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?

Oh I have read the thread and see he is in yr 13 and has applied. Yy which unis?

They vary enormously from one location to another. Self catering with shared bathrooms are usually cheaper. Term-time lets (30ishweeks) are possible but you have to clear out for Christmas and Easter vacations.

Bath, Dundee, Imperial, Cambridge, Bristol

I would have thought Dundee is the cheapest option. Is Cambridge still in the running? They can be good value and offer funding for those who meet certain criteria.

Honestly it sounds like he's got it sorted. It's him that will apply online for his loans. Depends on your household income he'll get a maintenance loan between £4500 and £9500 (more if London). If he doesn't get the full loan (ie your household income is above £25k) you are expected to top him up to the max.

He'll sort a budget and accommodation application in due course I'm Sure.

Cambridge still in running (not rejected/accepted), but worried at cost of London (byt pp mentioned bursaries so may get him to look into that)and Bath. Everyone's been great with when to do things and websites .

We had to pay a term in advance, it was just shy of £2,000 for the academic year for a sitting room/kitchen, decent sized bedroom and bathroom, in the NW. Rooms in shared houses were less.

Have you looked into everything your son may be able to access with Student Finance?

Ok well then it’s pretty straightforward to look at what halls there are and what is cheap. IME cheaper halls with shared bathrooms are less popular, esp at somewhere like Bristol where, frankly, students will be well off.

dd got a clearing place (Leicester) and had to take the hall that was left and it was about £120pw iirc so at the cheaper end. The £££ en suite rooms had all gone (which was fine with us and her).

Which is his top choice after Cambridge? Check out what they offer and also when he should apply. Some unis let you list preferences as early as April.

When was this @MrsSkylerWhite ? That’s a lot cheaper than anything I’ve seen in the last four years (dd went in 2019 so we were looking from 2018).

My dd is at Newcastle and hers is £5000 for the year. (38 weeks). It's paid monthly.

Think bath is top after Cambridge

Do encourage him to think about imperial - it's a phenomenal university streets ahead of Bath. And Bath is pretty damn good!

I have one currently in Bath and one in London (not Imperial though). Very different places!

In private accommodation, London rental was twice the price of Bath - but that was for a very central location, with minimal transport costs.

DC in Bath has really enjoyed it, a good size town and being on campus the first year was great. Privately renting in the town is mixed - cheaper the further away from campus obviously, but then you have to rely on not-so-reliable bus services apparently. This year DC is in a shared house of 4, paying around £500 pm, bills included. But it is 2 bus rides away from campus.

Bills are usually included in halls for his first year accommodation. Often they are in 2nd and 3rd years too, but not always.

Most Universities have different accommodation at a range of prices.
Unfortunately Bristol is notoriously expensive but without the additional maintenance loan he would get if he went to a London University.

It is worth you going to a local University and sitting in on the finance talks they do for parents (though a little late if he is in Yr 13 and already applied - I'm surprised you haven't done any thinking about this before now.).

WIWIKAU is really helpful, but it has filled up with a lot of parents posting all sorts of things over the last few months so you do have to wade through a lot of posts that aren't anything to do with helping parents find out about University as well. Do use the search function as all your questions will have been asked / answered before.

What you need to do now, is go on to the websites of the 5 he has applied to, (well, Cambridge will be different as is all to do with colleges I understand) and look at the accommodation pages. That will tell you what is available at those particular Universities and how the system works for those places.

some unis give bursaries if get full loan or high loan (based on family income) eg £1000 or £2000 pa. In essence bursaries allow unis to charge high rents as they wouldn’t be able to get away with taking such a high % of the max loan in rent otherwise.

Many Cambridge colleges will also have bursaries. I frogmarched a mate of mine to the college bursar in second year…my college at the time gave cash grants to anyone who received a full maintenance loan (but that was 20 years ago).

clary · Today 22:39
MrsSkylerWhite · Today 22:36
We had to pay a term in advance, it was just shy of £2,000 for the academic year for a sitting room/kitchen, decent sized bedroom and bathroom, in the NW. Rooms in shared houses were less.

Have you looked into everything your son may be able to access with Student Finance?”

When was this @MrsSkylerWhite ? That’s a lot cheaper than anything I’ve seen in the last four years (dd went in 2019 so we were looking from 2018)”

You’re absolutely right, Clary! It was just shy of £6,000 for the academic year, just under £2,000 per term (last year).

too late, too tired. Ought to go to sleep now 😁

I think most unis (certainly the ones we've visited) have "offer holder days" so once your son has been offered a place, he can visit the unis before he has to decide where should be his "firm" choice (I.e. his 1st choice if he makes his grades) and which is his "insurance" (2nd choice which is usually slightly lower grades). You can only hold 2 offers which you have to confirm I think by June some time. Check the websites for the unis about when you can apply for accommodation - some are when you firm etc.

Apart from the advice you've been given above, get your DS to think about what he'd want / how he'd make friends etc. Have to say I was really underwhelmed with the halls at Bath (only one I can comment on) - the "communal space" for the shared flats was just the kitchen & a small table & chairs. There was no seating area, not really anywhere to hang out. Maybe we didn't see the best they had to offer but it was all a bit tired and expensive. It didn't put DS off but he did say he'd have to work harder to make friends than at other places where the shared flats / halls seemed better geared to socialising. So even within "standard room" or "ensuite" categories the halls / rooms will be different and he needs to do a bit of research.

@yoyo1234 Bath has a randomized accommodation allocation for the first year. If your son confirms it then university run accommodation is guaranteed, though there are some in town. The students are contacted and have to give (iirc) 7 choices in order of preference. They range from expensive en-suite with food "credits" as part of that (no catered halls, but some of the accommodations which are en-suite have smaller kitchen facilities so these vouchers are for use in the campus eateries) to shared non en-suite in town. Worth researching (both on the official website and reviews) all of these as well. My daughter got her 3rd choice (non en suite) There is also an accommodation bursary for first years and she got 500 pound off the second term payment.
As pp has said, Wiwikau is great for info, depending on time of year. Right now, it's mainly about offers/holder's days. Then it will be exams/results followed by moving in. Autumn term is when choices are discussed a lot, so worth searching for your son's choices.
Also as pp has said, you will also need to create a SF account, it isn't just a case of only your son applying. (as will anyone else "supporting" the applicant)

DD in London. Accommodation costs similar to what PPs have mentioned in other locations.

Imperial gives students money. Up to £5k/year depending on parental income.

You need to

• use the student finance calculator to get a ballpark of the money he’ll receive.
• go through each uni he’s applied to and see what their accommodation options are, prices and how likely you are to get the one you want (e.g. if it’s random allocation you may get the expensive one)
• go through each uni he’s applied for to check what bursaries and scholarships he might get
• see if his income from loan and bursary is enough to live on and meet accommodation/living costs in each city
• if it is, help him work his budget out in advance
• If it isn’t, have a discussion about how much you can top up

student finance applications open in late feb and he should apply straight away. He doesn’t need to know which unis he’s going to, he can put down his favourite and update later

Thanks @Bunnyannesummers that's a great list and has time frame for applications etc 😀

I also found the Facebook group mentioned above useful, neither dh nor I went to university and we had no idea what we were doing. We still don’t to be honest, we just pay what we’re told when we’re told to!
dd1 gets the minimum maintenance loan, second terms money went in yesterday and her rent for the next term is due tomorrow, so we will transfer her the difference and she then pays the accommodation. It’s a hell of a lot of money, I think her room is £190 a week for a shitty box room which is mouldy and damp (bristol for anyone wondering! She didn’t get into halls on campus and so is now city centre), I can’t wait to get her out of there and into private to be honest.
Best of luck op, it’s a bit of a minefield and we basically leave dd to do the admin organisation.

Oh dear with £190/wk with mould at Bristol