Second year Accomodation (uni)

[Phase2]

So my dd is autistic and really struggles socially and with processing/getting real life stuff. For some reason they thought they could stay on in halls and can’t (long story). What happens if they can’t find accomodation for year two? Do they just stop going? I’m panicking a bit on their behalf and it’s too far away to go and help (also what could I actually do?). Has anyone had a situation where they couldn’t find accomodation and what happened?

If your DD isn’t going into a house share with students from her course or halls, they could look at rooms to rent nearby, or a single bed sit if that’s affordable. You and they might be best talking to her uni’s accommodation service about options. I’m sure they won’t have to drop out.

Thank you. I think it’s another panic in a whole series but this one I can’t help with (unlike school etc). She hasn’t made a big group of friends etc.

Can you afford for her to rent a 1 bed flat somewhere in the vicinity of the uni?

Are there any private halls with spaces?

If you say the location, people might be able to help

Which Uni is she at? She could contact the Uni and see if they can help (if she hasn’t already) . Lots of rooms come up last minute as people drop out. Has she looked at private halls?

Don’t know if this website might be a help? https://sturents.com

I’ve found it useful to get a sense of the housing market in the cities DS is considering for uni.

Oh amazing ideas thank you. I don’t want to say where sorry as it’s been a bit of a stressful situation and don’t want to be recognised. I didn’t know private halls was a thing I will have to google. And thank you for ideas I will tell her to contact Accomodation and look at the website (I will too).

OP
I don't want to say where sorry as it's been a bit of a stressful situation and don't want to be recognised.

I completely understand not wanting to risk being recognized but most universities are huge and the numbers of students with autism is significant so I suspect the chances of being recognized would be practically zero.

Another place for you to look would be on the Student Room website.

You said she doesn't have many friends. Does she have 1 or 2 friends she'd want to move in with? Would she prefer living alone? Has she looked at either renting a house/flat privately or via the uni?

The uni near us act as an estate agent for private rentals and have multiple properties on their books. If students have an issue- leak, broken handle etc, they contact the student rental team- who will contact the landlord or just get it sorted. They might have other housing options if private rental isn't ideal for her.

@Darkclothes unfortunately only a few, all of whom got on with finding houses and making groups while she was expecting to be able to stay on. I’ve suggested asking around - I have to chunk things up and it’s a new concept so starting with ‘is anyone else also without an option’.

I have to chunk things up Sorry, I have no idea what this term means?

I would seek out if the uni has a student accommodation team like I mentioned above or a disability support team.

Sorry I mean tell her things in bits rather than a load of info in one go. Good idea re disability team she has been known to them.

I’m stressing out so much. It’s a small uni and there’s nowhere - rooms available are £1000 plus a month and I just don’t have that money. She didn’t realise and now it seems too late. I’ve rung estate agents, joined groups.

Have you spoken to the uni accommodation team and disability/student support teams? Get your DD to give you permission to talk to them in her behalf. Unis will often let students stay in halls if they have a disability.
They might be able to suggest something.
Do the uni/SU help with matching up housemates for Y2 - there is bound to be a group looking for an extra member, or one where the friendship was not as strong as thought and someone wants out.

Is there a FB group for finding housemates - there often are.

Which town/city is it?
Is there another city nearby with private halls that she could commute from?

Have you tried the Spareroom website?

Hi no she thought she could stay on as a disabled student but they have said no: unfortunately she didn’t realise it wasn’t guaranteed. No help with matching unfortunately. Some Facebook groups but very poorly populated.

DD has ASD/ADHD and she discounted two unis due to their attitude for 2nd/3rd year help with accomodation.

I would definitely go back to Student Support and Accomodation, house sharing was a huge red flag for DD and would definitely affect her ability to study.
Ask your DD to give you permission to talk, they won't do it otherwise as your DD is an adult.

Have a look in this FB group, they allow anomymous postings:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1685568051938581

This one has more traffic and I am sure can help with accomodation queries:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/488235648182391

StuRents is a good shout, often there are 1 room occupancies in some shared houses that go up. Ds was wanting to go to a cut throat uni accommodation wise and so ahead of him going we were on there looking to see what sort of prices places were for second year.

Ds went into private halls for second year but there are as expensive as first year halls but a 51 week contract as we kept him in from 2nd to 3rd year. We just paid for that extra week and his final year was a standard 40 weeks but you had to get in fast for the 40 week offers.

I am surprised the uni and disability service aren't helping her. Can you contact them with her permission?

Would she be interested in lodging? It's usually a private room in a house/flat owned by a single person, couple or family. Some have an en suite bathroom, and in others you share the bathroom. Some will provide dinner each evening, others you share use of the kitchen.

It can be nice because there's other people around, so not too lonely, but without (hopefully) the dramas of a student house, and no expectation to socialise together as she'd be there as a lodger rather a friend.

There WILL be students looking for someone to take over their lease as some people will drop out or change their minds about groups. Just work out what the right groups or websites are for her uni/area. Look for 'tenancy takeover'.

Thank you SO much for the solidarity. I am in touch with accomodation, they are very nice but don’t offer any support except for written info and signposting to a couple of online pages. I am just kicking myself that I didn’t check what she was told because there were rooms advertised in December/January and now everything has gone.
there doesn’t seem to be an online students group, so nowhere to check. The accomodation groups are max 300 members and mainly people asking.
i wish I’d thought about it before but you don’t know this in advance.

On paper we are high earners but we have five kids and all at home/uni. We don’t have 1,000 spare a month which is what the studios are (£250 plus a week, same for private halls). I am panicking.

Private halls often offer studios but cost more. The uni may accommodate some non first years, especially if they have additional needs . Worth a call to Accommodations and Disability officers.

Accomodation have already said she can’t stay on - they don’t have enough rooms for all the medical students, so have triaged.

ive tried to stay in touch and get advice from them.

ive asked to join the groups suggested thank you.

Definitely cannot afford 1000 a month for private halls.

Would DSA help with rent? Otherwise try spareroom and openrent.