Accommodation, is this standard? (Unite company)

[skyblue11]

As this is all new to us seeking advice, we are looking at Unite for DD they are private landlords and the accommodation is brand new in Huddersfield. They need a £250 deposit (which I don't think I'll ever see again according to friends!) and then after signing the contract and returning after a 2 week cooling period you are the liable for the whole year unless they don't get the grade then there are other T & C's.
Also they need £500 rent upfront in August before she moves in and before the student loan kicks in, scary stuff is this the norm?

Result Mumble (I imagine)

I run a nursery.........

I don't want her to go! She is away in Halls tonight

I have asked ds2 how he's found the Halls, and whether he's heard anything negative about them, and he said he hasn't heard anything bad about them, and the staff in his Halls are great - friendly and helpful, and quick to sort out problems.

SGT thank you for that, nice to know :)

'Honestly the scummier the better. I shared 2 kitchens 4 toilets and 6 showers with 51 other people at university'

well that might have been ok for you, but people are different, it could make some people (including me) quite low.When you are spending £9000 on a course, that is the priority you don't want to put in place any 'barriers to learning' The landscape has changed a lot since your day

errrr its not that long ago I went to university thankyou! The halls I lived in are still there and still being used.

Sorry posted too soon.... I started university in 2004 graduated in 2007. Not that long ago and not that much has changed according to slightly younger family members.

and funnily enough we all managed to learn fine despite the apparently dire circumstances we lived in.

Why do people think an en-suite bathroom is essential to learning!? No wonder the current generation present to everyone else as entitled.

And it wan't 'ok' it sucked. But I'm a better person and have come to absolutely no harm because of it

So what tuition fees did you pay £1000 a year or similar token amount, and us the tax payer funded the rest.Of course the fact that students are now paying the full whack (£9000 pa) themselves completely and utterly changes how they view their degree.
Poor housing is very definitely a barrier to learning and unhappiness even more so.
Have you not got the imagination to be able to understand that other people are made differently to you, and what you can shrug off, others can't ?

init a bit harsh on Westmoreland, I think; no need to get personal!

The tuition fees and accommodation fees should be considered separately imo.

I agree with Westmoreland that a little discomfort/difficulty is not a bad thing, as it teaches young people to sort out their own problems. DS is in the Army Reserve so was always going to be OK, he's slept in scrapes in the snow before so a room with heating and a mattress is luxury to him!

One of the girls in his flat has been so mollycoddled she didn't know how to open a tin of beans or heat up a pizza. Obviously it's her parents fault for not teaching her independence, but now she's one of those students who go home every weekend so mummy can cook her 3 meals a day, so whether she will ever be a fully functioning member of society I don't know

init You can't say on the one hand "Have you not got the imagination to be able to understand that other people are made differently to you" and, on the other hand, a categoric "Poor housing is very definitely a barrier to learning". That's trying to have it both ways.
For my DD and her house-shares, poor housing was not a barrier to academic learning but was actually a brilliant life-lesson. I was so impressed with the way they went about sorting out their landlord. By the time they had finished with him, he was stripped of his HMO licence! And they got their deposits back too.

Opal is a company similar to Unite

I wouldn't expect staff from accommodation to accompany DD to hsopital should she need it!!

No I didn't expect. It is not part of their job.

I just thought it was nice that the staff went above and beyond.

He wouldn't have expected a member of staff to go with him, he's 19 not 9!

And I'm well into my 40s.

See my answer above.

My son is in a very similar private halls and they have been brilliant. They have been very good at mending and fixing - a radiator busrt and leaked all over the sofa backs and new ones were in place by the end of the day. Strange lightbulbs have been changed for them (they were too scared to do it themselves in case they broke them) but they do charge the earth for breakages and replacements. There is a concierge, wardens and night security men who were excellent when one of the girls in the flat brought home a few new friends during Fresher's and they tried to wreck the flat. They were there in seconds and the yobs thrown out. I was very impressed by the fittings and weeny very clever bathroom, all plastic and wipeclean, the whole room! Very funny. Masses of storage, even under the bed has boxed partitions. I have heard that they are much of a muchness now, due to new regulations.

You can't say on the one hand "Have you not got the imagination to be able to understand that other people are made differently to you" and, on the other hand, a categoric "Poor housing is very definitely a barrier to learning".

Ok Poor housing will be a barrier to learning for some people Imagine anybody who is even very mildly OCD might be extremely distressed at living in other peoples filth ,wher as for another, it is unpleasant but bearable.

I have had two DC in Unite Halls. They've been fine, and I've got most of the deposit back.

I would suggest she goes on tsr, or finds a fb group for the course, even for the year ahead and asks what the majority do? Here the uni halls are far away but everyone uses them, very few in unite etc.

Opal if it hasn't been answered is another halls company tho they were much more affiliated with my uni than unite.