Accommodation cost at uni

My dd is at Newcastle and hers is £5000 for the year. (38 weeks). It's paid monthly.

When was this @MrsSkylerWhite ? That’s a lot cheaper than anything I’ve seen in the last four years (dd went in 2019 so we were looking from 2018).

Ok well then it’s pretty straightforward to look at what halls there are and what is cheap. IME cheaper halls with shared bathrooms are less popular, esp at somewhere like Bristol where, frankly, students will be well off.

dd got a clearing place (Leicester) and had to take the hall that was left and it was about £120pw iirc so at the cheaper end. The £££ en suite rooms had all gone (which was fine with us and her).

Which is his top choice after Cambridge? Check out what they offer and also when he should apply. Some unis let you list preferences as early as April.

We had to pay a term in advance, it was just shy of £2,000 for the academic year for a sitting room/kitchen, decent sized bedroom and bathroom, in the NW. Rooms in shared houses were less.

Have you looked into everything your son may be able to access with Student Finance?

Honestly it sounds like he's got it sorted. It's him that will apply online for his loans. Depends on your household income he'll get a maintenance loan between £4500 and £9500 (more if London). If he doesn't get the full loan (ie your household income is above £25k) you are expected to top him up to the max.

He'll sort a budget and accommodation application in due course I'm Sure.

I would have thought Dundee is the cheapest option. Is Cambridge still in the running? They can be good value and offer funding for those who meet certain criteria.

They vary enormously from one location to another. Self catering with shared bathrooms are usually cheaper. Term-time lets (30ishweeks) are possible but you have to clear out for Christmas and Easter vacations.

Oh I have read the thread and see he is in yr 13 and has applied. Yy which unis?

Hi op.

You are right imo to look at this. It’s not mentioned very much but I think can be big limiting factor.

Nottingham uni eg has only catered accommodation (so about £7-8k pa) if you want to be on campus - and since Nottingham is a campus uni, I think this is a very exclusionary fact. We couldn’t have afforded that for ds2.

He is at Loughborough and tho they had a not very helpful system to apply for halls, there are a couple on the campus which were last year about £4k. Ds was in one (shared bathroom obvs) and it was ok; small room but fine. Catered en suit rooms on campus there were about £8k or more.

It's worth doing research and focus on shared bathrooms. Iirc there was a nice looking hall in Newcastle that was about £105 pw. These figures are two years old btw. Dd was at Leicester and there were some cheaper options there too.

wrt term/ time only, I think Warwick did this, but what a pain having to empty your room at the end of each term. Not worth it imo.

Don't be misled into thinking the north is cheap, because it varies widely from city to city e.g Leeds is cheap-ish, York is eye-wateringly expensive.

Rents have also escalated for Sept 2023. It's becoming unaffordable in my opinion/experience.

Which London university is his the list ?

I say that as Imperial offer generous bursaries which can cushion the extra expense - the maintenance loan is also more in London. The Imperial halls are also subsidised and my DS's first year hall was a similar price to others outside London. (These we're however in North Acton and not the ones in South Kensington!)

Students can elect to stay in halls in other years but must probably live out and clearly have to pay market rents. (DS currently paying £750 a month and is 20 min cycle ride away from uni).

It’s expensive!

DS1 is at Oxford which is relatively cheap and term time only accommodation. And for the whole 3 years. This year he even has an en-suite bathroom. The downside is emptying the room each term…our car is only a sodding mini!

DS2 is in London, £185 a week including holidays which is pricey for what is a relatively small room but great location.

Its tough. Maintenance loan doesn’t even cover DS2’s rent and then there is living costs on top.

What are the 5 unis he applied to? Then people can comment on cost of each specifically, rather than giving general advice.
Though if he is anything like my (pretty independent) son, he will probably have already researched accommodation in each Uni, plus decided which he would accept regardless of my opinion.

Worth getting the application in fairly early. One less thing to do, and as Season says it opens in a few months time. He can enter his firm choice, and if for whatever reason things don't work out come results day it is just a case of updating uni / course.

He can apply for student finance from April

OP I've had 3 through - youngest still undergrad. Accommodation costs (and quality) can vary significantly. Cambridge by far the cheapest in our experience - plus all three years in college (this may not be the case for every Cambridge or Oxford college), which has its pluses and minuses of course.

No direct London experience.

First year halls whilst offering a range of rooms look from what I've seen to not always have a balance of type and price (eg far more upper end and pricier en-suite accommodation). Both DS2 and DS3 were at Unis with only self-catered halls - which suited them. So not everywhere necessarily has a mix.

Availability of private rentals for 2nd year and beyond can be an issue in some uni city / towns. Durham for example was in the news about this in the Autumn.

Dependent on your DC's age quite a lot if unis do campus type tours in Feb / March - not a proper open day - but may give access to some of their accommodation.

@yoyo1234 you won't need to get any forms. The student will need to make an online application to the Student Loan Company and enter their details and potential course details (applications open in the Spring of yr13, around Feb as I recall). They confirm the course & university details in August when grades come through. They can apply for a tuition fee loan and also a maintenance loan (for living costs).

You may or may not be asked be asked about your finances, depending on how much maintenance loan they will receive (which depends on your household income) and whether you're going to contribute or "top up" the maintenance loan. You and your son can go through the application process together when the time comes.

What year is your DS in? Is his school/ college talking them through the whole UCAS application process? If he is going to try for Oxford or Cambridge, bear in mind that applications for those places will need to be completed earlier in the autumn of yr13, than the normal Jan of yr13 deadline for all UCAS applications.