1st year uni accommodation - ensuite essential?

[ifonly4]

Does anyone think ensuite accommodation is really essential?

DD has always said she was more than happy to share, looked in a flat for eight which had four shower/bathrooms,, looked clean despite still being in partial use. However, when walking around, so many were saying they had to have an ensuite or parents insisting. DD has spoken to her cousin whose told her people will be sick and not clear it up.

Any thoughts?

Ds won't, we can't afford it. And he would much rather have the extra £40 or £50 a week in his pocket. Anywhere he lives will turn into a sh*thole within 3 days anyway (he admits this is true). Plus he shares a bathroom with more people in our house than he would in shared bathroom halls at uni!!!

Ds is off to Uni in September and has been allocated an ensuite. He is made up but has a skin problem which necessitates long showers and pfaffing around with creams and was willing to have less to spend on other things and put the money towards an ensuite room.

I never had an en-suite in uni, and never had any problems! I think most people will want to keep their bathrooms clean, and if she does end up sharing with someone who doesn't then she'll get a chance to practice her conflict management skills!

To be honest it comes down to who she's with really and their attitudes.

I had ensuite both years I was in hall the first was fine, good selection of people and courses and lived with the hall warden, no problems.

And the second, my third year, I lived with a bunch of people who were a total nightmare. Sick in the kitchen was frequently left. Washing up wasn't done, it was so bad I had to keep dishes in my room. The flat stank so much we were constantly fined £50 (each so the uni made a fortune from us - there were 10 in the flat so £500 extra everytime) and the cleaner refused to clean it. the worse parts would put anyone off going into hall. Yes it was that bad.

If I hadn't had my own bathroom and found some great friends in years one and two I wouldn't have graduated, having my own bathroom meant I could at least get water to drink and didn't need to leave my room except for food (most ate pot noodles I could make using a kettle I kept in my room).

That was over 20 years ago.

I also shared when I went into hall over summer (didn't have option of family) and again it varied massively, some great, some not.

Shared bathroom, regular vomit left for DD to clean.

However I am not sure that an ensuite is the answer.

Worth:

1. looking at the size of the flat, and the level of supervision. 12 people, no wardens and no mechanism for addressing problems other than to grass on your flatmates does not work. Most should be fine, or not actively anti-social, but larger numbers increases the chances of one or two who have no consideration whatsoever. An ensuite may help a bit, but honestly if your neighbour regularly comes back at 4.00am completely out of it, you will be woken up anyway and often they wont make it as far as the bathroom.

1. If there are problems, move. You can't change people behaviour. Not having an en-suite makes it easier as cheaper accomodation is more popular. DD ended up moving to a more expensive flat where the room was significantly smaller because of the ensuite, with no living room so limited chances to get to know others. And they charge you for moving.

Definitely go for the en suite if you can afford it. Shared bathrooms can be really vile and there is very little you can do about people who are grotty.

I shared a bathroom for a long time (19 to 24) and, looking back, it was sometimes really awful and I think it had an effect on my general,well being.

Not essential, no. 4 bathrooms for 8 people is fine imo :)

Is this a joke? Students even having the choice of having en suites? Fucking hell. Student life has changed since the early 90's.

When I was in student housing keeping the bathroom clean was part of our contract and the common rooms (bathroom, kitchen etc) where semi-regularly checked by the attendant.

So they were always pretty clean...

Idk how things are done at your daughter's uni.

Can't speak for other places but at Birmingham Uni non ensuite rooms have bathrooms shared between 5 same sex and the saving is around £3k v those with ensuite.....so quite significant savings for the non fussy.

DS2 didn't have an en suite in halls. He was in a flat of 6 with 2 bathrooms. There were 4 girls and 2 boys and it wasn't the boys who were the filthy unhygienic ones.

They had a cleaner in their halls who'd come in 4 times a week to do the kitchen and bathrooms so it wasn't too bad.

4 bathrooms for 8 people....luxury! Back in the day I had one shower, one bath and one toilet for a corridor of 14 students, it was fine!

"When I was in student housing keeping the bathroom clean was part of our contract and the common rooms (bathroom, kitchen etc) where semi-regularly checked by the attendant."

Yes. However the whole flat will be fined if the cleaner refuses to clean. So if one member of the flat regularly gets wasted it is up to the others to pay up or clean up. DD's neighbour once vomited outside DDs door and then left for reading week. If nothing else, DD could not live with the smell till cleaning day. The behaviour of some students is seriously gross.

need

We were never fined / had serious issues.

I imagine that social censure would probably keep most people in line?

if you spend extra for en suite you are more likely to get smaller room - less space for clothes (socializing gear!) or for your books & studying - compared to risk of bad habits - do they have cleaners? how many times to they clean? that may be a thing to think about & as stated how big the room is & how many people share the bathroom? can you afford to subsidize her for this extra or would she prefer to have more money to live (socialize!) on-

When I was a student (over 20 years ago) I was on a corridor of 25 sharing one kitchen, 4 showers and 2 baths. There were 9 floors and we all shared 3 washers and dryers, and 2 phones. Those were the days!

Yes of course an ensuite is an essential for a teenager. And a diamond encrusted toilet seat. And a fucking personal chef. Ffs.

It’s often the ones who complain about lack of money that have the en suites. They spend an excessive amount on a toilet!

Get a small flat with plenty of bathrooms. Living with people being sick is part of university life. Even the cleanest student can get sick!

Yes if they have IBS or other medical issue which makes it a good idea, otherwise no.

My sons have not had en suite this year (year 1 halls Bristol) and it's been fine. I think we applied for en suite but they got the halls they wanted and it's absolutely okay. One has a bathroom shared with the 3 other rooms on his floor with bath (the fllor down has a shower they can u se) and he has a sink in his room - a huge thing in a cupboard which looksl ike it was built in 1930 with marks all over it but he's been as happy as Larry with it all; the other has a new bathroom next to his room and I believe only 2 people including him use that one - shower, sink loo.

I found my 1982 university rent. The rent for the same place today allowing for inflation is 3x the price for the same place. I couldn't work that out really - that was using the bank of England inflation calculator and it was the same university flat - it may have slightly nicer carpet perhaps now but nothing that would make it go up 3x what it was other than presumably that people are prepared to pay 3x more. I suppose it is probably similar with rents in general too so they charge what they can get away with.

Ds1 has always had an en suite but that is more because he has extreme social difficulties and doesn't like to mix with people. He would have had his own kitchen if he could, but obviously had to share (and found it very hard that people were not as tidy as him).

Dd is about to start uni and absolutely insisted she had an en suite. I think she is typical of her generation. They just seem to expect it.

Ds2 is at an old, traditional uni and he was in halls for his first year, with shared bathrooms and even enforced sharing of rooms for a term. He saw nothing wrong with it, though would have preferred not to have had to share a room even though it was with a friend. But the bathroom bit was not a problem for him. Mind you, when I picked him up at the end of the year and saw the state of one of the loos, I did turn a bit green. I think communal loos usually get cleaned by staff, don't they? These were supposed to be, but it didn't look like anyone had been near this loo in months, to clean it anyway. Ds2 just shrugged and said if one loo was bad, you went to another.

DD is paying for herself so decided against ensuite when she looked at the prices! Actually sharing showers and toilets hasnt been an issue as they are cleaned daily - much more of an issue has been sharing a kitchen with people who never wash up.

I was in a mixed sex flat of five, one shared bathroom between us, but the toilet was in a cubicle, as was the shower, so you could still go for a wee if someone was showering, brush teeth while someone used the loo, etc. Zero problems! The only issue I ever heard of from the two other flats on our floor (we were all friends as a big group) was a disagreement over whether peeing in the shower was acceptable, which in fairness splits opinion on mumsnet too!

We were in the cheapest halls, but all of us prioritised cheaper rent over fancy facilities. It was basic but absolutely fine. It also meant we were a bit more realistic when looking for private rental houses for years 2&3, some people from my course who were in the more expensive halls in first year had a bit of a shock when they went house hunting!

I think it helped that, in our block of flats at least, most of us had been on a gap year. Months of living in hostels in various parts of the world meant any uni accommodation was always going to be just fine!