Friend’s DS only wants a catered uni!

[Breakfastbars]

Rather than filter unis by campus vs city, distance etc, my friend said her Y12 son is only picking ones that offer catered accommodation. This is ridiculous in my view and, even when I pointed out that he will only live in halls for the first year, she got cross and said she thought it was a perfectly valid filter. AIBU?

My two weren't bothered about catered halls but they insisted on en suite rooms

You care too much about shit that doesn’t concern you

1. Entry grades for his course
2. Course content

Those two ruled a lot out. Then:

1. Graduate career prospects
2. Cost of accommodation (in first year and subsequently)
3. Diversity of student body (was aghast at how white Exeter was when we visited and felt a bit spooked)

then all sorts of more minor criteria come into play like sport, nightlife etc etc

my point is not that catering is unimportant - I get that DC may want - but bonkers to have that as your FIRST filter IMHO

Yep - as do vast swathes of MN posters and contributors to be fair! It’s fun posting here though and I love reading the varied opinions

Well I did mainly look for the course but I looked round about 25 universities as I wasn’t sure what I wanted outside of the course!! Most in my experience were private rooms with en suites in flats, and that’s what I ended up with. I didn’t see a single one with a row of rooms, no flats and catered meals. I also visited about 10 (different) unis with my then boyfriend and they were all similar. And none of my friends (we all of us, a group of about 30) went to a university (different ones) with catering either.
im really surprised by this ‘most’ universities do it comment. And that this is a given that everyone knows that universities cater. I’ve literally never heard of it, I had no idea it was a thing!

I am laughing at this as I was the opposite. I only wanted self catering halls (more difficult as most are catered).

Again I’m completely shocked at the amount of ‘most’ are catered. I won’t want my son going into a catered hall, but it seems that that’s not the done thing these days!!! He’s only 13 so maybe time for it to change. I had no idea this was such a common normal thing. It seems utterly bizarre to me!!

Most uni accommodation is self catering, but most unis do offer some catered accommodation.

I don't think most are catered. I've visited lots of unis with DCs and few had any catered at all. Some had a sort of meal plan system where pre loaded cards could be used at uni cafes etc, but very few had the dinning room in halls set up.
Those that do have catered options generally have far more self-catered.

I believe this is the norm now. My sister was in catered halls for 3 years, and the food was indescribably awful. This was 1978 - 1981 when more halls were catered.

Hope he doesn’t think catered means they bring food to your dorm 😂😂😂
YA sort of BU as it is what he wants not your choice or child but you are also sort of NBU because from my side of things it isn’t what going to Uni is about.

If it hadn't been for catered halls, I probably would've eaten very little and not met nearly as many people. I'd actually include its how I got to know my now husband. When you're tired after a long day of lectures or a job it's great to be able to have a hot meal. Same for breakfast. Often it's included in the price so it's one less thing to have to budget for too. I ended up going back there in my third year for the same reason...as did my now husband 😂

It is a daft filter, as course, quality of uni etc are much more important. As uni rooms are now £150 pw, god knows what the catered accommodation costs. Having said that 30 years ago I did shell out for No 1 son to have catered accommodation in his first year, breakfast, lunch & dinner, just to allow him to totally concentrate on his studies. We certainly didn't choose the course based on the catering though!

Sadly, there's no guarantee he'll get into a hall tgat is catered. At my uni we had a mix of accomodation most wasn't catered....

What’s bizarre about communal eating in an environment where people initially don’t know each other and might have limited time and skill for cooking? It’s supposed to foster a community of learning.

My son is constantly complaining about the catering at his college (funnily enough, they don't serve steak, prawns and avocado that he particularly enjoys).

While he took into account reputation, he also filtered by whether they had a premiership rugby team or cricket stadium. Hmmm, makes the catering look quite reasonable.

I think it’s more self catering now. The uni I went to is all self catering now whereas it was mostly catered in the 90s. I went back to visit recently and my old room was now self catering en-suite, was catered and 8 to a bathroom in my time. Times change.
For a course like Maths that has plenty of options it seems as good a filter as any.
I’m up north and in an affluent area but lots of parents are putting no London or northern uni only restrictions on their yr 12 kids. Teens will only qualify for minimum maintenance loans leaving large amounts for parents to fund, lots have more than one child at Uni at once.
Being able to just filter on course content or rankings is a pretty privileged position.

Well 1 is a given. You need the grades to go on the course so her son will be taking that into account by default.

If a decent catered meal is important to him then he can choose from the content of the courses that offer catering. If he cant or wont cater himself then theres no point being on a top uni course if he has a poor quality of lifestyle (which is where cost comes in)

I dont hold a lot of value in graduate prospects personally. Some people will almost always use their degree (doctors/medicine) and others study for fun as some will be from wealthy families and dont intend to work after, or a change in personal circumstances happens.

Diversity is a personal point so fair enough. Exeter Uni hosts almost 20% international students so the actual uni population is perhaps more diverse than the city itself may appear.

when I went to uni my friend did the exact same. She went to a uni where catering was included (extortionate fees) The food was so bad she ate there 8 times in a year!!!!

it was the biggest waste of money ever and a lot of other students felt the same.