A degree of independence

Starting university or college isn't easy for anyone, but there is support

Suddenly you are on your own. The car's been unpacked, the stereo, the portable TV, the boxes of CDs and the bin-bags of clothing are stacked in the new bedroom, and the anxious parents have now set off back home on the motorway. You close the door, take a deep breath - and panic.

Suddenly you are on your own. The car's been unpacked, the stereo, the portable TV, the boxes of CDs and the bin-bags of clothing are stacked in the new bedroom, and the anxious parents have now set off back home on the motorway. You close the door, take a deep breath - and panic.

Going to university is now a major rite of passage for most young middle class people - and the Government hopes that half the population will be included in the ritual within a few years. Some new students sail through it all and come out the other end as well-adjusted and as well-educated as their parents hoped when they dropped them at a hall of residence for the very first time. Others make heavy weather of it for at least some of the time. This supplement is intended to look at some of the stresses and strains of student life, and suggest ways of coming out the other end as triumphantly as you might wish.

Top of the list of parental worries come sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. And universities themselves are well aware of the risks. Most campuses have a whole range of welfare and advisory services for students who run into trouble of this, or any other, kind.

Which is not to say that student social lives aren't frenetic. The student entertainment scene is big business these days and in many smaller towns students union venues are the best on offer, attracting major crowd-pulling bands. Drink in students union bars is undoubtedly cheap, and wherever students congregate in numbers, the pubs and clubs of their host cities are only too willing to entertain them. So excess is certainly feasible, if not desirable.

What keeps it in check is the problem which faces most students these days - a chronic lack of cash. The average student is going to leave university in three years' time with between £10,000 and £15,000 of debt. For students without rich - and generous - parents, keeping body and soul together while they study is undoubtedly the problem which looms largest of all. It comes as a shock to some school-leavers to discover that, at university, textbooks are not free. In fact they are often a very expensive item to be added to a meagre budget. Banks and credit card companies are willing to lend, but can turn nasty if repayment is not to their satisfaction. And there is rent, the phone bill, and food to buy before a social life can even be considered. It is small wonder most students now take jobs to help them make ends meet during term-time as well as in the vacations.

Parents are often astonished at the standard of accommodation students have to make do with when they move from relatively sheltered halls of residence into the private housing sector. Snails in the kitchen, rats in the back-yard, burglaries at all hours and "returnable" deposits which are never returned are the common currency of student housing in a market where five or six young people are routinely packed into what used to be small family homes now long past their sell-by-date. It is an area where some parental clout is gratefully received if it is a case of dealing with recalcitrant landlords and accommodation agencies.

The only students who avoid the hazards of the open housing market are those in halls - which generally includes most freshers - and those who have decided to go to their local university or college and live at home. The latter is undoubtedly a cheaper, and often a more comfortable option, but some of those who do stay at home reckon that they lose out on student social life and other activities, especially if they have to commute some distance. By the third year they are often looking to move into student houses along with the rest of their contemporaries.

All of which leaves out the reason students actually go to university in the first place - to study and hopefully gain a degree or diploma. For some, the transition from school to university can be traumatic in an academic sense as well. Ideally, schools and colleges should have prepared A-level students to take some responsibility for their own learning.

The transition from teacher-managed school-work for GCSE to individual responsibility for undertaking reading and research, meeting deadlines for projects and written work, and for turning up for classes on time, should have been a gradual one. But there are still some new students for whom the individual responsibility universities place on their students comes as something of a culture shock.

Fortunately, parents' natural fears that they are leaving their ducklings in deep water to sink or swim are not justified by the facts. Universities and student unions are well aware that students may need help, especially during their first term. There is help and advice available on everything from housing and homesickness to academic problems. You just need to know where to look. We hope this supplement will help.