move away from home to study. With the increasing costs involved, living at home can keep accommodation and living expenses down. This might be something you need to discuss with your parents – is your idea of a great student social life compatible with their idea of a peaceful household? And chances are you’ll need to pay for your own travel, so don’t forget to factor that in.


Are you passionate about your chosen subject? Picking a subject that you enjoy or can see a clear purpose in is essential to giving yourself the best chance of success. Picking the subject that you just happened to do best at for A Level is not a guarantee that you will be motivated enough to reflect your best abilities. Think hard about what subject you choose to apply for and be as sure as you can be that it’s going to keep you engrossed for the length of the course. It is also worth reflecting on how you learn best and find out whether your chosen course will give you appropriate opportunities; it’s much harder to stay motivated if you’re a ‘practical’ learner who finds themselves trapped in lecture theatres or libraries most of the time.


Are you prepared for the financial consequences? For about twenty years now, it’s been a reality that university students need to pay not only for their own upkeep but tuition fees as well. Clearly thousands of people do take that step every year; the interest and repayment rates are usually reasonable and have become as much as part of financial life as rent or mortgage repayments. And you don’t


have to start paying anything back until you’ve reached the earnings threshold (currently £372 a week or £1,615 a month for Plan 1 loans). However, it can still feel like a big commitment, so it is worth chatting to a student finance expert to put your mind at rest. And taking out those loans for a course you’re not committed to could feel rather pointless in the long term.


Are you feeling brave enough? Starting a university course


is a big step for anyone, at any time in their life. For most, it means leaving behind friends from school and college and making a new start, if not in a new town, at least in a new institution. It’s reasonable to expect to be nervous but many people will take to it like a duck to water (as the saying goes) and, once they have settled in, they will never look back. There are things you can do to help yourself with that settling in process, of course: Find out how many students will be on the course you apply for – smaller numbers will often mean that friendship groups form more easily than on courses with much larger numbers. Think about whether a campus university or one based on a town centre site would suite you best; if you are in accommodation on a campus site, it might feel a bit more manageable while you get to know the ropes. See if you can find out what sort of accommodation is on offer; would a house or flat-share be an opportunity to make friends more quickly than a large university hall of residence (although many


halls are now organised into ‘flats’). Be honest about your social skills and plan ahead to make this big step a little easier on yourself.


Overall, a university degree is a very positive experience for a very large number of people. Friendships formed at university can often last a lifetime, for example, and there are regularly surveys that show people with degrees earn more over their working life than those who don’t. However, being sure that you’re going to university for the right reasons for you is the best way to ensure you will get the most out of it.


Make The Future Yours! Issue 2


19


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52