High cost of train travel apparently influencing peoples choice of university

[158756]

WMT is apparently to offer free travel to Worcester for their Open Day.
Looks like it covers WMR/LNWR services.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-48965585



I wonder if the local hotels will be offering free accommodation for those needing to stay overnight.
(No they won't...)

Anyone who can travel there solely by WMR/LNWR trains doesn't need an overnight stay.

Offering free travel to a small uni in Worcester on a Sunday isn't a great hardship for WMR, gets them good publicity for the minimum effort possible for pretty much any open day in the region. Bet there won't be any special offers for the next Birmingham or Warwick open days.

 

[yorksrob]

Bet there won't be any special offers for the next Birmingham or Warwick open days.

That sounds like a gauntlet thrown down !

 

[Brissle Girl]

They say it's a pilot scheme, so I'm sure they'll be reviewing its success before determining whether to extend it to other unis.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Anyone who can travel there solely by WMR/LNWR trains doesn't need an overnight stay.

I expect Worcester is a regionally-dominated uni so with mainly short-distance travel.
But at a national level there is a lot of long-distance student travel which probably does require overnight stays.
My point was really that the railway seems to be expected to offer cheap travel, but not the rest of the travel industry.
Even the Worcester WMT offer is no help if you live in, say, Bristol in GWR/XC land.
The voucher system suggests that the college itself may be playing some part in the offer.
Most students will also already get the 16-25 railcard discounts.

 

[Dr_Intoxicated]

I was doing much the same thing in the late 1970's - choosing four uni's from prospectuses, then going for interviews to three of them in the end.

But, to underline the importance of actually visiting the places & institutions, my preconceived notions about which ones I preferred at the start got blown out of the water after the interview visits. Although I got offers from all four in the end, I decided to put what was probably initially my least preferred as first choice on UCCA (and spent 3 happy years there studying - no regrets at all), mostly because it felt like the 'right place to be' when I visited it (and some of the others didn't).

(Bradford was my eventual choice, and due to the 'Peak' on the train from Birmingham failing at Sheffield, I arrived quite late so instead of a leisurely stroll around the city centre beforehand to see what it was like, I had to rush straight to the university instead. Over the course of the next few years, it wasn't the only time a Peak failed on me on the way to Bradford either...).



Same here - and when I started at uni, I just took a large suitcase on the train on my own and basically started my adult 'life training' along with all the other not-quite-sure-what-to-do-next freshers...the most useful first day info was probably where the nearest supermarket was, and which curry houses to avoid (this being Bradford ).

This was my experience in the early 70s.

I also promoted Bradford to first place on my UCCA from after a visit for an interview. It was also the furthest place from my home in London. I enjoyed my time there over 7 years of a sandwich course (great work experience) and a PhD.

I still try to return now and again for a curry although the city has fallen on hard times and nearly all the pubs I frequented are gone.

So yes in those days it was possible to combine a great social life with a good degree a long way from home.

I made my first friends on the train from King's cross, with all my worldly possessions in a large suitcase, at the start of the first term.