Student Railcards for mature students?

The misconceptions over student travel are astounding.

Yes, the OP will be entitled to a discount on TfL Oyster Card. However, this may not work in your favour depending on where you live and how many days you travel to university per week.
See:Oyster Card atricle for more information.

Regarding the YPR scheme, as the OP lives in London, it may not be advisable to get one. You have to live x amount of miles out of London for it to be of any benefit. If you resided in Zone 1-6 or even up to zone 'D', refer to the Oyster card.

Summarising, students get a bum deal in London.

Reply 5

jointhedots

walshie

Summarising, students get a bum deal in London.

Though that article does kind of assume that you only use public transport on days when you have classes, doesn't it? It's not particularly realistic considering how central the tube is to getting around and socialising in London, not to mention going in to use libraries, group meetings, jobs outside of term time which may well involve 5 days a week at peak time...Etc.

Reply 6

Né Stig

misslibby

Though that article does kind of assume that you only use public transport on days when you have classes, doesn't it? It's not particularly realistic considering how central the tube is to getting around and socialising in London, not to mention going in to use libraries, group meetings, jobs outside of term time which may well involve 5 days a week at peak time...Etc.

You're assuming all students who attend a university in London have come from around the country or internationally. How about the majority of London students who actually reside in London and don't need the tube to get around and are employed locally? I have a car and a residents permit in central London, why the hell do I want to travel on the London Transport for any more than the university schedule? I can walk to Oxford street in 5 mins, to the City in around 15 minutes.

Plenty of other London students are also like me. Not everyone wishes to see inner London every other day.

Reply 7

shady lane

You can get a student railcard regardless of your age. A friend of mine is 27 (doing an MSc) and got a form from the uni so she could get her railcard.

Reply 8

apotoftea

19

If you're over 26, and in full time higher education you'll need the form to be signed by your university.

Then you can get the card

Reply 9

What happens when you turn 26? Does it run out then or when the year you paid for expires?

Edit: Looked it up, seems you can keep using it until it expires. Should renew it the day before your 26th birthday then. :P

Reply 10

apotoftea

19

You have to renew them every year anyway. I got mine at the beginning of July this year and it runs out in 08

Reply 11

Yeah, but mine runs out in September. I wonder if in the year I'm 26 I could renew in February before my birthday to use it until the following February rather than let it run out in the September.

Reply 12

hermaphrodite

Andy Pipkin

Is this allowed?

I would be spending around £27 per weekend travelling back home and then back to uni on the Tube, so I am hoping that I can get a discounted Student Railcard. However, I am 25, would this be a problem?

i dont know whether they do it or not still - but open your student account with natwest and you might get a free student railway card/. not sure though.

the swines never gave me one though - but i wasnt that bothered cos i rarely travel

Reply 13

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

OP

19

How do I open a student account? Online or in the branch? P.S. I am with LloydsTsb (I have an outstanding loan with them). :rolleyes:

Anyway, I will be 26 in October. I guess I don't have long left to qualify for a Railcard then. :s-smilie:

Reply 14

You'll qualify for a railcard for as long as you're a student.

As for student account, I believe you can apply both online and in the branch. LloydsTSB might let you upgrade your account but they're not the best bank for student accounts. I am a LloydsTSB customer myself and intend to get a student account elsewhere, maybe Natwest.

Reply 15

Apricot Fairy

hermaphrodite

i dont know whether they do it or not still - but open your student account with natwest and you might get a free student railway card/. not sure though.

the swines never gave me one though - but i wasnt that bothered cos i rarely travel

DON'T open a student account with Natwest! They lure you in with the promise of the free railcard and neglect to mention that everything else to do with the account is complete crap. My interest free overdraft limit next year is £1,600, whereas my boyfriend's with Halifax is £2,500. I'd rather pay £20/year for the railcard and have the extra overdraft. Also Natwest are completely incompetent. I got told by one person that my overdraft limit was higher than it actually was, then went over my actual limit and got charged £38. I also applied for a student credit card over two months ago to tide me over the difficult start-of-summer period. They told me it would take ten working days. After a lot of stress, it finally arrived today. I get paid tomorrow and don't bloody need it any more, but in the mean time, my debit card hasn't worked for the last month, AND they put more charges on my account.

Oh, and my railcard has now expired and they haven't sent me a new one yet.

:mad:

Pay for the railcard separately and get a better bank account.

Reply 16

That's a good post Apricot, but people usually speak highly of Natwest in the finance forum. I might look into Halifax more myself now that you've mentioned it.

Reply 17

hermaphrodite

AP Fa - i was with natwest when i opened a current account - so it was just easy for me to change it to a student accout . .sheer laziness was why i did it with natwest - not cos of the free travel card - that wasnt what enticed me - cos i raerly travel like i said.

and yes a friend at uni told me about his halifax accont - so tried to change it - but my credit score failed so i wasnt able to change to halifax

Reply 18

devils_nose

10

Sephiroth

Yeah, but mine runs out in September. I wonder if in the year I'm 26 I could renew in February before my birthday to use it until the following February rather than let it run out in the September.

Yes, renew the day before your 26th birthday to be covered up till your 27th.. the man in the ticket office suggested that to me :biggrin:

Reply 19

jointhedots