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?

Many (most?) families do this research a lot earlier and it can be one factor in deciding which Universities to apply for.

I know all of my dc chose not to apply to some of the most expensive places to live, as they would prefer more money in their pocket each week.
Others will decide to take a year out and build up a savings pot to help finance living in a more expensive place.

Whereas obviously the course content is key, it can make a BIG difference to the quality of your life, if you are comfortable where you are living.

Yes, a fucking shit show!! The accommodation doesn’t really seem fit for purpose at all but we didn’t have any other options. Absolute joke, costs an arm and a leg and it’s just horrible.

DS not heard from Bristol yet so seems good to avoid. So far Dundee (but not foe course he applied for 🤔 and Bath offers

My Dd is at Bath. Agree with others it is not cheap. Dd spent first year in halls of residence at £560 a month. Her second year is in a 5 way shared house at £680 (+£60 utilities) each. Next year she and a friend are sharing a 2 bed apartment for £625 (+£60 utilities) each.

Bristol is pricey, but it's a fantastic city and uni. DS was lucky to get one of the cheap halls (albeit small and basic 'University Hall' at Stoke Bishop). Now in a house in Cotham, paying about £135/week plus bills.

As an aside Bristol do tend to offer either very early or very late, so don't get disheartened if you don't hear for a while.

And there's not usually any advantage in deciding what to firm and insure well in advance of the UCAS deadline (unless any choice has some kind of first come first served accommodation application- most unis don't).

So take your time, maybe attend offer holders days.

£680/mth in a 5 way shared house ... wow that landlords getting a lot...

Most universities have a variety of options price wise. Cheapest likely to have shared bathrooms. If the university asks to rank halls(flat blocks) don't include the more expensive options at all. For later years accommodation cheaper options in the midlands and north and Wales. Oxbridge often only the 2nd year in private renting first and 3rd in halls. Some universities aliow provisional hall choices pre results others ask post acceptance so need to look out for the emails

Blimey @TheChosenTwo that's terrible! Also it's nearly twice what DS2 was paying last year at Lboro for a perfectly clean and non-mouldy room (small it's true, but fine) - £100 pw that was. Right in the middle of campus too. I would complain if I were your dd tbh.

@yoyo1234 don't tell your son to discount Bristol on this account tho - there will be other, better, options, and he can look at what they are, surely. I agree with @UsingChangeofName that many people will look at accommodation as part of their pre-application research, but if your son has sorted his own application maybe he has looked at this too.

Parent of three -oldest two finished uni and youngest about to go. Firstly - particularly in first year halls , London is not necessarily more expensive- my youngest is going to Birmingham and it’s the same as DS2’s first year in London was. The maintenance loan won’t cover rent and living costs. Oxford and Cambridge are v cheap because they own all their accommodation and terms are really short. We paid rent for DD1 and DS1 and will do the same for DS2 next year. As a teacher and parent- I really don’t recommend choosing a uni based on accommodation prices - false economy. He should apply to the best unis for his course.

He's in year 13 and has already applied btw.

I don't think anyone is suggesting applying for uni based solely on accommodation and not at all on the course; but accommodation was certainly something we looked at for our DC, to make sure there were affordable options at their most likely favourites. It depends what you plan to study but for some subjects (Eng lit for example) there is not loads of difference between courses offered, so other things may come into play - including campus/city; distance from home; ease of access by train; size of city or town; sports facilities; and yes, accommodation offered. I'm a parent and I was a teacher as well, and speak here from my own experience - which is all most of us can do tbh.

Exactly Clary

@Notellinganyone - that is precisely why I emphasised one factor.

There may be some courses where the course is unique, but overwhelmingly there are a few, or in some cases several or even many courses that offer similar.
People put all sorts of factors into the equation as Clary has said.
If there were a particular course that were perfect and even unique, then accommodation prices might lead a student into making decisions like deferring a year, working and saving up.

No-one is suggesting choosing a University just for the accommodation, but, as said in my previous post there are lots of considerations to factor in.

@yoyo1234
My DD had perfectly good rentals in Bristol. It’s also not true shared bathrooms are not sought after. Wills Quad has lots of them and it’s a very popular hall. It’s catered, so not the cheapest, but it’s very friendly. DD even had a shared room so you can keep costs down.

Liverpool can be expensive for student halls. That’s always a surprise. He’s got a good selection of universities. After y1, imperial students can get spread out. Overseas students are high in numbers and can often afford accommodation nearer to the university. Others might be further out. It’s a world class university. Probably better than Cambridge for Engineering as it’s a specialist stem university. Cambridge, with all due respect, isn’t.

To be honest we put her down on some other lists for as and when accommodation elsewhere came up after she’d been there a couple of weeks but it’s been really over subscribed and this year people have been placed in accommodation in Bath and are having to travel in to Bristol so because she already had local accommodation she must have been way down the lists as she’s never been contacted. I think at this stage it’s likely she’ll just wait it out where she is, the course finishes in May I think!
The halls she chose were on campus, she liked a few and put them down as her choices, they were cheaper, I think around £165 per week but they all had a bathroom shared with one other. But the living areas were much nicer. What she’s been allocated, we didn’t even know was an option!
she does have her own bathroom where she is but the living area for the 6 of them had a 2 seater sofa and nothing else, there are 6 stools squeezed around the tiny island though! We had to buy her a dehumidifier for her room for the damp and the container gets full every couple of days.
she’s not had the best experience so far but hoping this improves in her second year.

@clary - that’s absolutely not true about Eng Lit. I’m an English Teacher and 6th form tutor and courses vary a lot depending on the Uni.

@Notellinganyone fair enough. I used that a as an example because most unis offer it and after about her seventh open-day talk of "we offer everything from Beowulf to beyonce" dd was getting a little jaded. Maybe just the unis she looked at offered very similar options.

I would like to add btw, another reason for looking at the accommodation offer. I often read on MN of parents saying they will pay their dc's rent and they will live off the loan. That's great for them, but it certainly isn't everyone's story.

At one point I had two dc at uni and there is no way I have £10-12k spare. So despite what you might read, some students DO pay their rent out of their loan. I top up my dc (they get about 80% loan) but they pay or paid their own rent. Hence we needed to make sure it wasn't in the £7-8k area as that would have left them v little to live on.

University of Bristol doesn’t have a campus or accommodation in it. I’m confused. It has accommodation in the city, in Clifton and at Stoke Bishop. DD was in Wills in SB. That’s a catered hall (half board) and the rooms there are not £9000 pa with food included! It’s perfectly possible to get cheaper places with self catering but students get fixated on modern and “must have” locations instead of looking for value Mould is probably a ventilation issue.

yeh @TizerorFizz the "campus" reference to Bristol puzzled me too. I was a student there and there is no campus, unless much has changed in the city (unlikely). I was in halls at SB and it was fine, if a long way away. This is back when you got a grant and no fees tho so ...

DD liked it there. It was only 10 mins on the bus to her faculty. They shared taxis back on a night out. Didn’t seem a big deal. The university at Clifton hasn’t changed much I think. Maybe Clifton is the “campus”. I think Bristol is a great place to be a student.

Uni owned accommodation/ halls are generally 10 month contracts running sep-june.
You can pay termly or sometimes monthly.
Private student accommodation is usually 11 months contract sept- July , pay monthly.
Inevitably you pay for some time you're not there. It's in landlords interest you keep it occupied and make as much money as possible throughout the year !

Bristol offers 3 'villages' basically Stoke Bishop, Clifton and the City Centre. Stoke Bishop includes a free bus pass to the uni and city centre.

And yes, Wills is £8k up to £9.4k (catered)
However, University Hall next door is £4.8k (self-catered).

I have 3 DC at uni, all on minimum loan (we are just over the threshold). I pay their rent and they live on the loan, it's the only fair way to do it when rent varies so widely from city to city.

@ShaunaTheSheep
Exactly. So no student needs to pay £9000 for self catering in Bristol. The £9400 is for a studio at Wills so bigger than a standard room. I’m also aware that students often don’t look for value but want ensuite bathrooms. Most universities have accommodation at a variety of price points. You just have to do the research.

Definitely do the research, decide your priorities and make a list in order of preference and hope you get lucky!

Cost
Location
Catered/self catered
Size of flat
En-suite or shared
Modern/slightly tired!

At one DC's uni there is very little cheap self catering, and the choice is basically modern with en-suite or older but catered. They sensibly chose food, better value for money. And the shared bathrooms are cleaned daily. En-suite you clean your own!

Definitely do the research, decide your priorities and make a list in order of preference and hope you get lucky!

Cost
Location
Catered/self catered
Size of flat
En-suite or shared
Modern/slightly tired!

At one DC's uni there is very little cheap self catering, and the choice is basically modern with en-suite or older but catered. They sensibly chose food, better value for money. And the shared bathrooms are cleaned daily. En-suite you clean your own!

Definitely do the research, decide your priorities and make a list in order of preference and hope you get lucky!

Cost
Location
Catered/self catered
Size of flat
En-suite or shared
Modern/slightly tired!

At one DC's uni there is very little cheap self catering, and the choice is basically modern with en-suite or older but catered. They sensibly chose food, better value for money. And the shared bathrooms are cleaned daily. En-suite you clean your own!