Friend is worried about being left out

1.

If it's a good university, then almost everyone in that university will be in exactly the same boat (i.e. going there alone, scared / nervous etc.), so it's completely different to joining a school mid-term, when everyone is already in their own groups.

2.

Assuming she's going into halls, there will be a committee there, who put on many events to help people get settled in and climatise. Furthermore, as well as course tutors, there will be a team of wardens / sub-wardens, who can help with any domestic issues

3.

It's not uncommon students to visit their other friends on weekends etc... so get her to invest in a young persons rail-card, and she'll be able to see her friends whenever she misses them. Oh, even better still, she can invite them down to London for a weekend as well. Think about it, during the day, they can do all the touristy things in the West-End, and go to a few famous bars / clubs in the evening. It may be expensive for them, but it'll be fun, no?

4.

For even cheaper travel, consider coaches... Coach companies like National Express, Flixbus, Megabus etc. are always doing cheap travel deals, especially if you book in advance. No sure where up north the others are studying, but without too much effort, you could easily get return coach trip for less than £10. Only issue is it'll be at least a 4-5 hour journey (they could sleep on the coach).

5.

If it all goes wrong, she could use the cheap travel deals to go home every weekend, if she really wanted to.