Great blog. I was a student about 20 odd years ago, but can't remember having some of the problems you are having. Things have certainly changed. Now I am just a student of life. Anyway, I've just started using Live Space; I've been used to blogger for some time. Will check in from time to time. Wishing you better times ahead...

hey, just thought I'd say how much I like this blog and also how much people like Lawrence p**s me off! I'm a student repeating my first year at university, not because i drank too much and partied too hard the first time around but because of certain events in my life that forced me to temporarily re-evaluate my priorities.

  I find it incredibly difficult to believe that your children made it through university without either a loan or financial aid from yourself and i find it equally as incredible that people can label all students as lazy/alcoholic/drug taking/smoking layabouts who complain about how much things cost when they are paid for by the taxpayer...pardon my french but that is bullshit!  I recieve a student loan every year which is spent ENTIRELY ON MY ACCOMODATION (AND NO I'M not living in the ritz hotel!!) on top of this i have to find money for books, a social life, the cost of playing sports and buying the required equipment (admitedly I do play American football so I did kinda ask for that!) I also have to tax, mot AND put petrol in a car which I need in order to get to my job and to get home during holidays because despite the ridiculous accomodation charges I am forced to pay, I get kicked out of accomodation during the holidays so the university can rent the halls to conferences!  add to this the interest that students are made to pay on their loans so that the student loan company can make a profit (surely this should be something the govt. does rather thn a profit making corporation??) How about an insight into my days - I wake up at 9:30 am in order to either go to my days lectures and sports or revise for exams, i do this until 5-6pm when i then go and see my girlfriend until 8:30 when i start the journey to my nightshift job 33 miles away (hence the need for a car!) then at 7:30AM I ARRIVE HOME AGAIN IN ORDER TO GRAB 2 HOURS SLEEP BEFORE DOING IT ALL AGAIN! and people like Lawrence have the nerve to categorise all students as lazy because of a few bad apples that let the rest of us down - shameful, if i were to categorise any given racial mionority as all being lazy, I would be called a rascist...If i were to say that all old people are senile and smell of pee, I would be called ageist and yet the whole society of students across britain is lambasted with gross inaccuracies and overestimations of their behaviour patterns and no-one bats an eyelid about it.

Ignorance is bliss as they say, so lawrence must have a big silly grin slapped ALL OVER his face! - do yourself and us a favour and talk about something you ACTUALLY know something about instead of irritating us with your misinformed, badly thought out, poorly researched opinion!

Hi, I think this is a great blog, Jess shows that not all students have money like the students I've seen today and who I live with seem to have it all! It's understandable that you don't want to get a job while you are studying cos it is hard to manage and I don't have a job cos like u it'll affect my studies. So even if you do have your parents helping you, there's nothing wrong, lots of my friends have their parents helping them. Plus what I like is that from reading her blog, Jess is an outgoing person, friendly and always keeping active rather than just sitting there doing nothing or causing trouble in the streets., wasting her life away. She seems to write about a lot of personal things which I wouldn't have the guts to admit in a blog for people to read. Even if she does go skint from drinking and other things then that's just life cos you can't work your arse off all day and students are entitled to a life, employers like to see students doing things other than studying! She also does work in the summer so it's not like she just sits there asking her parents for money when she hasn't got it, it's difficult juggling money and studying so the only thing u can do really is to work in the summer! Plus since she works in the summer, it sounds as if Jess is going to have good career prospects in future! Keep up the good stuff Jess!

Hi, I'd just like to say that i love reading your blog, i think its very interesting and i think its great that your having fun but learning at the same time. I myself am studying for a degree in Business Management, however i am doing this in my own time at a local college. This means that as well as holding down a full time job, and having a social life, i am also going to college straight after a full days work, twice a week 6-9 to learn. I then do all my course work, resourcing etc in my own time. This is extremely difficult and to top it all off, i also pay for my degree myself, and only being 18 years old i don't earn much to support myself as well as my education. However as hard as it is, i don't regret doing any of it, because i look ahead and hope that all the hard work and effort will be worth it when i get a decent job earning a good wage. This is in no way of any disrespect to Jess what i'm saying, its just unfortunate that i have to study for a degree the hard way, due personal circumstances not allowing me to go away to university. If i had my way i would most certainly do what jess is doing, because i believe that going away to university is not just about the learning aspect, but is about the whole experience. Moving away from home, independency, meeting new people from different cultures and having fun. What i am proving by studying for a degree in my own time, is that anyone can do it and pay for it themselves. Its just that some people are lucky enough to experience acutally going away and studying at an actual university. I also don't think that anyone should judge others for how they choose to live their life. Good on Jess for having fun and doing what she wants to do. If she's lucky enough to have parents to help her out then thats great. I think that we should all remember that everyone's personal circumstances are different and we all have our own problems to sort out. So keep having fun!