If you want your character to be doing a focussed astronomoy degree it's worth being aware that at Cambridge you do Natural Sciences for your undergraduate degree not astronomy. There will be options for astronomy/astrophysics courses within that, but the first year is pretty broad across science and maths
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Another point is that nowadays Cambridge and possibly other unis don't like letting in students under the age of 18, but probably not too much of a problem if the lad will soon be 18. He would have to pay international student fees, around £20k a year, but if he had the predicted grades to get an offer, then a student visa shouldn't be a problem, unless the idea is that he doesn't finish high school?
Maths and physics teachers are in high demand especially in cities, and I know a few American ones. So getting them both over here as individuals for a few years should be feasible, but being a couple wouldn't make any difference - recently they restricted marriage visas so that partners have to be at least 21 to qualify, but I don't know the detail - if they happen to have plenty of money then that solves many a problem.
ooh, I'd forgotten about the age aspect, I'm not sure about the rest of the UK, but Scottish universities should be ok around this - in Scotland you can go to university after only one year of post-16 education (it is more common to do two years still), there were certainly a fair few people on my course who started when they were 17. I don't know what they would do if the kid hadn't finished high school first though.
I Googled astronomy university uk and got a whole load of hits for university courses. (Any web address that ends in .ac.uk is a university site.)
In the UK a person can legally leave home and have a sexual relationship at sixteen, so the boy's age is not an issue. However, if the woman was his teacher when they started their relationship that could be a problem and might affect her ability to work as a teacher.
If she's a US citizen she'd need to get the appropriate visa/permit to allow her to work in the UK. On the other hand, maths is an area where there is a shortage of teachers, so that could work in her favour. Someone else will probably come along who knows more about that aspect.
Given the shortage of maths teachers here in the UK it's probably one of the easiest careers to get a work permit for, though I'm not sure how the relationship with a 17 year old will be regarded on the CRB checks.
It's certainly something that would be a problem for a UK teacher; since the British police would probably contact the police in her home town they will probably hear all about her relationship with a minor - they may even be told that she's transported him across state lines for immoral purposes. I think it will be VERY difficult to get past that and get a job in the UK.
I studied astronomy in college, but did so in the United States, so I don't know UK universities' reputations as well. I don't know how it is over in the UK, but many students planning on a PhD in astronomy in the US will do their undergraduate work in physics, then move to astronomy for their masters/PhD. My own Bachelor's degree is in physics, with a few extra astronomy courses, and I knew people who never formally studied astronomy until they started their graduate program.
In the US at least, there's somewhat less emphasis on which university you choose to get your Bachelor's degree* as long as you can get into a good PhD program. Having Well Respected Letter of Recommendation Writers probably helps, but solid grades, good test scores and things like doing summer research projects make a difference as well. (Especially the last, and it might net you a letter-writer or two.)
* As long as they have a decent physics program, as I said.
I had to look up "emancipated minor" - as far as I know we don't really have that concept in the UK. You can do what you like sexually from the age of sixteen (with the proviso mentioned by jayb111), but iirc any contracts you enter into under the age of eighteen cannot be enforced unless they are for the necessities of life (not sure how that's defined).
It's possible that being married - which you can do at sixteen with parental permission - confers some kind of extra "adult rights", but I've never actually heard of such a thing.
I don't think being married does confer any additional rights. There was an odd case in one school where I taught arising out of the fact that one can get married (with parental permission) right after the 16th birthday, but not leave school until the end of the appropriate term afterwards. The head was getting all sorts of grief because the girl in question had not only married but moved to Cornwall with her husband; legally she was still supposed to be at school. He dealt with the matter by dragging his heels, through the medium of stupid-sounding letters back to the Powers That Be asking for clarification of all sort of obvious things, till the end of term.
Given the fact that she was his teacher when they started their relationship I can't imagine another school wanting to hire her. And with him going to study it's not a given that they stay in a state with 17 as age of consent
It is an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for a person over the age of 18 to have a sexual relationship with a person under the age of 18 if they are in a position of trust with respect to that person, even if it is consensual. She may not be allowed into the UK if it is known that she was his teacher.
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http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/
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He would have to pay international student fees, around £20k a year, but if he had the predicted grades to get an offer, then a student visa shouldn't be a problem, unless the idea is that he doesn't finish high school?
Maths and physics teachers are in high demand especially in cities, and I know a few American ones. So getting them both over here as individuals for a few years should be feasible, but being a couple wouldn't make any difference - recently they restricted marriage visas so that partners have to be at least 21 to qualify, but I don't know the detail - if they happen to have plenty of money then that solves many a problem.
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In the UK a person can legally leave home and have a sexual relationship at sixteen, so the boy's age is not an issue. However, if the woman was his teacher when they started their relationship that could be a problem and might affect her ability to work as a teacher.
If she's a US citizen she'd need to get the appropriate visa/permit to allow her to work in the UK. On the other hand, maths is an area where there is a shortage of teachers, so that could work in her favour. Someone else will probably come along who knows more about that aspect.
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The whole visa and work permit stuff is not a problem, she doesn't even have to continue to teach math, an appropiate other career is fine as well
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In the US at least, there's somewhat less emphasis on which university you choose to get your Bachelor's degree* as long as you can get into a good PhD program. Having Well Respected Letter of Recommendation Writers probably helps, but solid grades, good test scores and things like doing summer research projects make a difference as well. (Especially the last, and it might net you a letter-writer or two.)
* As long as they have a decent physics program, as I said.
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It's possible that being married - which you can do at sixteen with parental permission - confers some kind of extra "adult rights", but I've never actually heard of such a thing.
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And with him going to study it's not a given that they stay in a state with 17 as age of consent
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In that case she probably wouldn't be able to get a teaching job in the UK. Checks are carried out on teachers and that would be discovered.
Unless she has some other specific skill that's in short supply in the UK, she would probably find it difficult or impossible to get a work permit.
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