A warning to anyone applying to St Andrews

[MissPiggy5]

Can I please just warn any of you that have offspring with applications in to St Andrew's of the ridiculous situation and bun fight that happens in February of the 1st year, to find accommodation for the 2nd and subsequent years?

We have just had a horrendous time with our gorgeous DS, who got into St Andrews as his insurance choice after very narrowly missing out (0.5% in one paper FGS) on a place at Cambridge. Please let this tale of woe be of guidance to all those out there who are deciding on any offers received and how to 'play' the Firm v Insurance choice lottery.

First of all, being English doesn't help - no real surprise there. DS received his A level results mid Aug alongside everyone else, but a month after the Scottish students receive their Highers results. Net result: he was allocated his 'guaranteed' accommodation on a take it or leave it basis. This was not the mid-range but still expensive halls he had applied for, but the absolute top of the range catered, en-suite flat that is let out to golfers over the summer. We had no choice but to accept with Uni start on 6 Sep, just over 2 weeks after A level results so are now paying £7500 for 2 semesters - 1 Sep 14 - 30 May 15, which is actually £1000/month.

Being of middle income, so getting no help with anything, we asked DS if he could possibly find somewhere cheaper to live next year as paying this amount is not sustainable for us.

Next comes the horrendous 'releasing of lists' by local estate agents on 1 Feb to coincide with the 7 days that re-application for halls is open to current residents. What a nightmare. Our poor, unprepared DS spent the best part of a week both day and night chasing his tail. In brief, the vast majority of the university's students are from wealthy backgrounds and they actively recruit from such places as California; this obviously drives the local economy especially regarding private housing. Maybe its the Kate and Wills effect, who knows? The estate agents are shameless and seem to be running a cartel. There were queues round the block to book viewings with literally hundreds of students applying for each available house/flat. Most require multiple references and interviews to even get a viewing and then, even if they're luck enough to be successful, large deposits are being demanded to secure the property. Not only that, there are no properties available at all anywhere in the area from 30 May due to the golf so students don't even have the option of staying locally and getting some summer work.

The situation got so bad this month that there was a demonstration yesterday to demand that the University and local council take action. There's also a petition which will be sent to the Principal and Vice Chancellor at link. Even if you don't sign it, please read the comments left by students and parents alike; it makes for very worrying reading.

www.change.org/p/professor-louise-richardson-accomodation-and-business-services-tell-us-how-the-university-plans-to-address-the-potential-accommodation-crisis

The situation for us now is that DS has re-applied to go back into halls, self-catered this time to save a little money, but the bill is still going to be £6200/year, which is much higher than the rest of the UK but still cheaper than private rental. There is absolutely no guarantee he'll get in, and if he doesn't I have absolutely no idea what we'll do.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I really wish I knew all this a year ago as I would now be having a very different conversation with DS about his options once his offers came in.

A rather distraught and angry Mum.

Chorley, I think you are being unfair. Had you been "MadeinChelsea" the point may have been easier. I don't know too much about St Andrews other than it is seen as an attractive option for a certain type of London private school pupil, along with Exeter. However in London where I think non-EU students make up as much at 40% of the student body, if not more, there is a very obvious issue. A reasonable proportion of these students appear very well off. Indeed students apparently now form the largest group within the Mayfair lettings market, overtaking bankers. For American students the UK system is much cheaper than the American one, so presumably they will have savings they can use for accomodation. There really is a parallel market between ordinary and affluent students. Obviously private developers of student housing find a more affluent market more attractive/profitable.

Poison is right. The workload at well-regarded Universities is heavy. Taking a job means something has to give. I had thought the problem of expensive accomodation was primarily a London, so OP provides useful warning that it is something worth considering whern applying elsewhere. (FWIW DS has noticed how few of his fellow British students at his London University come from outside the M25, which is a real pity.) My guess is that it is something Universities will only try and fix if they see it harming their recruitment. Presumably English students are more profitable for St Andrews than their Scottish or EU counter-parts. They deserve at least equal treatment on the accomodation front.

M'y research into St Andrew's university's policy towards candidates offering the French bac (ie mostly EU students paying home (Scottish) fees) very much suggests that they are not wanted. St Andrew's seems to proactively seek out international (ie maximum fees) students and the fundraising event that William & Kate attended in NY recently certainly seemed like a PR stunt to attract the wealthy.

Even in my day, St Andrews went out of its way to attract foreign students- but by pushing tartan,bagpipes and heritage rather than the royal connection.

Recent posts all ring true to what I've heard via DS. His US friends all say that StA actively markets to them to the extent of attending Californian College open days.

I would also categorise our family as 'squeezed middle'. Without giving too much away I'm the breadwinner as my husband is on a military disability pension, which added together take us over the bracket for any extra help but we still only pay basic rate tax, which will give you some idea of where we are. We, like many others, have a mortgage and another younger teenager with all the bills that go with both!

I'm cross with myself for having ruled out London for the same reasons (and both DH and I went to London back in the 80's on full grants) we've ended up in this situation.

I agree with Hakluyt. Half my course were wealthy overseas students 20+ years ago. There were lots of 3rd year JYA students from US universities too with bags of cash. I coped with the accommodation costs by waitressing and doing bar work during term time. Arguably too much but it kept my head above water. My parents couldn't help me with money - ironically, they pushed me to go there rather than a city red brick university because of the perceived "prestige".

And to answer another question...yes, we did research (in that we checked out all the info and prices on the uni website) the cost of halls, and we niaively applied for what was affordable, thinking that was what he woukd be allocated. What we didn't know then is what happens next, as described in my OP.

All Scottish universities market heavily to overseas students, it's not just St Andrews. The overseas fees are incredibly high, so if there were not as many overseas students as there are, the universities would be forced to make more redundancies and cut more courses.

There is also a big push for RUK students too though (rest of uk) and places for Scottish students are more limited (unless you have an MD40 post code...the unis need to show they are doing what they can to widen access so you'll likely get a lower offer if your post code is considered deprived).

"And to answer another question...yes, we did research (in that we checked out all the info and prices on the uni website) the cost of halls, and we niaively applied for what was affordable, thinking that was what he woukd be allocated. What we didn't know then is what happens next, as described in my OP."

I would be very surprised if they didn't make it abundantly clear that there were no guarantees. And if it's like Edinburgh they take into account different results days for Scottish and English students and and dole out accomodation accordingly. Did your ds look at the student forums as part of his research?

Pre- tuition fees - and I don't know if it is any different now - some London Unis were like that ..
I went to - lets just say one of the top 3 London Unis... (another one of which I was told it wasn't even worth wasting a choice on - they were only really interested in overseas full fee payers.)
We had a few overseas students on our course. One I knew quite well and they really really struggled.
Honestly I don't think they were 'academically strong enough' (not through language problems). They worked and tried really really hard. The amount of pressure they were under to do well was enormous -it was costing their parents a fortune. They were devastated to get a 2.2 - and they only just scraped that....I really really felt for them - don't think they should ever have been put in that position both by their parents - and by the university.

We live in the US and have a child who is a current Junior in High School, so she will graduate in June of 2016. We are just starting the university application process.

The UK universities that actively come to her high school to recruit are University of Bristol, Durham University, Newcastle University, University of Warwick and University of York. They market themselves as a group called The Select Elite British Universities. The University of Southampton also attends college fairs but by far the biggest presence is St. Andrews. Several students every year will attend from our area. Durham is gaining in popularity.

That's really interesting, ButterscotchClouds. I had noticed that Bristol accepts applications through not only UCAS but also Common App.

To those going through the process for the first time, the student room website has masses of really useful info on every university, inc hints on which halls are for party animals, and which are the most over subscribed! All from current students.
It takes some time, and patience.
But there's a wealth of useful stuff aside from the usual teen dramas

DS has been offered a place in a self-catered hall this week!! Huge relief all round but it only puts off the inevitable for another year. Thank you all for your support, its very much appreciated. MP x

Glad the situation for next year looks better. I was coming on to ask whether he had considered looking to transfer to another university? End of first year would be the best time to do this.