Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Your kid who has finished their first year at university: do they have to bring all their stuff home?

62 replies

Doorkeeper · 13/06/2021 00:05

DS has just finished his first year at university. He was in university accommodation, and - as seems to be standard - he's renting a house with some other students for year two.

The house they've put a deposit on and signed a contract with had said they could store their stuff there over the summer, but has now reneged on that because they are renovating - and it wasn't in the contract. The university says they have no space at all for students to store stuff.

How do they expect this to work? I don't have a car. He's accumulated a duvet and other bedding, crockery, pots and pans, a toaster, etc. He can't bring it back on the train!

It seems nuts for students to ferry massive amounts of household items back and forth every year. What do your kids do?

OP posts:
RampantIvy · 13/06/2021 00:07

They bring it back home or find a local company to store it for them. They can't leave it in halls.

KrakowDawn · 13/06/2021 00:11

Those of us whose parents don't drive have to lug it all on the train, yes. We'll, actually the coach, as trains were beyond my budget. It's a huge hassle.
Does he have any other friends/course mates that could put his basics in their (not-being-renovated) house over summer?

Etulosba · 13/06/2021 00:13

Store it at somebody else’s house or get a friend with a car to bring it home.

ManxRhyme · 13/06/2021 00:13

Get all the housemates to pool together and rent storage for the summer. That's what we all did. The smallest unit could fit everything for our house of 6.

Etulosba · 13/06/2021 00:15

It seems nuts for students to ferry massive amounts of household items back and forth every year

That’s the way it has always been.

poorfanjo · 13/06/2021 00:16

What do you think he can do? Leave it in his halls which will be rented out for summer to post grads or anyone else.. no doubt you'd be upset if the people staying there used his stuff of course he needs to bring it home!! He'll have to
Bring it home.

HunkyPunk · 13/06/2021 00:17

Exactly that - they/parents ferry their stuff to and fro at the end of each year unless they're lucky enough to be able to do what you thought your ds was going to be able to, but I wouldn't say that's common. It's a massive pain in the backside. I've spent years doing this with a car packed to the roof! If he can't find anyone to keep stuff for him over summer, could you afford storage?

poorfanjo · 13/06/2021 00:17

Maybe he could contact his landlord for next year and ask if he can use the house as storage but he'd most likely be expected to pay rent for storage or there will be people living there til September Hmm

Original poster
Doorkeeper · 13/06/2021 00:28

He hasn't met anyone this year apart from the four people he's been sharing with - and of course they are all in the same boat - so he doesn't have anyone else he could ask for storage in the city. Two of the four he shares with are from overseas, I don't know what they are doing for summer, and the other two will have parents driving in the wrong direction.

The landlord has already said no (after first saying, yes, no problem - until after they signed the contract) because the house is being renovated.

There is some small private storage lockers in the city, but it's absolutely extortionate, beyond budget.

Argh. It may be the usual thing - I had no idea, I didn't go to university until I was 30, and so wasn't living in halls as in my own city - but it's a deeply stupid system. I honestly think he's going to have to give away half the stuff on freegle or something, and buy it again next year. This may well honestly be cheaper than storage.

OP posts:
daisypond · 13/06/2021 00:33

Can you go and meet him on the train/coach and you all bring stuff back? Or can he make a couple of trips? We don’t have a car either. Mine tended to sell some stuff at the end of the year.

MotherofTerriers · 13/06/2021 00:46

There are companies which will transport students belongings hone and back at the end and beginning of terms. I didn’t discover this until dds last term, after a lot of driving backwards and forwards

FactsAndFigs · 13/06/2021 01:02

Cheap storage rental unit. Similar happened with DD it work out cheaper to put it in storage rental unit that get van to bring it all back. DD Uni was over 4hrs away. Think paid about £12 a month.

FactsAndFigs · 13/06/2021 01:08

There should be storage units nearby Uni. DD was secure it had security. It goes on pallet gets wrapped and put into container, if we needed access to stuff DD could go during opening times with ID & they would get ur pallet out. DD didn’t need to.

AlwaysLatte · 13/06/2021 01:13

We ferried it back to ours several times with my SSs. Could you hire a car? Or enlist the help of an Auntie/Uncle/close friend?

callmemaybee · 13/06/2021 01:14

You sound pretty entitled

Students or not, at the end of your tenancy agreement you have to return your rented property back in the same condition it came in. That means “duvet and other bedding, crockery, pots and pans, a toaster” and whatever else you brought in, has to be removed

If you want storage for that stuff YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. it’s not free - why do you think it’s any different for students?

Most students have parents that would help them out here btw, why are you expecting the university to hold student’s stuff for free just because you can’t drive? It doesn’t magically become the university’s responsibility to store their stuff over summer.

redtshirt50 · 13/06/2021 01:15

This is very normal - storage units as others have said, or maybe one of his uni/home friends has a car and he can pay them to drive him around for a day?

denverRegina · 13/06/2021 01:17

"it's a deeply stupid system"

It's not. When you move out of somewhere, so do your belongings.

Can someone else collect him?

AZisgreat · 13/06/2021 01:21

If it makes you feel any better, when moving into private rented from halls, it is not unusual for students to have to take on the following year's rental over the summer. At least you are getting the summer rent-free.
Have you googled storage companies? It is probably not as expensive as you fear - there are some mini versions where they bring a contraption to you, you load it and then they take it away and store it for you.

ZealAndArdour · 13/06/2021 02:48

Could he post things to your house? Grin

Blondie1984 · 13/06/2021 02:54

Hire a car ...

sashh · 13/06/2021 03:21

This is why there are storage units, lots do deals for students.

I honestly think he's going to have to give away half the stuff on freegle or something, and buy it again next year. This may well honestly be cheaper than storage.

He could ask on freegle for storage, obviously there is a risk in putting your stuff in a strangers spare room / cupboard but if you can't / won't pay storage you don't have many options.

FactsAndFigs · 13/06/2021 05:27

Another alternative if you don’t want to put it in storage (it really isn’t that expensive) DD used sendmybag (website) when finally came home for good packed stuff in boxes - again cheaper than removals due to distance. Also used it to ship suitcase back and forth we home during breaks as saved dragging on all trains

ApolloandDaphne · 13/06/2021 06:05

It's normal. DD2 was a uni 360 miles away from us so she put all her things in storage which we paid for. It worked out fine.

Mumdiva99 · 13/06/2021 06:10

Do you know someone with a car that xan go and get a load of stuff from him?

cariadlet · 13/06/2021 06:17

To echo pp, this is perfectly normal. I had to clear my stuff out when I was at uni way back in the 80s.

Swipe left for the next trending thread