Problems with finance, moving away to a further away uni and others(!)

So, I live in Worcester and initially I was trying to apply for BCU on an Illustration course, and then I found Derby Uni.


Out of the two, I'd join Birmingham if I got offers from both but I'm not expecting Birmingham to give me an offer because I require a Maths GCSE and I'm honestly just not built for it so, I'm guessing I'll end up going to Derby for that (and they want -20 UCAS points, but I'm the *******s at art and graphics so whatever) and I was pondering on what would happen if I had to move there.


1. Student halls accommodation is only for the first year, right?


I'd have to either a) rent in Derby for two years which would probably end up with me living in the city for definite or b) come back to Worcester for the last two years and get 1h 40min trains to Derby to go to my lessons or whatever. I'd probably run out of cash.


I have a girlfriend and friends here and I don't know if the latter is even slightly available. A ticket with return on the day is like £20-something.


Solution(?): Get around to actually taking my driving exams, buy a car (got savings for the car, around €6k).


2. My mum is a single mum and I have a sister in high school.


Working class family. When I move to uni my mum will probably stop receiving help because of my age and they'll have to move somewhere smaller (I'd hate to be the reason why they would). My mum earns just about to pay rent.


I'd probably have to use any loan/grant/help I'd apply for financially at uni to support myself, how would I help my mum and survive on minimal?


I really don't know what to do. My other choices were fillers really, I only put them because the money for the two choices is going to be paid anyways, but I included also: Nottingham Trent and Coventry — however I might change it to Gloucester, Hereford and even Worcester.


I really don't know what to do. It's frying my brain. At the same time, I want to move away, be independent and experience the university lifestyle fully, but I don't want things to change around here and make life miserable for my family.
I need help, anyone?