DS is in second year at UCL. Last year he applied for non-catered halls and a single room. He was put in Max Rayne in Camden and was given a shared room. He was furious, as there were students who wanted a shared room and were given a single one. Clearly nobody considered the preferences. For the shared room he was paying £100 a week, but the room was cramped, there was no privacy and he couldn't work, although his room mate was really nice. The kitchen appliances were beyond repair and very often there was no hot water - he didn't mind any of this, he just wanted a room for himself, however small.
At Christmas he was given the chance to move halls when a room for £190 a week on Pentonville Rd became available and he decided to take it. The students on his corridor were from overseas, very quiet and often away. What made him really angry, though, is that he had to sign a contract for six months until the end of June. Soon after, his department published the lessons and exams schedule: lessons would finish at the end of March and then he would only have three exams, the last one on the 15th of May. He went to ask if he could leave the room on that day but the Accommodation office couldn't care less, so he had to pay the next 6 weeks out of his loan and summer job (here at home) for nothing. He could only have left the room to another UCL student.
This year, he moved in with friends. After a few months, the landlord decided to sell the flat and wanted them out mid-february at the latest. They negociated to leave earlier, before the start of term (got some money from the landlord) and left in early January.
DS's lessons are three days a week and will finish on March 24. He will have no exams, just three long assignments to be handed in by the end of April. And that will be the end of his second year. He has now moved back home and is commuting (2h door to door). He really likes his course and is doing well but is generally disappointed and feels students are being screwd up from all sides...