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!

The rooms are also used in the holidays for residential courses, enabling more income which should ( not saying it does) go into maintaining the buildings.
And I wouldn’t pay hundreds to say in a room with an en-suite.

They have cleaners in halls and toilet roll is provided.

Not in mine they didn't (only 10 years ago).

@WombatChocolate the problem here is that you're equating 'en-suites' to more expense when there are thousands of configurations.
The university doesn't have a 'responsibility' to help students save as much as possible. It shouldn't however charge more than market rate.
Out of curiosity I had a look at a small sample of uni accomodation and even with the en-suite much of the accommodation is cheaper than a private room (without the en-suite). Where the en-suite was the 'default', rather than 'luxury' option.

You can have 2 sharers with an en-suite, catered halls, not catered, self-contained flat there are so many options you can't compare like for like.

Toilet roll wasn’t provided in my halls when I was in the shared bathroom ones in 1st year. I thought they were ok at first but vowed to go to the ensuite halls (that cost £20 extra per week) after some random male visitor peed in our shower. I ended up in a house in second year, but did have the ensuite in 3rd year. It was great not having to share a bathroom and/or walk the length of the flat to use the toilet.

Yep this. Mine was the same in 1998. They were those prefabricated pods

My DCs went to university in the US, all lived on campus for their entire degrees, and the least number of people they have shared with is one other, at one private university (and it was a tiny, damp pod tbf). The greatest number required to share was an entire floor, using communal showers. Their universities were all in the top 50 in the world and the prices reflected that. It was appalling that the facilities were so unappealing.

Having your own private shower /loo isn't a luxury.

Goodness are you always so against things moving forward op?
I was in uni in the early 90's and the halls were grim. Why on earth would you want children to have to put up with that just because you had to?
Things move on, it seems a very blinkered way to live to harping back to the past

I went to uni just over 10 years ago and had an en-suite, as did everyone in my halls. For me, I felt it really was necessary! It was a mixed sex dorm and I wanted my own privacy to use the toilet/shower. I also had a double bed (although not everyone did).

I just don't agree that sharing a bathroom with (in my son's case) 2 or 3 similar aged people also at University is "suffering" in any way.

DD was at uni four years and never had an ensuite. After the first year, they'll be sharing a flat with others anyway, so seems odd if some think it's an initial just ofr one year.

Depends on the city. In a lot of places, traditional shared houses are hard to find (for a number of reasons) leaving private halls and HMOs. Which tend to offer "en suite" options, some of which are TDPs.

My DS has just started at university and I have to say I was surprised that the en-suite option was pretty common, having shared 2 showers with 6 other people when I was a student in the 80s. But actually, although it provides privacy, it is absolutely tiny, literally about double the size of an aeroplane toilet! It’s too small to have a door on the shower so it’s basically a wet room. It’s definitely a bonus but it’s not really luxury.

They don't clean after every use.
So you don't know what you're going in to

1 shower between 10 girls when I went to uni in 2001. Had to get up at the crack of dawn to have a wash before lectures.
had an en-suite when I did my postgrad and it was amazing

You do realise that there are sharer en-suites?
Like, one room, two people, one bathroom?

I think the key here is the accommodation mix. Whether it's a majority of en-suites or not. And how many sharers...

I too was at university in the 1980s @LindorDoubleChoc. My first and second year Oxbridge college rooms had en suite bathrooms. Moved out for my final year: three months sharing a bathroom with one other undergrad, then the rest of the year in a studio flat with nothing shared.

No it’s not “suffering” per se, but surely having your own bathroom rather than dealing with 2-3 (possibly more) people’s hygiene standards is preferable? I honestly don’t see an en-suite as “poncy” or luxurious but actually something positive.

(We have no en-suites here and DS is delighted with his room at uni as it’s actually bigger than his room at home as his is the box room!)

@LindorDoubleChoc ok, don’t pay for it for your kids then 🤷‍♀️. It doesn’t make you superior, just different to some other people.

I don’t understand why people are conflating sharing a bathroom with 15 people you haven’t met before in halls, with sharing a bathroom with 3/4 mates you have known for a year- they are very different prospects.

Also bathroom sharing isn’t risk free- when I was at uni a guy was prosecuted (and kicked out obviously) for having set up hidden cameras in the shared toilets and bathrooms in his halls… he had even gone to the effort of getting permission to stay in halls for his whole degree so he was found to have 2 years worth of videos when he was arrested (this isn’t gossip- the case was in the papers).

I wouldn't want to share bathroom facilities myself, so I'll be happy for DS to have an en suite when he goes to university.

The cleaners only cleaned the communal areas when mine were at uni (10 years ago) and they bought their own toilet roll!

Oh yeah let’s not indulge teenagers. Send em back down the’ mine with stale sandwich. That’ll learn em.

If I had the choice I’d much prefer an en-suite. I shared showers with eight other girls and I can’t say I loved it. I remember walking up stairs in a towel and queuing in the cold. I also remember some of the boys getting into the block and chucking stuff over the shower cubicles. En-suites would have been a much nicer and probably safer experience.

Sharing is very different in a shared house v halls. In halls the set-up is often very different eg having the risk of being locked out of your room in a towel if you forget a key or having to wander across a corridor. Also reasonable chance you’re sharing with someone that isn’t a friend etc.

DD moved into halls at the weekend. Had to put down 6 choices and only 3 could be en-suite. Sadly didn't get one and is having to share. Up to 17 people sharing 3 toilets, 3 showers and the kitchen.

Loo's weren't being flushed over the weekend 😧so she put signs up, but the cleaner took them down on Monday. Showers have no hooks, so nowhere to hang up your clothes or towels, and there's not even any little shelf in the shower for shampoo etc.

On the plus side, cleaners come in Mon-Friday, its second cheapest on campus and second biggest room. But its furthest halls from campus, a half hour walk, and she'd much prefer an en-suite, so as soon as the Uni open up room changes she's going to try and get somewhere else. 🙏

Zero cleaning of communal areas in my halls, we had a flatmate who would vomit all over the single bathroom 1-2 times a week minimum and leave actual shit all over the toilet. But an en-suite would be poncey!

I went to uni in mid 90s and it was a shared bathroom down the hall, but I had a sink in my room. It was fine - but times are different, and I don't think it's a bad thing for young adults to have more privacy.

I do think the expectations of students are higher these days, both accommodation and living standards generally, ie eating out a lot more than we would have done, getting taxis. Society has moved on.