Confined To Halls And A Growing Sense Of Anxiety: This Is Fresher’s Week 2020

Our first year of university should be all about making new friends, drunken debauchery... and a bit of studying. Instead, this year’s freshers are faced with virtual events, online lectures and no club nights. Welcome to the class of 2020.

This week thousands of students were already self-isolating in their rooms following a surge in Covid-19 cases at universities that include Manchester Met, Glasgow and Edinburgh, with cases also reported at more than 30 others. Elsewhere, socialising is limited; if you want to bring a ‘guest’ back to your halls of residence, you’ve got yourself a university challenge.

As this year’s cohort start their degrees amid a global pandemic, after a summer tarnished by the A-level exam fiasco, they are shaping up to be one of the demographics hit hardest by the crisis. Georgia Scott, 18, from Swindon, has just started at Exeter University, where she spent Freshers’ Week trying to meet people virtually.

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‘Most of us have been in our rooms a lot,’ she says. ‘Meeting new people has been one of the hardest things, especially finding the courage to search for people online and then send them a message, when you’ve only seen their face on a computer screen.’

What’s more, many students will be racking up £9k in debt while sitting in front of their laptops. Georgia is studying English and all but one of her seminars will be online. She’s felt lonely and isolated – the virtual cocktail-making session she joined from her bedroom not quite able to replicate the real thing. ‘If it’s like this all year, it feels like I’m spending £9k for Microsoft Teams,’ she says.

Rosie Benny, from Cheshire, has just started at Aberdeen, studying politics, and says restrictions mean she has struggled to make friends. ‘I’ve given up trying to have much of a social life,’ she says. ‘My anxiety is getting worse. It’s sort of a background noise that keeps getting louder and could have an impact on my studies. The waiting list for counselling is three months long and there aren’t enough resources to support a collective mental health crisis.’

The Government is under pressure to guarantee students will not be confined to their halls over Christmas, but Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden says this will only be possible if the country follows existing rules. Rosie says she nearly breaks down thinking about having to spend the festive period away from home. ‘I honestly couldn’t handle that. I think I’d end up breaking the rules, fleeing home in desperation,’ she says.

Belinda Curtis, 18, who has just embarked on a law degree at Bristol, agrees. ‘I know everyone will still go home for Christmas,’ she says. Nonetheless, she says some have been socialising anyway. ‘There would be fewer parties if the 10pm curfew didn’t exist,’ she says. ‘The curfew means people can’t be bothered going to the pub, but at the pub there are restrictions and they’d have to stay in groups of six.’ She adds that, because people her age are unlikely to be seriously ill with the virus, ‘Most people aren’t that scared.’

Even so, Bristol Uni is no doubt making students’ mental health a top priority, as more than 13 students have taken their own lives in the past four years. ‘It feels like the students’ union has put a big emphasis on mental health,’ Belinda adds.

Rosie wants to see more support for students. ‘People are partying in the streets in some cities, yet students are locked away like we don’t count. I’d also like to see compensation – online courses for £9k a year? Doesn’t sound like a good deal to me.’