Cost of halls at Burmingham Uni

[snowyowl70]

Can anyone offer some perspective on the cost of accomodation at University of Birmingham please ? My DD1 really likes the look of the Uni and we wil have to contribute to her living costs but most of the halls seem considerably more expensive than other Unis . Some are ok price wise but am assuming that you are offered a place in halls based on your choices but what if you have asked for lower cost halls and then get placed in ones at £7000 for the year ?? If you refuse it I presume you would then be having to look for a shared house ? Is there anyone with children there who can offer some insight into the proportion of more reasonable accomodation. With 2 more children at home then we cannot afford to be topping up large sums of money .

[snowyowl70]

Sorry about the spelling in the subject title !! Typing error - I do know how to spell Birmingham !!

[Debs75]

Not sure about Birmingham as DD hasn't looked at them but at Chester/Sunderland/Huddersfield we were looking at between £55 and £110! The prices go up if you want an en suite or a single room. Luckily DD has said she wants to share a double room. She isn't bothered about her own bathroom which will save us about £14 a week.

Have you looked into shared housing which sometimes the UNI offers as accommodation?

We are equally worried about supporting DD as I will (fingers crossed) be at UNI at the same time and having 3 other children at home to support. IT certainly isn't a cheap option sending them to UNI

[boomting]

I've just had a quick look at the Bham website, and the prices don't seem too far out of line with what many other unis are charging.

If she was to find herself in a very expensive hall, then it is standard practice for unis to allow people to move halls fairly rapidly after they move in (at my own uni, you can apply to move two weeks after moving in). Given that some people will drop out during freshers week, places do open up fairly rapidly.

Might I suggest that with regards to finance, you top up her student finance to the levels that she would receive if you were on a low income (this being the amount that the government reckons you can live off) and then let her choose whether to spend her money on more expensive halls or more nights out etc? Don't forget that even if she isn't getting full SF from the government, she may still be eligible for a bursary, notably the Chamberlain Award www.birmingham.ac.uk/students/fees/undergraduate/funding/index.aspx