Students are expected to be self-motivated and able to meet deadlines but they are certainly not unsupported.

Their frontline support is their lecturers, teachers and tutors but, if they do have problems completing work or meeting deadlines, our study support team are there to help keep them on track. We also have a student support team on hand to help if your child experiences stress, anxiety or depression while at uni.

It may be difficult at first and many first years do feel homesick for a week or two. But this usually sorts itself out once they get to know other students in their lectures and halls. The university buildings themselves are social hubs, buzzing with places to stop and chat, and there’s lots of extra-curricular clubs, sports and societies to get involved in.

However, if your child can’t settle, they shouldn’t hesitate to contact the student support team, who will understand what your child is going through and be able to put support in place quickly.

Taking out student loans for tuition fees and maintenance can seem like building up a debt before your child has even got started in life. But perhaps approach it more in the way we think of a mortgage: you borrow a sum at the start which you then repay over a long time while making use of and benefiting from your 'purchase' every day.

There are big differences, though. Your child's student loan is written off if there's any amount outstanding after 40 years or they become permanently unfit for work. Also, they don't start paying it off until they are earning over £25,000 a year. Don't you wish mortgages came with the same generous terms?

Weighing the cost of your degree against the uplift in earning power it generates over a lifetime, it's really not a high price to pay.

A tariff is the number of UCAS points a student must have to enrol on a course. Points are usually accumulated from examination results, with different levels or grades awarded a particular number of points.

At Bedfordshire, our tariffs to enrol on a course are lower than some other universities, for several reasons.

• We are young (less than 50 years old) and would find it hard with high tariffs to compete with long-established UK universities
• We are committed to opening up higher education to students who wouldn’t normally consider it. More than 50% of our students have parents who didn't attend university themselves. We ask these students to defy expectations and, in return, we support them every step of the way to become educated, employable and entrepreneurial global citizens

Asking for a lower tariff by no means translates into a lower-quality degree. Our teaching rates alongside many other more established universities in national teaching awards. And our academics and postgraduate students undertake world-leading research at our 10 faculty research institutes. Read more about what we offer in Why Bedfordshire?

Luton and Bedfordshire generally get a bad rap in the media when in reality it’s little different in terms of crime to any large town or city. In fact, according to Complete University Guide crime table of university locations (which is based on police crime rate statistics for 2023), it’s safer than Leicester, Birmingham, Northampton and even Cambridge, to name a few. What’s important, wherever your child studies, is that they know how to take care of themselves and keep safe. Your role in this is vital but you’ll find further tips here

Don’t let people convince you Luton and Bedford are unattractive places to live, either. They are both culturally diverse towns with a colourful heritage and strong sense of community. The university and its students are definitely seen as part of that community – our students say they feel welcomed to the university and the towns – and there’s usually a lot going on.