Accommodation cost at uni

[yoyo1234]

Hiya DS wants to go to uni. Do most places need you to pay complete year's accommodation? Do some unis do term time only ? Where can be cheap for accommodation?

University accommodation tend to split the cost over 3 terms, just like a student loan is also split over 3 terms. So you pay at the beginning of each term when you'd usually receive your loan.

Aside from Oxford (and Cambridge?) I haven't heard of other universities offering term time only accommodation - for most university accommodation you pay for the whole academic year and you get to keep your stuff in your room and use the room over the Christmas and Easter vacation.

Most universities will offer a range of catered or self-catered, shared bathrooms or ensuite, accommodation. Many will usually guarantee that first years will get a place in university accommodation. The prices will vary depending on what type of accommodation you choose.
Also, distance from the university will be a factor in the cost usually.

I don't know what you consider cheap - certainly London is expensive compared to many towns or other cities. I don't think a full student loan only would be enough to live on in London, but doable in other places.

Are there courses or locations that your son is interested in OP?

Thank you Bettercallme. He has mentioned London but I really think the accommodation there would be too much. I assume shared rooms will not appeal to many students. He is looking at STEM, particularly engineering subjects. I was thinking if maybe nautical maybe unis on the coast and further up north from London may be cheaper (also Derby seems to have loads of big engineering firms eg JCB) . He is academically strong so may be he could apply to Oxford/Cambridge if its a lot cheaper.

Hi OP,

It can be really confusing to figure out university if it's your first child, even more confusing if you never went yourself (I didn't).

There is a great website and Facebook book group called 'what I wish I knew about university' WIWIKAU which from what I can see, is mainly parents asking questions and getting a lot of support.

My DS js now in Year 2 at a non-London uni. First year was uni managed accommodation which is £640 per month from Sept - July (it included all bills.

Second year is a room in a shared house (4 of them). £480 per month plus bills. They had to rent that from end of July until end of July (so paid for a summer when they weren't there).

Dd is second year (stem subject) at a uni on the south coast. First year was in uni-owned halls at £157 a week. That was from 1 September until the middle of July. So she paid for the holidays despite being home. Bills were included.

Now in her second year she is in a shared house in the town with 3 friends. Rent is £425 per month each. Bill work out at just under £95 a month each.
They are tied into their rental agreement from 1 September until 1 August, so will pay for holidays again despite being home.

That seems to be the same for many of her friends at different unis.

First years are usually offered uni owned accommodation and you pay termly and definitely not all year.
Second year however when most have to go into private rentals, the contracts tend to be for the whole year.
My dd is first year Bath and her second payment goes out on Wednesday. Her maintenance loan went in on Saturday. Hers is, 2000 per term.That's covered by her maintenance loan and leaves about a 1000 over. Her private rental, already sorted for next year will be about 700pcm.
I also recommend WIWIKAU, parents all over.

Thank you cantfindthebeat that website sounds great. So if accommodation circa £500/mth and maybe £100 bills on top and then spends that could be £750/ mth total. From which student loan deducted.

Leicester Uni is especially cheap for accommodation.

And in second year you may have to rent a house for 11 months out of 12 (just done this for dd. No choice. Rental period goes from 1 Sept to 1 Aug the following year, even though she only needs to be at uni for 7 months.... 🙄😬)

That's about right for many unis, OP.

Depending on family income, student maintenance loans can be a minimum of about £4500 (can't remember the exact amount) which obvs can go toward rent if needed.

Ah, I see other parents have just posted saying the same. Yup, that was a shock to me. And I'm the guarantor for dd too.

If nautical I would look at Southampton, accommodation was reasonable though not overly cheap

Interesting Bath Uni was on the cards (he mentioned it) but at £700/mth..

Tuition fees the student takes out a loan that they pay back when earning over a certain amount correct? I assume I need to get appropriate forms from LEA for that ?

@yoyo1234 you won't need to get any forms. The student will need to make an online application to the Student Loan Company and enter their details and potential course details (applications open in the Spring of yr13, around Feb as I recall). They confirm the course & university details in August when grades come through. They can apply for a tuition fee loan and also a maintenance loan (for living costs).

You may or may not be asked be asked about your finances, depending on how much maintenance loan they will receive (which depends on your household income) and whether you're going to contribute or "top up" the maintenance loan. You and your son can go through the application process together when the time comes.

What year is your DS in? Is his school/ college talking them through the whole UCAS application process? If he is going to try for Oxford or Cambridge, bear in mind that applications for those places will need to be completed earlier in the autumn of yr13, than the normal Jan of yr13 deadline for all UCAS applications.

OP I've had 3 through - youngest still undergrad. Accommodation costs (and quality) can vary significantly. Cambridge by far the cheapest in our experience - plus all three years in college (this may not be the case for every Cambridge or Oxford college), which has its pluses and minuses of course.

No direct London experience.

First year halls whilst offering a range of rooms look from what I've seen to not always have a balance of type and price (eg far more upper end and pricier en-suite accommodation). Both DS2 and DS3 were at Unis with only self-catered halls - which suited them. So not everywhere necessarily has a mix.

Availability of private rentals for 2nd year and beyond can be an issue in some uni city / towns. Durham for example was in the news about this in the Autumn.

Dependent on your DC's age quite a lot if unis do campus type tours in Feb / March - not a proper open day - but may give access to some of their accommodation.

He is actually year 13. Fiercely independent, school helped him with ucas form etc. I have not even read application. Just thinking as he's getting some offers I need to work out how to help him. Feeling I may have to coax him to choose certain unis. Bath is on the list (he has an offer).

Durham not on list (sounds expensive). 1 London uni is 😭

From earlier poster after results cone through is that when he/we have to look at loans etc or is it when choosing what offers etc to go for.

He can apply for student finance from April

Worth getting the application in fairly early. One less thing to do, and as Season says it opens in a few months time. He can enter his firm choice, and if for whatever reason things don't work out come results day it is just a case of updating uni / course.

What are the 5 unis he applied to? Then people can comment on cost of each specifically, rather than giving general advice.
Though if he is anything like my (pretty independent) son, he will probably have already researched accommodation in each Uni, plus decided which he would accept regardless of my opinion.

It’s expensive!

DS1 is at Oxford which is relatively cheap and term time only accommodation. And for the whole 3 years. This year he even has an en-suite bathroom. The downside is emptying the room each term…our car is only a sodding mini!

DS2 is in London, £185 a week including holidays which is pricey for what is a relatively small room but great location.

Its tough. Maintenance loan doesn’t even cover DS2’s rent and then there is living costs on top.

Which London university is his the list ?

I say that as Imperial offer generous bursaries which can cushion the extra expense - the maintenance loan is also more in London. The Imperial halls are also subsidised and my DS's first year hall was a similar price to others outside London. (These we're however in North Acton and not the ones in South Kensington!)

Students can elect to stay in halls in other years but must probably live out and clearly have to pay market rents. (DS currently paying £750 a month and is 20 min cycle ride away from uni).

Don't be misled into thinking the north is cheap, because it varies widely from city to city e.g Leeds is cheap-ish, York is eye-wateringly expensive.

Rents have also escalated for Sept 2023. It's becoming unaffordable in my opinion/experience.

Hi op.

You are right imo to look at this. It’s not mentioned very much but I think can be big limiting factor.

Nottingham uni eg has only catered accommodation (so about £7-8k pa) if you want to be on campus - and since Nottingham is a campus uni, I think this is a very exclusionary fact. We couldn’t have afforded that for ds2.

He is at Loughborough and tho they had a not very helpful system to apply for halls, there are a couple on the campus which were last year about £4k. Ds was in one (shared bathroom obvs) and it was ok; small room but fine. Catered en suit rooms on campus there were about £8k or more.

It's worth doing research and focus on shared bathrooms. Iirc there was a nice looking hall in Newcastle that was about £105 pw. These figures are two years old btw. Dd was at Leicester and there were some cheaper options there too.

wrt term/ time only, I think Warwick did this, but what a pain having to empty your room at the end of each term. Not worth it imo.