DD has nobody left to move in with in her 2nd year of Uni.

[Thegoodlifenotexactly]

My DD is finishing her 1st year at a London Uni and I'm sad (I suspect she feels the same) that she's moving back in with me for her 2nd year (we are commutable distance - only just) purely because the 2 girls she is chummy with are essentially moving in with their boyfriends (under the guise of living with each other). Too late to find Halls accommodation (oversubscribed for 1st years as it is) and is a bit hesitant about randomly moving in with students she doesn't know - if they exist. Everyone she knows well enough is essentially sorted for next year. I know it's going to work out cheaper but she'll be like an A level student but much further away from College and probably a nominal social life. Anyone experience the same?

Friend’s daughter did the same and felt the same as you. Resigned themselves to it then something popped up with a different group because of other movements and she found a place with friends later in the year.

She hasn’t left it late for London. If these are new relationships then 50:50 whether or not her mates’ plan even works out- now DH and I were planning to do exactly that with my best mate and his and whilst we’re still together they broke up within a month and our couples flat share plans never happened. Then there will be loads of other fall outs and drop outs. If she puts out as many feelers as she can as keeps her ears open chances are a nice flat share will materialise between now and September. And if not she has home as a backup!

I shared a house with an alcoholic who pissed in my room.
Luckily, the house was student accommodation and he got moved.

Are student house contract for the whole year or can you get out of them if they don't work out?

This happened to me as a London student. I looked at the ULU university of London halls , and met a whole load of students from
different courses and colleges, made good friends and had a nice time and new wocial
circle. This was catered , slightly more expensive but saved me lots of money in the end and by eating breakfast and supper communally it was far more sociable.

Sometimes if you speak to the accommodation people and flag that the student is isolated / no one to share with , they can pull strings .

Does the uni use students as halls wardens? I went to Cardiff and became a halls warden second and third years, the accommodation was then free, those who applied, got interviewed but didn't get a job were permitted to stay on in halls for the next year at the normal rates.

We got nice wardens rooms on the corners, made lots of life long friends on the halls warden team, very happy years.

This happened to me and I ended up living alone and I absolutely loved it! I doubt it’s affordable now (I was in a very very cheap part of the country 20+ years ago). I think I’d encourage spare room and or private halls with you as a back up.

Ds shared with strangers during his second year, and friends for his third year. His friends all lived close by so it wasn't a problem

It is a tough position to find herself in, but (1) she shouldn't have assumed they would all move in together and (2) she's actually quite lucky she has the option of commuting.

I do think it can happen to anyone that they get left high and dry. Your flatmates move in with their course mates and your course mates move in with their flatmates, or your friends take gap years overseas, or your best friends drop out or decide to live at home next year. I don't think it's helpful for you to blame your daughter's friends. These things happen. There are mechanisms for finding random house shares or HMOs - FB groups, uni events - which is not at all easy, but luckily for your daughter she is not forced down that route as many are.

Moving in with best friends can be fraught too. Navigating and surviving this stuff is one of the "features" of uni life, but of course that does not make it fun to go through.

I would encourage her to seek out societies etc to give her a bit more of a safety net socially. Threes can be tricky especially when the other 2 have partners.

Ok but when you first start at uni that is exactly what you do. You move in with complete strangers. My first year i didn't really mesh with any of my flat mates and found friends in my course. I stayed fourth year and stayed in my flat while 3 randoms moved in and it was fine. Im so in touch with e of them 30 years later. Even if it doesn't work out its less than a year.