The Student Room Group

commuting from birmingham to leicester

Hi. I'm a year 13 student hopefully going to study diagnostic radiography at Leicester later this year and I was just wondering if anyone has ever commuted to and from Leicester for classes everyday? My parents are VERY strict and believe me, I've tried convincing them to let me move into accommodation to no avail. :frown: I don't have my drivers license so I'll probably be taking the train.

Just wondering how tedious it is. If any DR students have done this before, please let me know what you did when it came to hospital placements. I'm unsure if commuting everyday will work with placements but I'm not completely sure ofc.
Reply 1
Original post by qhoulia
Hi. I'm a year 13 student hopefully going to study diagnostic radiography at Leicester later this year and I was just wondering if anyone has ever commuted to and from Leicester for classes everyday? My parents are VERY strict and believe me, I've tried convincing them to let me move into accommodation to no avail. :frown: I don't have my drivers license so I'll probably be taking the train.
Just wondering how tedious it is. If any DR students have done this before, please let me know what you did when it came to hospital placements. I'm unsure if commuting everyday will work with placements but I'm not completely sure ofc.

You'll need to figure out how long it will take to travel from where you live in Birmingham (it's a big place, after all) to where you need to get to at Leicester.

There are trains that run from Birmingham New Street to Leicester -- but you need to get to New Street first. When I lived in that area, I'd have walked to my local station (about 20 mins), taken the train to Moor Street,. walked from there to New Street and caught the train to Leicester station. I'd then have needed to get from there to the relevant place on Leicester's campus.

So you need to work backwards in terms of timings. Assume you have a 9am lecture. What time do you need to get to Leicester station to get to your lecture by 9am. What time train from Birmingham will get you to Leicester. What time do you need to leave your house to be able to get to New Street in time to catch that train? (Google maps suggests that it would take me about 2 hours 20 mins to do this journey from where I used to live -- so leaving home at around 6:30am to get to a 9am lecture.)

And you need to factor in returning home. If you leave campus at 5pm, how long does it take to get to the station. When's the first train to New Street; and once you get to New Street, how much longer to get home from there?

How motivated will you be to do this on a cold and rainy November morning? Or to travel home in December when it's dark by 4pm?

Are you sufficiently disciplined to study on the train? Will the trains you take be quiet enough that you can get a seat to work at? Have you factored in the costs of travelling? (New Street to Leicester return is £17-£18, though you can save a third on that with a railcard -- so you'd pay approx £12 a day.)
Reply 2
Original post by qhoulia
Hi. I'm a year 13 student hopefully going to study diagnostic radiography at Leicester later this year and I was just wondering if anyone has ever commuted to and from Leicester for classes everyday? My parents are VERY strict and believe me, I've tried convincing them to let me move into accommodation to no avail. :frown: I don't have my drivers license so I'll probably be taking the train.
Just wondering how tedious it is. If any DR students have done this before, please let me know what you did when it came to hospital placements. I'm unsure if commuting everyday will work with placements but I'm not completely sure ofc.

My daughter has an offer for Midwifery at Leicester and results allowing will be going in September. We also live in south Birmingham so very similar to you in that she will be doing a course that includes 50% placements (hospital/community). However she will definitely be moving to Leicester.

Whilst it might be doable to commute for the academic part of the degree I would say that it would be extremely difficult and arduous to do placements whilst commuting from Brum. Imagine you have a 7 am shift at hospital? You'd have to find overnight accommodation to get to hospital for 7 am as no trains will be running in time to get you to your placement on time.

Does your course allow you to apply for the 5K learning support fund? Are your parents happy to support your student finance application so you can get the full amount you're entitled too? They would need to supply their income details, if they don't then you would only get the minimum loan amount.

I think that's where you need to start. Maybe put together a list of all the reasons living at home and commuting would be difficult or in some cases impossible. Maybe list all the skills you will learn by living independently such as budgeting, financial independence, cooking skills, and generally more independence.

Do you have a trusted family friend that has lived away at uni, or had a child live away that could be an advocate for you? Give your parents a positive prospective so it might reassure them.

As a parent, it's difficult to think of our children leaving home, but ultimately it's the main goal of any parent to send their offspring off into the big wide world, a happy and successful person. Going to uni and living independently is the first step to this process.
Reply 3
Original post by Melmo22
My daughter has an offer for Midwifery at Leicester and results allowing will be going in September. We also live in south Birmingham so very similar to you in that she will be doing a course that includes 50% placements (hospital/community). However she will definitely be moving to Leicester.
Whilst it might be doable to commute for the academic part of the degree I would say that it would be extremely difficult and arduous to do placements whilst commuting from Brum. Imagine you have a 7 am shift at hospital? You'd have to find overnight accommodation to get to hospital for 7 am as no trains will be running in time to get you to your placement on time.
Does your course allow you to apply for the 5K learning support fund? Are your parents happy to support your student finance application so you can get the full amount you're entitled too? They would need to supply their income details, if they don't then you would only get the minimum loan amount.
I think that's where you need to start. Maybe put together a list of all the reasons living at home and commuting would be difficult or in some cases impossible. Maybe list all the skills you will learn by living independently such as budgeting, financial independence, cooking skills, and generally more independence.
Do you have a trusted family friend that has lived away at uni, or had a child live away that could be an advocate for you? Give your parents a positive prospective so it might reassure them.
As a parent, it's difficult to think of our children leaving home, but ultimately it's the main goal of any parent to send their offspring off into the big wide world, a happy and successful person. Going to uni and living independently is the first step to this process.

it's so difficult because i love my parents to death but they're the typical immigrant muslim parents who think children shouldn't move out until after marriage.

i didnt have to do placements, and it was just classes, i wouldn't be thrilled about having to commute but it'd be way easier than having to figure out travel for early or late placements.
i did tell my parents about this and honestly it sucks because their whole mindset is "either commute or don't go" ☹️

i will be applying for the 5k learning fund to help with travel or accom. my parents are mostly fine with the student finance.

my dream school is actually cardiff uni but leicester is the closest and least likely to give my parents heart attacks😭
Reply 4
Original post by martin7
You'll need to figure out how long it will take to travel from where you live in Birmingham (it's a big place, after all) to where you need to get to at Leicester.
There are trains that run from Birmingham New Street to Leicester -- but you need to get to New Street first. When I lived in that area, I'd have walked to my local station (about 20 mins), taken the train to Moor Street,. walked from there to New Street and caught the train to Leicester station. I'd then have needed to get from there to the relevant place on Leicester's campus.
So you need to work backwards in terms of timings. Assume you have a 9am lecture. What time do you need to get to Leicester station to get to your lecture by 9am. What time train from Birmingham will get you to Leicester. What time do you need to leave your house to be able to get to New Street in time to catch that train? (Google maps suggests that it would take me about 2 hours 20 mins to do this journey from where I used to live -- so leaving home at around 6:30am to get to a 9am lecture.)
And you need to factor in returning home. If you leave campus at 5pm, how long does it take to get to the station. When's the first train to New Street; and once you get to New Street, how much longer to get home from there?
How motivated will you be to do this on a cold and rainy November morning? Or to travel home in December when it's dark by 4pm?
Are you sufficiently disciplined to study on the train? Will the trains you take be quiet enough that you can get a seat to work at? Have you factored in the costs of travelling? (New Street to Leicester return is £17-£18, though you can save a third on that with a railcard -- so you'd pay approx £12 a day.)

even if i didn't have placements, i would honestly dread having to travel back and forth from uni everyday or multiple days a week.

i like fairly close to new street so i think i could catch a train around there?
i will hopefully have access to the nhs learning fund which would aid towards my travel costs but like you said, i don't know if i could handle travelling to another city early in the morning and then heading back after hours of work. not to mention the weather problems.

i will bring up everything you've said next time i talk to them about this.

thank you so much, your insight has been very helpful x
Reply 5
Original post by qhoulia
it's so difficult because i love my parents to death but they're the typical immigrant muslim parents who think children shouldn't move out until after marriage.
i didnt have to do placements, and it was just classes, i wouldn't be thrilled about having to commute but it'd be way easier than having to figure out travel for early or late placements.
i did tell my parents about this and honestly it sucks because their whole mindset is "either commute or don't go" ☹️
i will be applying for the 5k learning fund to help with travel or accom. my parents are mostly fine with the student finance.
my dream school is actually cardiff uni but leicester is the closest and least likely to give my parents heart attacks😭

That's really tough. I would still try and find a trusted family friend, or older student and ask them to advocate on your behalf. Is there anyone at your mosque that might be able to ease their concerns.

Leicester is very reasonable for accommodation costs, so if you decided to become financially independent of your parents you could claim the minimum loan without having to submit their details and also claim the LSF. This would give you approximately £9,700 to live on. I know when we looked at accommodation there were some for under £100 a week. Obviously this would take some serious considerations as potentially you're parents might decide not to have contact with you.

Have you spoken to anyone at Leicester? Maybe a welfare team? It might be that you can arrange accommodation when on placements with them, or be eligible for claiming back expenses, as I know you can do this if you are placed away from your term time address. I'm not sure how this works though if you have voluntarily decided to live a long way from your chosen uni.

When my daughter was going through the application process she had a questionnaire to fill in for placement locations and list them in the order of where she would like to work. I know Coventry was included on this list, as well as Leicester, Peterborough and another location I forget the name of. Maybe you have the option to pick other locations for placements and they might be able to facilitate this due to your circumstances? Cov would be much easier than Leicester for instance.

I'd start with finding an advocate to talk with your parents, and also make contact with the uni to see what they might be able to put in place. I can guarantee this won't be the first time they will have come across this situation. Are you attending an offer holder day soon? That could be a good place to start with finding info from the uni.

Good luck x
Reply 6
Original post by Melmo22
That's really tough. I would still try and find a trusted family friend, or older student and ask them to advocate on your behalf. Is there anyone at your mosque that might be able to ease their concerns.
Leicester is very reasonable for accommodation costs, so if you decided to become financially independent of your parents you could claim the minimum loan without having to submit their details and also claim the LSF. This would give you approximately £9,700 to live on. I know when we looked at accommodation there were some for under £100 a week. Obviously this would take some serious considerations as potentially you're parents might decide not to have contact with you.
Have you spoken to anyone at Leicester? Maybe a welfare team? It might be that you can arrange accommodation when on placements with them, or be eligible for claiming back expenses, as I know you can do this if you are placed away from your term time address. I'm not sure how this works though if you have voluntarily decided to live a long way from your chosen uni.
When my daughter was going through the application process she had a questionnaire to fill in for placement locations and list them in the order of where she would like to work. I know Coventry was included on this list, as well as Leicester, Peterborough and another location I forget the name of. Maybe you have the option to pick other locations for placements and they might be able to facilitate this due to your circumstances? Cov would be much easier than Leicester for instance.
I'd start with finding an advocate to talk with your parents, and also make contact with the uni to see what they might be able to put in place. I can guarantee this won't be the first time they will have come across this situation. Are you attending an offer holder day soon? That could be a good place to start with finding info from the uni.
Good luck x
Hi, thank you so much for your responses.

I spoke to my mom twice since then and each time, the second time being today after school and honestly she's just gotten more upset about it. I don't really want to talk to my dad about it since I just know he'll get angry again.

Our community here is kinda small, as in its basically just our family and close family friends, and none of their kids (according to my mom) have ever left home before marriage, even at our local mosque. I'm gonna ask around though even though I don't really want to have this argument again.

They basically just think that if I move out and live in a uni accommodation, I'm going to be in danger and get hurt, which I do understand but I feel like, I'm going to move out one day anyways, why is it different now? I'm not sure exactly what my parents are going to do about my placements, because all they want is for me not to move out. I tried explaining the logistics of travelling to and from placements to them, especially with early and late shifts because my dad would have to pick me up and drop me off and i dont think that would be possible every single time because he has back pain sometimes and hates driving for long periods of time, but it didn't really work.

Honestly, I'm kind of tired of arguing about this with them and I feel like just going to go along with whatever. I really want to do radiography, because sonography is my dream job but I'm kinda regretting picking this subject now like I should've just picked something easier that I could've done at aston or uob.

I would hate to lose a relationship with my parents and its heartbreaking thinking about it.

Also, I haven't actually gotten an offer yet, I have an interview on the 18th but because of this whole thing, it will be my first choice. But, (hopefully) when I do, I'll pick a hospital close to where I live. Originally, I wanted to go to Cardiff University, because they pay for your tuition if you do an allied healthcare course and agree to work there for 2 years after graduation, but that's gone out the window I suppose.
I do have an offer from Keele, which is about 2 - 2.5 hours away, which my parents are okay with me commuting to and from with so I might go to the offer holder day and ask about my options.

I'm going to email the Leicester team if I get an offer about what hospitals placements are at and I will also ask my cousins and others if they know anyone who's moved out for university and see if they can advocate for me.

Sorry this was kinda depressing, I wish it was happier. ☹️
Thank you for all your advice though x
Original post by qhoulia
Hi, thank you so much for your responses.
I spoke to my mom twice since then and each time, the second time being today after school and honestly she's just gotten more upset about it. I don't really want to talk to my dad about it since I just know he'll get angry again.
Our community here is kinda small, as in its basically just our family and close family friends, and none of their kids (according to my mom) have ever left home before marriage, even at our local mosque. I'm gonna ask around though even though I don't really want to have this argument again.
They basically just think that if I move out and live in a uni accommodation, I'm going to be in danger and get hurt, which I do understand but I feel like, I'm going to move out one day anyways, why is it different now? I'm not sure exactly what my parents are going to do about my placements, because all they want is for me not to move out. I tried explaining the logistics of travelling to and from placements to them, especially with early and late shifts because my dad would have to pick me up and drop me off and i dont think that would be possible every single time because he has back pain sometimes and hates driving for long periods of time, but it didn't really work.
Honestly, I'm kind of tired of arguing about this with them and I feel like just going to go along with whatever. I really want to do radiography, because sonography is my dream job but I'm kinda regretting picking this subject now like I should've just picked something easier that I could've done at aston or uob.
I would hate to lose a relationship with my parents and its heartbreaking thinking about it.
Also, I haven't actually gotten an offer yet, I have an interview on the 18th but because of this whole thing, it will be my first choice. But, (hopefully) when I do, I'll pick a hospital close to where I live. Originally, I wanted to go to Cardiff University, because they pay for your tuition if you do an allied healthcare course and agree to work there for 2 years after graduation, but that's gone out the window I suppose.
I do have an offer from Keele, which is about 2 - 2.5 hours away, which my parents are okay with me commuting to and from with so I might go to the offer holder day and ask about my options.
I'm going to email the Leicester team if I get an offer about what hospitals placements are at and I will also ask my cousins and others if they know anyone who's moved out for university and see if they can advocate for me.
Sorry this was kinda depressing, I wish it was happier. ☹️
Thank you for all your advice though x

Maybe try and compromise with you will come back on weekends and it just makes uni life easier. But explain to them that the commute is too long. It's 1 hour and 30 minutes each way which is 3 hours of travelling everyday. Which is way too much just to attend university. And that you can choose to live with only females in quiet (no partying allowed) accommodation. Maybe join some group chats that have other muslims looking to room together so that you can request to live together so at least if your family is worried about safety. There will be other people able to look out for you and have a similar mindset about drinking, partying and guys. Talk about muslim society and local mosques in the area. And try as much as possible to say it's not really moving out but like going to boarding school.

But Cardiff is a fantastic opportunity to not have to pay student loans back. Are your parents aware that you're essentially having to pay back 10% of your salary every year to the government for the rest of your life. And the interest rate is around 13.5% right now. Is there anybody in your family or close friends that have parents that can really vouch on this. Because your parents fear cant hold you back
Original post by zoeapariteta
Are your parents aware that you're essentially having to pay back 10% of your salary every year to the government for the rest of your life. And the interest rate is around 13.5% right now.


This simply isn't correct.

The interest rate on 'plan 5' student loans (which is what someone starting in 2025 will be taking out) is currently 4.3% (You can find this here "From 1 September 2024 until 31 August 2025, the interest rate for Plan 5 loans will be 4.3%."

Repayments on plan 5 loans are 9% (not 10%) -- and that's only on your earnings over £25,000 a year. So if you earn £26,000 in the year your repayment will be £90 (9% of £1000). With £50,000 earnings you would repay £2250 a year (9% of 25000); on £100,000 the repayment would be £6750 (9% of 75000).

And repayments are for up to 40 years, not "for the rest of your life". Many people won't earn enough in those 40 years to completely pay off the debt.
Original post by zoeapariteta
But Cardiff is a fantastic opportunity to not have to pay student loans back.


The NHS Wales Bursary only pays for tuition fees. The OP would still need a maintenance loan.
Original post by qhoulia
Originally, I wanted to go to Cardiff University, because they pay for your tuition if you do an allied healthcare course and agree to work there for 2 years after graduation, but that's gone out the window I suppose.


Be aware that it doesn't usually make financial sense for a student who normally lives in England to study a healthcare course in Wales. The funding available for living costs if you take the NHS Wales Bursary is inadequate. Have a look at the following thread:

Comparing funding for healthcare courses in England, Scotland and Wales

Original post by qhoulia
I really want to do radiography, because sonography is my dream job but I'm kinda regretting picking this subject now like I should've just picked something easier that I could've done at aston or uob.


Did you apply to BCU? It's the main uni in Birmingham for healthcare courses.
(edited 2 days ago)
Original post by normaw
Be aware that it doesn't usually make financial sense for a student who normally lives in England to study a healthcare course in Wales. The funding available for living costs if you take the NHS Wales Bursary is inadequate. Have a look at the following thread:
Comparing funding for healthcare courses in England, Scotland and Wales

Did you apply to BCU? It's the main uni in Birmingham for healthcare courses.

I was about to say the same thing regarding maintenance loans for English students in Wales. It's terrible what SFE expect English students to be able to live on. Under £3000, plus a small bursary depending on household income.

Due to our income my daughter would only get £1000 bursary, and less than £3000 maintenance loan. That's less than the minimum maintenance loan she could apply for at an English uni, with the additional LSF of £5000. Just under 10k Vs just under 4k meant Welsh unis were basically prohibited from her options. Shame as she loved Swansea but even with no tuition fees we couldn't make the figures work.
Reply 12
Original post by normaw
Be aware that it doesn't usually make financial sense for a student who normally lives in England to study a healthcare course in Wales. The funding available for living costs if you take the NHS Wales Bursary is inadequate. Have a look at the following thread:
Comparing funding for healthcare courses in England, Scotland and Wales

Did you apply to BCU? It's the main uni in Birmingham for healthcare courses.

Hey, thank you for the thread you sent. I think I was kinda focused on having the tuition paid of and wasn't aware of how much I could be struggling with. living costs. Kinda rethinking what uni I really want to go to now.

I unfortunately didn't apply for BCU because I thought that their entry requirements were too high and only after I sent off my application did I see that I had the grades for it which sucks because I live so close to it. If I end up having to take a gap year for whatever reason, I'd like to apply for BCU.

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