conversation: User (Benjargh): "I'm about to start at UCL, after having completed maths and physics A2s in a year in order to have the qualifications. I previously went to university for 3 years, doing English. I became quite depressed and dropped out, convinced I was heading in the wrong direction.\n\nFortunately for me, my Dad offered to foot most of the bill for going through university again. I considered it an unbelievable act of generosity, but wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I desperately wanted (still do) to do computer science, a subject which fascinates me. I did my A-Levels over a single year and got extremely good grades, enough to get into UCL. I asked my Dad if the increased cost might be manageable, because UCL is truly a world class university; it'd set me up employment wise brilliantly, as long as I do well.\n\nUnfortunately, my Dad made a bad investment, and now his finances aren't as secure as they used to be. He invested in a local holiday home, and hemorrhaged money because of it.\n\nThat's the back story. I essentially thought that University was now out, which hurt, because I've kind of rebuilt my life around this new identity. However, my parents (who're seperated) can just about manage to pay the tuition together, which is £9000 a year. I feel quite guilty about this, but my mum just told me to shut up and say thank you gracefully.\n\nAnyway, to the main point of the post. I will get student finance for the third year if I go through university. I also intend to be able to repay my parents in some measure for this fantastic generosity. I realize I'm spoilt in that I even have this opportunity. I was hoping for as much advice as I can have (as well as reading the resources in this subreddit) so that I can make myself as financially independent as possible in the next two years. I've already updated my CV and applied for jobs, as well as asking friends and family about rooming with them as they live near London. Problem is, London's very expensive, and I can still back out of this. I'm going to have live very frugally and work very hard to make this work, and to make it worthwhile. What are the best steps to take to shore up my finances? I have around 2,500 in savings also and some employment history (which fell off as I've been working on my education).\n\nThanks for any help you can give, I'm pretty desperate."
  Self: "When are you 24? There are special government loans and bursaries for students 24 and over..."
  User (Benjargh): "Do you have a link for these? I'm 24 in December so that's definitely something I should investigate!"
  Self: "https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learning-loans/overview"
  