White Working Class Males in British Higher Education
Not so far from home . The university was close and I knew the area .
The location of the university - not too close that my parents were with me , but also not too far that I felt isolated from them .
The location was good and not too far from home and the area in general was very pleasant .
Location , atmosphere , far enough distance from home but close enough , not too far from home .
I didn ’ t look at anywhere further than probably about 50 miles from home , so probably looked to be in that kind of radius , just mostly to keep costs down really , for me , like travelling back and forth .
It ’ s close enough to be able to go home if I want to but it ’ s also far enough away that I ’ m not going to bump into anyone I know or anything like that .
For this group of students , who may view higher education as a risk , as discussed in a previous findings subsection , choosing a university that is closer to home , but not too close , may make transitioning into university life an easier , smoother process .
Focus group respondents discussed the concerns and anxieties they had about facing the unknown , especially leaving their families and committing three years of their lives to pursue an undergraduate degree , with more of the unknown waiting for them after graduation . Some of their concerns are highlighted by these examples :
A less talked-about area of that [ concerns about going to university ] is the transitions and just cutting yourself off from friends and family for a long period of time , to pursue study .
I thought it would have been more of a struggle to live independently , live on your own , but I found it flowed quite well . I thought cooking and washing up and the whole living alone thing would have been more of a … [ struggle ] but for me it just went normally .
Fear of not making friends . < laughs > You just get here and you ’ re just on your own and it ’ s quite a long time , and especially as it ’ s a completely new process .
You find that being independent isn ’ t as hard as you thought and especially when everything ’ s within reach . It ’ s definitely not as bad as I was expecting .
For many of the focus group participants , the process of becoming a university student was not as frightening or insurmountable as they had thought before beginning their first year . Without guidance and advice about higher education at home from their parents , it is unsurprising that the process of transitioning was more challenging in their imagination that it was in reality .
In addition to concerns about living independently , making friends and fitting in , some participants discussed frustration with the lack of communication and support provided for them to navigate their first few weeks , as illustrated by this longer quote :
In the first week or so I found … or like just before we got here I found it was very unclear what preparation stuff we had to do , like if there was any forms that we had to fill in or anything . … There wasn ’ t an email that gave us a checklist of , ‘ Before you arrive to halls , this has to be done . Before you have your first day on your course , this has to be done .’ It was very -- a piece of information in one and a piece in the other and you had to try and work it all out for yourself , but it was still in the back of my mind that had I done everything that I needed to do ? And it wasn ’ t just me , it was a load of people that I made
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