I guess the whole point of the discussion is the TS should be bravely standing up as a grown independent adult, but no more under his/her mother's unreasonable control... though I still have a little curiosity: is the TS's mother really that ignorant to not knowing that the child tax credit will cease once the TS becomes 18 and going for uni education (she cares the credit so much, but is missing such an important point of the system?), and making use of this as a reason to hold the TS in London? Has the TS told us the whole story already?
Well, my curiosity is not the crux, after all I certainly agree that the TS should go with his/her own preference. I also agree that studying law in Exeter is a good choice. Meanwhile, we do not need to bad mouth Birkbeck for the purpose of making blurb to Exeter, especially what Trinculo said are mostly not facts, i.e. "BBK is not a good choice under almost any circumstances......, unless you are a student over 30 with low-paid full time day job in central London". The TS requests for plain fact and unbiased opinion, so let's clarify a bit: 1) at least 70% undergraduate students in BBK are under 30-years old; 2) According to THE2023, BKK is ranked around the first quartile among 112 UK institutions offering law degrees. 3) If ones care so much about wage and job prospect, should know that wages of BKK's fresh graduates is one of the Top 3 in the UK, obviously higher than most of the Russell Group institutions.
Besides child tax credits, is there any other reasons that a daughter/son should try to consider mother's strong view (just a wild guess: she's still not confident to manage her detachment anxiety and see if there is still other ways to stay with her beloved kid for a couple of years further? It is very uncommon in counselling service documents, isn't it?) Then, let's do so brainstorming (I believe TSR is such a place to do brainstorming): why doesn't the TS try to get a place in UCL, KCL, LSE or QMUL for studying law? I believe these institutions are as good as Exeter for job prospect, aren't they? As MadMathsMum mentions about deferring one year for saving money, deferral and retaking the examination is also making my suggestion technically feasible too. I believe it is worthwhile to do it for "the best of two worlds"!
DoI: I am studying law in an UoL institution, but not BKK. I care about plain fact and unbiased opinion, with no offence. Just my two pennies.