By Justin Parkinson BBC News Online education staff

Around 300,000 young people are finishing their first term at university in the UK.

During that time, the "freshers" have had to get used to studying on their own, feeding themselves, meeting hundreds of new people and running a budget.

BBC News Online has revisited a group of teenagers at Sussex University to find out how they got on.

Nikki's projector paranoia

When Nikki Holman started at university she was concerned about coping with the academic demands of her English course.

Nikki is enjoying herself but wants more course feedback

Money problems also preyed on the mind of the 18 year old from Sherbourne, Dorset.

I've really enjoyed myself. The course has been good and the people here are very friendly.

I've not had any feedback on how I've done so far because our work hasn't been graded, but I spoke to a tutor and he told me I was doing OK.

I've been reading a book a week and I have to write an essay on that and then a review of my essay.

The worst thing is that, in seminars, one lecturer puts people's essays up on a projector screen and the rest of the group has to comment on it. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I'm dreading it.

At the moment things are all right with money. In fact, it's been a lot better than I had expected. I'm not normally that sensible, so that's good. I'll still have at least �12,000 of debt when I leave, though.

Being here for 10 weeks is a long time. It's the longest I've ever been away from home. At school or college the maximum length of a half-term is seven weeks, so it's also quite a prolonged effort. It makes a difference.

I go out two or three times a week. It seems there's always something to do. It can be quite hard managing time.

I'm looking forward to Christmas at home, but I really like it here.

Just one thing, though, sometimes my housemates use my stuff and don't wash it up. When I first got here, I was polite about it. Now, I tell them what I think.

Alastair takes control

For his first fortnight at university, Alastair Geddes, 19, ate little more than lettuce sandwiches with salad cream.

He felt confident he could handle his media practice and theory course and had few worries about money, going to the pub every night.

Has 10 weeks of looking after himself changed things?

The reading I have to do for my course is really hard. It's difficult to get used to all the academic language and theory.

'Alas poor iceberg': Alastair's love affair with lettuces is at an end

We've had to do three essays, but it's the practical side of the course I like best. I've been on a film set with friends and we've done some filming about Brighton, which was really interesting.

The first couple of weeks were crazy. The people in our house became a big group of friends and I still spend most of my time with them.

There are thousands of people here, so it's good to have a nice bunch of friends to spend time with.

Money's my biggest concern now. It's just kicked in. I went home and had a chat with my parents about my budget. They told me where I was going wrong.

I'm fully in control now. I've got an overdraft facility, but I'd rather not use it.

There's also been a big improvement in my cooking. I've found a good book about cookery for students.

It's full of recipes that take only about 20 minutes. I like to use spices and I've had quite a few curries.

Last night I made a mince hot pot. It's fairly simple stuff, but it's a lot better than just lettuce.

In the first few weeks I didn't have time. I got quite hungry, but I'm eating better and I've put on about five pounds.

I've had a great time too.

Is Big Brother watching Tara?

Before coming to university, Tara had taken a gap year, travelling around Europe and doing a number of jobs.

The 19-year-old from north London thought her experience of the real world would help her life as a student.

There are parties going on everywhere. Everyone talks about the first year being really easy, but we get a couple of essays a week to do.

Tara had to read an 800-page novel in a week

At school I was always near the top of the class. Coming here it's different. People have such a range of knowledge and are all intelligent, so you don't as if you are clever.

There's a lot of work to do. One week we had to read the whole of Daniel Deronda. It's an 800-page novel. Follow that with an essay and it's quite heavy-going.

But it's good that no-one's in control of you. I should use that freedom m to do more things. I go to dance class, but that's about it at the moment.

I went home for the weekend. it was nice, but it got a bit boring towards the end, at least compared with here. I'm an only child and it was a bit quiet.

In halls there are always 20 people who want to go out. I've become really close to them.

At first, you're just thrown into living with a load of complete strangers. It's a bit like Big Brother, but without anyone filming.

We get on by sharing stuff and sometimes we make dinner for each other. Everything's working fine.