from the graduate’s income, once their salary has reached £15,000 a year.
Accommodation and other living expenses can be settled with a student loan, 25 per cent of which is means tested on the basis of parental income. As with fees, this will be repayable after graduation.
In addition, particularly to encourage those from lower income homes to proceed to higher education, the government have reintroduced maintenance grants for those on incomes under £37,400 and the universities themselves now offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries.
Whatever funding you’re looking for start applying early, demand is great, the system complex and you want the money to arrive when you really need it - at the beginning of your first term.
Parents who can afford to do so will usually pay at least a contribution. Even those who expect their children to live off their student loans, which average about £4,000 a year, have found that an extra £2,000 or £3,000 is generally needed for books, clothes, entertainment, etc.
University is now a very expensive choice, and though the short and long term benefits can undoubtedly be great, if you have child who has no idea of what to study and no strong desire to do so, don’t be afraid to support their decision to find a job. Working can certainly concentrate the mind.
- DfES www.dfes.gov.uk
- Student Loans Company www.slc.co.uk
- NHS bursaries www.nhsstudentgrants.co.uk
Mind the Gap
More and more adolescents today considered a year away from studying as a right rather than an option. Parents, however, are not always quite as convinced.
About eight per cent of university applicants are accepted for a deferred place and future employers now see this time out as a useful break and an opportunity to expand horizons, gain confidence and learn people skills.
Before even contemplating a gap year, however, it makes sense to check whether the university and department you intend to apply for is happy for you to do so. Most now agree that a year off has considerable benefits, creating more mature and focused students and building up a cash flow so study energies needn’t be diverted into extra-curricular employment.
Planning a year off is a major chore and for those without much experience of the world of work or any other, this is a time when a parent’s involvement can be particularly beneficial.
For many the ideal is to mix and match activities, combining working for money with travelling, volunteering, work experience or learning a foreign language.
If you son or daughter is planning to work abroad, year-out schemes can cost up to £4000 (though most participants raise the money through fundraising), so it’s important that the organisation they go with is bona fide. Travelling with a respected organisation should at least ensure someone is on hand to sort out any emergency. The Gap Year Guidebook gives a full listing of the well-established organisations.
The government, too, wants to encourage gap-year voluntary work, and has recently set up a charity to develop opportunities here and abroad. Their projects include training, a weekly allowance and help with accommodation and should also help ease parental concerns. For more information contact www.vinspired.com
- www.gap-year.com
- www.gapyeardirectory.co.uk
- www.yearoutgroup.org
The Gap Year Guidebook (Peridot Press) is available from www.gap-year.com as above.
University Timetable
May or earlier: Start researching where and what you want to study and begin, if possible, going round the universities you’re interested in.
September: UCAS begin taking applications, so start on your form and narrow your choices.
October: Deadline for Oxbridge and for medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and veterinary science.
December: Interviews for Oxbridge and some other universities
January: Interviews. Deadline for most courses
Mid January to end of June: Applications received after the middle of January are considered ‘late applications’ and universities will consider them only if they want to make more offers.
March: Some art and design courses have a late deadline toward the end of the month, but to be on the safe side applications should be in near the beginning.
June AS and A Level exams
August: Results. Firm offers accepted. Clearing
September/October: pack your kettle and off you go.
10 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN CHOOSING A COURSE AND UNIVERSITY
- What are the employment opportunities? Is the subject a requirement for a specific career or will it simply be the gateway to many.
- Does the subject (law or medicine, for example) have it own admissions test which will require special preparation?
- How much does the course cost? Architecture and medicine are degrees which take much longer to complete and will, of course, cost correspondingly more.
- How popular is the subject? This will reflect on how hard it is to get in to study it.
- What is the content of the course? A history degree at Manchester will not be the same as a history degree at Nottingham or Newcastle - make sure the emphasis of the course is what you’re looking for.
- Does your child want to live in a town? In the country? At home?
- What are the extra-curricular opportunities? If’your son or daughter is passionate about rock climbing a college in central London may not be the answer.
- Does your child have more than one interest? If so, joint honours is offered in a multitude of combinations.
- Is what you’re looking for a university degree or is a more practical, vocational training more appropriate?
- Does your child have the right A Levels to qualify for the course? And , if so, are they likely to get high enough grades?