to think University students without particular needs do not need an en-suite shower room?

[LindorDoubleChoc]

I'm so surprised that University Halls of Residence now offer this as an option to more or less all their students. What the hell? How many of you are indulging your offspring with this poncery and why? (exceptional needs aside of course).

When I went to Uni in the dark ages of the 1980s no one had an ensuite. Almost no one had a wash basin either. Is it a money making exercise?

New build houses are the same. Not every bedroom needs separate washing/bathing facilities. The first world's gone mad!

I'd be delighted if my daughters went to Uni when they are old enough and had en-suite.

One of my enduring memories was when one of the girls I shared a house with burst into the living room and demanded to know who used the bathroom last ( she was a ferocious redhead ) eventually one of the boys we shared with owned up. He was ceremoniously handed the flash and a cloth and marched up stairs to clean the bath under supervision.
The bath was shared by seven of us but was always left immaculate for fear of repercussions.
We had two loos though and a sink in every room. I was in a large attack room with no heating so most winters my sink waste froze, I also regularly woke up with a frost on my blanket.
I think it’s great that students live in comfortable accommodation but the experience of 1980s student houses was educational in many ways for most of us. We thought we lived in luxury because most of the house was centrally heated and the landlord provided a cleaner once a week. We were allowed to paint our own rooms ( we were there for 4yrs).
My sister lived in a Victorian terrace where landlord had taken up the old terracotta tiled floor leaving the ash base it was laid on. They spent most of the first term with no proper floor.
It’s good that regulations mean that landlords no longer rent half derelict properties to students. And most of the old halls would probably be uninhabitable currently due to the concrete problems at the moment.

What poncery is that! Cleaners?! Did you have needs or did your parents just indulge you?

Yeah, I kind of agree.

On the one hand, I don't really care if kids with lots of disposable income spend it on fancy digs. Though, arguably, those might be the kids who would most benefit from having to deal with something more modest for a few years.

But there has been a significant creep in housing costs for students. Part of that is just general costs of everything of course, but it's also because of changes to expectations. Everyone has their own bathroom facilities, they have their own phones, often a fridge in the room, the expectations for food are much higher.

It all combines to mean costs to study are higher.

Part of me thinks it's because of students now paying and being responsible for their own debt, the more facilities they are paying for, the more money to be made off of them in the end.

Who wouldn't want their own bathroom given the choice? 🤷‍♀️

I had an en suite shower room at Uni in the 90s!

I chose to pay extra for an en-suite my first year of uni. I didn’t really feel like sharing a bathroom with strangers.
One of my friends ended up contracting a horrible foot fungus in a shared shower in halls, so I think it was money well spent…

@JaffavsCookie

my grandmother lived in a two up, two down terrace and did not have an indoor toilet or washing facilities apart from the kitchen sink until 1985. She rented privately, the landlord owned most of the street and several others and did not start modernising his properities until the mid 1980s.

Even then he did a rubbish job. He wasnt the only one.

I came from quite a poorer background and literally just had my loan, a bursary and then I got an additional bursary from the uni for coming from a low income family, and I could only afford non-ensuite. I survived but it was an awful experience with girls being very vulnerable to sexual assault and a flatmate getting raped once when she opened the door. When my daughter goes to uni, I will definitely be paying for her to stay in an en-suite room, preferably female only.

I know about inflation and all, but having just looked at my old uni accommodation I was shocked at the price - I'm sure I paid about 5 shillings £50 a week. it is now £150 a week - but you now get wi-fi and a television in the kitchen / communal area.

Its demand lead, halls without such facilities don't tend to receive as many applicants.

I'm interested to know what particular needs you deem worthy enough to warrant an en-suite.

I went to university in the late 80s. My halls had a main house and a large 1960s prefab 50m away with approx 32 rooms. Male one side, female the other. The toilets and baths were in the middle and single sex thank goodness as they were not terribly private. A big toilet room for each sex and a row of maybe 5/6 baths with toilet cubicle style partitions and doors. From memory, I think the people from the main house used the bathrooms but had their own toilets. The kitchen was in the main house.

Ours were the cheapest halls at about £17 a week, cleaning included! I expect my dd will want an en-suite, she’s a bit of a snob but I was pleased to spend as little as possible.

What @pointythings said! ☝️

Lol. My dd is at uni in the ROI and is sharing one room with three other girls. Two bathrooms between 8. And we are paying an eye watering amount for this service.
( the upside is that she has a ready made tribe and is having a ball).

Not sure if there's any link but most uni sexual assaults happen in the halls. I don't think I would want to use the same bathroom as a load of teenage boys. They would need more than one toilet anyway. So why not add a shower as well?

We had one huge bathroom area on each corridor, many large baths and showers in individual cubicles. I much prefer that to having a time en-suite.

This.

Of course they're going to build it in a way that allows two birds to be killed with one stone, if they can.

I understand that if you’re building new halls today, you will build en-suite…..partly because it seems to be what most want but also because you can rent them for more money.

Lots of older stock remains however and often it is what is directly uni owned and usually in the best locations. Being uni owned often means the contract lengths are more aligned to university terms. The price of having an en suite isn’t the only thing adding to student costs, it’s signing 44 week lets for 1st year private halls accommodation. Choosing the uni owned accommodation which will be closer to lectures and student life, might only be a 32-35 week let. That’s a substantial difference in price. But going for the longer let might be necessary to get the en-suite.

I agree with a PP that more students these days have issues/difficulties than in the past. Moving away is a cause if stress for many and it seems the idea of someone possibly hearing you doing a poo or seeing you walk past in your dressing gown is a source of major horror. I think parents sometimes feed it too, because at 50, most of us wouldn’t like to share facilities now….but in doing so, perhaps we are committing them to much bigger debt??

Im just thinking if the colleges in Durham - many of them older buildings with lots of shared bedrooms and few en-suites, especially for first years. It’s what’s available and they all do well and have a great time. So I’m just saying that an en-suite might be nice but in the wider picture of whether it’s necessary, the cost etc…perhaps more could consider shared accommodation and would financially struggle much less. Student poverty is rising and extortionate housing costs is one of the causes.

I've just looked at my old uni accommodation and en suite rooms are £151, so a lot cheaper then what a lot of people are paying. Lots of unis had ensuites when I was looking in 2002 so hardly a new thing. I shared a shower and toilet with 2 others, and had a sink in my room. I wouldn't have liked to have shared with more then that! 6 of us shared the kitchen and that was grim enough!

Exactly this - my DD is likely to go to Uni next year and has all kinds of anxieties. A bit of privacy with her own loo & shower will at least allow her some space and one less thing to worry about.

in my first term many moons ago (1989) I stayed in a bloody awful B&B (seaside town Uni, no halls) - shared a room with a stranger and we had a bath and loo without a door in our bedroom. Very odd set up, but we gave each other a bit of space and cracked on with it. Wouldn’t want my DD to experience that!

I spent a year in a mixed sex hall of residence and was frightened to use the large bathrooms at night, when it was dark and quiet, also had recurring dreams about it. It didn’t feel safe.

Was fine sharing a bathroom in shared houses.

I had an en-suite when I went to uni at the end of the 90s - wasn’t a particularly new halls either.

I find this thread very interesting. I still havent digested that students in Britain get their own bedroom, let alone own bathroom.

When I go to a conference in my home country, I am expected to share a bedroom with one or two strangers. Which I absolutely cant but nobody seems to understand.