A lot to consider here, although, long story short, if you are having surgery in Melbourne and you get free rent in Melbourne (do you?) then it doesn't make any sense not to go there.
My thoughts about independence etc go something like this (and of course, your own values may vary) - but - if you're only working 1 day a week, and you don't have enough saved up for rent plus living expenses, then you have no choice - 1 day of work per week will not pay the bills, so you're going to have to either a) dig into savings (if you have any) or b) ask the parents for help, either by moving back in with them rent free/discounted rent, or have them contribute towards your living expenses.
Add to that the expenses of you having to fly back and forth once per month (and remember if COVID-19 cases arise again, Victoria's state government appears to be pretty trigger happy with lockdowns compared to NSW) and then the convalescent period post-operatively (no idea what your surgery is, obviously) and you'll find that there are probably just too many unknowns if you try and do this all yourself.
I don't know your specific financial circumstances (for all I know you could be independent enough to pay your own way through everything), but if the assumptions I have made are correct, then I can't agree with staying in Sydney.
I can't speak about the quality of either of the courses, and so I'll refrain from that, but I think the above would have been enough to go on for me.
Thanks Mana and LMG. I feel really conflicted so do greatly appreciate your advice.
So if I return to Melbourne then yes, I would live at home with parents/no rent. In terms of independence - well, I like living out of home, having flatmates, not having life just revolve around studies, etc. (feeling of independence)
I am also making my own way in Sydney with very, very, negligible help from parents. I do receive YA study payments now which completely covers my rent in Sydney and working 1 day per week (Saturday casual rate) is enough to sustain myself during the semester but not really in terms of covering additional costs/adding to savings in any way. I do have working credits accrued though so it's strange but my student payments have never been reduced although there was a period where my concession card was revoked.
The surgery is bimax (OMFS) as part of my second round of orthodontics. Monthly visits will be for orthodontic pre-op/post-op adjustments and I was thinking of possibly staying with the surgeon in Melbourne, but transferring to an orthodontist in Sydney. My savings are actually for the surgery as parents are only covering the orthodontic costs and I guess I haven't really calculated travel costs yet or carefully considered about border closures :-/ I think finances may become an issue now, after what you've said.
The only thing is I have read criticisms about the unimelb program and heard that there's a high attrition rate (some students drop out after first semester, then more later on):
www.reddit.com
From my own undergrad experience, I think if there's a high attrition rate in a certain program and neg feedback about a department then that should be a red flag. Unimelb teaching style also seems to be similar to Monash (different from in-class focus at UNSW/USYD).
Do you think that with all things considered, it would still be wise to return to Melb even though I expect the Unimelb nursing program to be worse? Also, not sure if you think the 80/70 vs 85/75 cut-offs will make a difference?
Many thanks again