Re-starting uni: feasible and sensible or just kicking the can down the road? What are my options?

What the hell, I've nothing left to lose, I may as well ask Reddit about my situation. I'll try and keep this brief and light on any unnecessary detail.

At 18, I started uni in 2020. With it being the year of Covid, everything was online and while I found my course interesting, I absolutely hated the whole solely being online aspect, and so by February of 2021, I had left uni and deferred to start again that autumn. Same course, same university, just in person this time.

This turned out to be a really good decision and everything was going well until my second year, 2022/23. My mental health started to slip and my undiagnosed ADHD (yes, yes, me and everyone else in my age bracket) caught up with me. I got way too involved with a society and started devoting more time to that than my degree.

By the summer of 2023, after a mental breakdown of sorts, I was on the brink of not getting into third year, but thankfully after talking a bit with a tutor (not like I ever did that much before or after, big mistake) and a lot of hard work over that summer, I got into third year by the skin of my teeth.

To cut a long story short, history repeated itself, I had another mental breakdown/ADHD breakdown/whatever the fuck is wrong with me breakdown and I spectacularly failed my third year enough to not graduate. I stayed in my uni city for a bit after I found a place and a job and worked at said job with a borderline abusive boss, got shown the door at probation earlier this year, and after breaking my ankle and recovering from that, I wasn't able to find another job in my uni city. A couple months later, my tenancy ran out and I moved back in with my parents, where I've been for the past few months, volunteering at a charity shop for a couple days a week (which I'm loving) and looking for work and at apprenticeships.

In spite of all this, I'm actually doing rather well - I've focused a lot on the negatives in the past few paragraphs, but even though some of it was wasted, I really did enjoy my time at uni and made some great friends, did so much stuff I would never have done otherwise and the whole experience really lifted my confidence on the whole. Now, as we're coming into a new year soon, my mind is thinking about fresh starts and all that and maybe starting uni again in the autumn of 2026, in conjunction with some therapy and more communication with my tutors.

It's by no means my only option, as I said, I'm currently looking at and applying for jobs and apprenticeships, but the idea is there. Probably doing the same course, maybe a similar one, probably not at the same uni as I want a bit of distance/a fresh start of sorts. The thing is, aside from it possibly being a terrible idea, I don't know if it's at all feasible. I have no savings to speak of and I don't know whether I'd have to do the full three years again (most likely) or whether I could get away with just redoing the last year (would probably be better doing this if I was to return to the uni I did my degree at in the first place). There's also the part of me that questions whether or not I'm just kicking the can down the road so to speak and trying to avoid finding a job/going through the wringer of constant unemployment again. Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Posted Dec 7, 2025, 11:50 PM UTC

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