Brighton Uni...accommodation is skyhigh!!!!

[Comfysock]

DD wanting to go here ... halls/accommodation is crazy, cheapest is £175 a week is literally a cupboard so tiny and no window! Next is £250 a week and gorgeous....so expensive.

I live near Bristol and uni halls are priced per year the cheapest seems to be £10k self catering . The. There's private student accommodation and the cheapest I could see was £299 a week.

Makes Brighton a bit of a bargain.

Why are uni places so expensive? Arnt rooms to rent in people's houses much cheaper? Old style lodgings but safe because you live with the ll?

It feels like this has all exploded and been made into massive lucrative business exploiting them

It's absolutely disgusting. The university are making uni a place purely for the rich
We have advised our kids to not go despite being very clever as we can't afford to support them.

That's £25 a night for accommodation with all utility bills included, plus the security and student welfare support provided in halls, on campus and in one of the most expensive rental cities in the UK. Doesn't sound too bad to me.

They've lost the overseas students, it's all about the money. I checked Leeds halls recently where son studied, prices around what he paid in 2019.
It's much more expensive down south perhaps?

I lie it's gone up £21 pw for 41 weeks so now £200 pw but they're lovely rooms.

@BringMeSunshineAllDayLong apprenticeships... Some extremely good ones out there now, win win.

Brighton is an expensive place to stay, whether that's halls accommodation, private rental or even a hotel room (even the scummy travelodge is twice the price of similar further along the coast.
But student housing isn't cheap anywhere really. My DS is in halls in a small uni in east midlands and he pays £147 pw for a single en-suite room.
When I was at uni 25+ years ago it was £30 and two 50p coins for the leccy meter... halcyon days.

Wouldn't they get a higher loan though based on your family income? Could it be do-able if they save up beforehand, and work during uni?

Yeah expensive everywhere. She wants to go to Brighton though adament.

Reviews of it are bleak though but she still wants to go.

Then I suggest she does some open days at different universities. Joins the students room forum.

Then she gets a job working weekends and holidays, puts all the money away to help her get through the year financially.

That's just not true thank goodness. A basic catered room in Stoke Bishop is about £7.5k tho of course you can pay a lot more; a SC single room in Manor Hall in Clifton is just over £5k.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/about/costs/cost-by-residence/

I don't know about Brighton @Comfysock but the prices you quote seem ridiculous. What about it appeals so much?

These prices are crazy.
DS1 went to Newcastle Uni. He skipped halls and went straight to a flat share - we paid £330 a month, all bills included.

We paid nearly £8k for our sons halls fit this academic year. He got the minimum maintenance loan of about £4.5k. It’s crazy.

DD has managed to get a good deal on her second year, in a house share that is the same price as her uni acc - £140 per week, but her loan came through today and it's gone down, so guess who stumps up the £60 week shortfall?

I got a raise last year, but it wasn't £3k a year. I'm starting to wish she hadn't gone to uni, or at least chose an 'easier' degree so she could have worked more.

@Comfysock DD really liked Brighton too when we visited recently but when she did her application they’d removed the course. She was a bit gutted.
Me too actually as I’d planned to get the bus from the accommodation and go clubbing with my friends from when I lived there and crash at her halls!

The accommodation we saw was small but clean and modern.

Then sit her down and do the maths.

Accommodation + living.

Student loan + what you can realistically afford... plus any bursary if eligible.

Look at other opinions and price them up to see if cheaper.

Compare Course content and consider employment / masters after the 3 years as well.

Unfortunately we (the squeezed middle) have to be very clever about how/ when we send our DC to university.

If she can't afford it look elsewhere maybe degree apprenticeship, or take a year out and earn some money towards her uni costs.

I know it's very difficult, but my DD was ademant to go to uni. We did all of the above and she decided to work for a year. Managed to save a substantial amount and enjoying student life.

@Comfysock I attend Brighton university, is it falmer campus?

The highest maintenance loan is just over 10k (unless you're in London)
In a lot of cases that's going to be largely swallowed up by rent

This is also why there is less and less private rental for families. Landlords go for £750-£1200 per week for an HMO rather than rent to a family.

It's a total rip off.

"It's all about the money"

@justasking111 nails it.

When I went to uni it was £40 pw in Halls and that included cooked breakfast, discounted dinners, and cleaner came every day to empty the bins, clean the communal kitchen and showers. Fast forward 30 years and it's DD's turn. £175pw, no meal provision and a cleaner comes once every TWO WEEKS.

It's ALL about the money.

Dd at Southampton, £192 per week for halls. No food. Her student loan doesn't cover her rent.

This is why my two have stayed home and commuted into London unis.
My eldest will be on her final year next year and my youngest should start in September.
The rents are ridiculous so they have both decided to live at home and for the eldest it has worked really well so I'm hoping the same for my youngest.

Can your dd study locally?

Dd is in her second year at Bristol. First year she wasn’t given any of her accommodation choices and instead put into what I can only describe as a dump of an excuse for halls in the city centre, £185 a week although had her own bathroom. Room was smaller than a prison cell, she had a routine of scrubbing mould off the walls and getting rid of the silverfish in the carpets. It was revolting.
Second year she’s in a house closer to the uni, own bathroom, £225 a week, bills on top of that.
It’s beyond a joke, and no one’s laughing.

Yes uni accommodation is definitely big business, whether uni owned halls , privately owned halls or private landlord.
Usually the contracts are for 11 months when we all know they will be home in May and won't need June and July.
Students are just ripped off left right and centre.
The maintenance loan hasn't kept up with inflation and housing costs and in real terms is worth a lot less than 5 /6 years ago.
Youngest DD is at Lincoln and uni halls are so expensive around 7k- her maintenance loan is 4.5k we found private halls run by IQ for about 5.5k which are just as nice. But there is a mixture if ages in her accommodation- not all first years- and if I'm honest it has made it harder for her to make friends, as second and third year students are established.
OP Brighton accommodation sounds very pricey - also if it's Sussex uni and they live in Brighton you have to factor in bus fares to get to campus which aren't cheap either- we looked at Brighton but thankfully and surprisingly DD didn't like it- too big and course leader didn't turn up for open day!!!

@IamSlave how many people take in lodgers these days? Not many,.
Private rentals could be cheaper but the issue is some places have restrictions on lettting to students (Falmouth for example) and some landlords don't like to (as students do not tend be long term or particularly respectful of property). My neighbours house (two bed but lounge could be third as large kitchen/diner/sitting area in extension) in Zone 3 - so easily commutable into central London which my DD does daily) is £2600/month. By three that's way cheaper than the normal £350/week each for halls (though of course bills on top). Even cheaper if a couple shares one room. But it's not a studentsville neighbourhood. It's also too expensive to the LL to have an annual turnover.
The uni halls at my DD's uni (catered) is more than the maximum loan, which she will get about £1k less.
Taking a gap year to work is often the only way, but even just working the summer after A levels can net a couple grand which might make all the difference.