Costs of student accommodation

[ColouringPencils]

Just idly looking at university websites after GCSE-age DD was encouraged to look at Oxbridge in latest parent's eve. It's about £800 a month for accommodation in Oxford. I was so shocked! We live in the North and that is more than I've ever paid to rent a whole flat or for my current mortgage on a house. How do students afford this - is it usually parents paying rather than coming out of their student loan? Is there an easy way to compare living costs of universities or do you have to go through them one by one? I understand there are bursaries/ scholarships if your parental income is below a certain threshold, but with 2 parents working full-time we would not be eligible for that.

Thanks!

[quote ColouringPencils]@Thelastbattle sorry might not have been clear by teenagers I meant kids still at school. Eg, when I was doing GCSEs everyone had some sort of Saturday job. That isn't the case here at all now. I would assume (hope!) the jobs are still there for for 18+.[/quote]
Sorry my comment above (apart from the gap year one) was from age 14...

My D1 is at Oxford. The cost of accommodation varies a bit between colleges, here's a link: www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/do-I-pay-to-live-in-my-college but is generally cheap compared to other universities due to the short terms as pp have said.

The downside of this is that rooms have to be completely cleared even in the short vacs as they are used for conferences and (previously, although these have been online for the last two years) interviews in December. You can pay for an extra few days, the vac res rate is about £22 per night.

Colleges have varying amounts of storage space available - D1's offers this just to international students. Not all colleges offer accommodation for the full three years and some students choose to live out in the second year anyway. D1 is currently living out in her second year in a shared house, her rent is nearly £600pm plus bills on an 11 month contract.

Oxford offers generous bursaries and travel allowances (£500 pa if you live >150 miles from Oxford), www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/oxford-support

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/crankstart/prospective-students plus colleges and departments have various grants - eg book grants -available. They are extremely keen that no student should be disadvantaged due to financial constraints.

The huge volume of academic work means it is impossible to have a part time job during term time.

We had a savings account for both DDs since they were babies which was specifically to help with university costs/driving lessons/house deposits. D1 has not had to dip into this yet.

Don't forget at most universities, most students move out to private rentals for 2/3 years. These usually have 12 month contracts. For my DS the cost of these has been higher than his student halls were in first year. He is in Bristol where the student rental market is very expensive.

He only gets the minimum student loan, so we pay his accommodation and he lives off the loan.

Has it really gone up though?

I remember it was £800 a term for my halls accommodation. Just before parents had been paying £1000 a term for private school.

Now the same private school costs £4350 a term. Rent of £800 a month is less than this.

I really don't think the price has gone up. It's about what it was, if not cheaper?

DD1 was at Oxford, pretty cheap. Maintenance loan covered accommodation and we just gave her a monthly allowance to cover food and extras, and also paid for ball tickets (not compulsory of course, but nice to do).

DD2 at Exeter as @Moominmammacat says upthread, very expensive. On a par with London, and without the extra maintenance that is available for London. With minimum loan, we pay an extra £1.5k per term for accommodation, plus monthly allowance for food and extras. Her next year's rent is even more..... she will be dipping into her savings for that, as they went for something very nice.

I have 2 DC at uni. 1 is at Cambridge, now in private rental as she's studying for a PhD but was offered college accommodation. In her college, each room has a locked cupboard where you can leave things like crockery, pans, duvet etc during the Christmas and Easter breaks. That meant that I could do 2 pickups on the same day as it all fitted in the car. When she went to uni and for the first 3 years, DH was on NMW trying to get a business off the ground. DDs both got almost full loans which we topped up £100 pm. DD1 at Cambridge also qualified for a Cambridge bursary which pretty much covered her accommodation. However, neither DD has wanted to live in catered accommodation. They have saved a considerable amount by being imaginative and competent in the kitchen.

DD2 is at a uni in the Midlands although is on a gap year, supposedly abroad but is actually back home with us and registered at a uni in Japan. She was in a uni flat until Christmas which cost around £110 per week. She self catered and spent less than £20 per week on food.

Both DDs had weekend jobs from the age of 16. We live in a tourist area so they worked in an ice cream shop doing around 4 hours per week, but in holidays they did as many shifts of 4 - 5 hours as they wanted to. When schoolwork got heavy or there were mocks, the shop was shut for the winter, so it worked well for them.

In short, halls are expensive. Self-catering is normally a cheaper option, especially if you have commitments that run across mealtimes - mine both sing so often have services or rehearsals. Back in the late 1980s, in a northern uni which is now RG, I paid £16.93 pw to live in a 3 bed back to back terraced house. It was a bit grim but gave me the full student experience.

@CoastalWave just because the private school costs have also increased, it doesn't mean that the uni accommodation costs haven't. Most people in the country are not moving from private school to university. I guess for me, it is probably because I am living in one of the cheapest places in the country, but considering student accommodation costs nationally. So, here I could rent a 3-bed house in my area for 800pcm, when we are talking about a single room in a halls of residence for the same cost (possibly with bills and meals thrown in). My mortgage on a 3-bed house is about 400pcm. So it is quite a lot to think you might be paying the equivalent of two more mortgages (or four if it is both DC!) each month.

If you have 2 or 3 children who may choose same uni it is far cheaper to buy a property, give your child a room and let other rooms to other students. When 1st child graduates second child takes over room. I had a colleague who did that and it was far cheaper than renting, the girls shared with friends so also got cheaper costs and after 7 years when second child graduated he sold house and made a tidy profit which was used to pay off his dad's student loans.

@ColouringPencils

I worked from when I was 14, but don't see that being the case around here any more. There aren't supermarket/ corner shop/ waiting jobs for teenagers. I guess too many adults need those jobs? No teenager I know has a job.

Employment laws are much stricter these days as well. So the big supermarket chains and other large companies wouldn't want to fall foul of the law.

There are jobs, but they are more likely to be small companies, cafes, paper rounds etc and cash in hand jobs. Saturday jobs aren't as prevalent these days - so many retailers have gone bust or are online only. Also most of them offer zero hours contracts and want total flexibility rather than fixed hours.

@caringcarer yeah I could see that in theory. Worth thinking about! The major downside is that it would dictate where DC2 studied - and he wouldn't like that! - but also to a degree who they lived with. Also, the house dynamics... Don't think my kids would want their parents as their friends' landlords.

Edinburgh very expensive after halls as landlords can make more through Airbnb type arrangements. DD is paying £600 per month, rent only, other bills on top - for a rather grotty flat of 5. Tiny living kitchen as the actually living room is another bedroom. They have to move out completely during the summer as demand and rents during the Fringe are phenomenal; landlords want this income too.

The bonus is lots and lots of part time work in hospitality and good 'tourist' tips.

Just had a look at Ds's spreadsheet for accommodation costs (goodness that boy was organised) so he had offers from Warwick and Manchester.

Warwick varied from top costing en-suite at £7892 per year lowest en-suite £6058, then for shared bathrooms £5480 down to lowest of £3840. All of that was self catered.

Manchester lowest was £4387 self catered up to highest of £6724 for catered.

Some "catered" is not fully catered though so you have to look at the accommodation to see whether they get 3 meals a day or weekdays only.

I do think parents should be told about costs for uni from at least year 9. Tell them the costs of accommodation from a few different universities, the expected parental contribution and the cost to the student when they graduate. Laid out in black and white so that they can start saving or planning. Martin Lewis does a great video to sixth formers explaining the paying it back bit.

Mine didn't get jobs til their gap year. One was in a communications company call centre... she earned a very good full time wage. Above minimum, and she learned a lot and grew up quick

The other benefited from covid (someone had to..) and got a job as an exam invigilator and reprographics cover (covering staff who were ECV and shielded during covid) in her old school... again, good money, and an interesting job.

I do think parents should be told about costs for uni from at least year 9. Tell them the costs of accommodation from a few different universities, the expected parental contribution and the cost to the student when they graduate. Laid out in black and white so that they can start saving or planning.

I always point this out on threads when parents of several young children discuss wanting to expand their family. I don't think they realise that teenagers and students are expensive.

[quote ColouringPencils]@CoastalWave just because the private school costs have also increased, it doesn't mean that the uni accommodation costs haven't. Most people in the country are not moving from private school to university. I guess for me, it is probably because I am living in one of the cheapest places in the country, but considering student accommodation costs nationally. So, here I could rent a 3-bed house in my area for 800pcm, when we are talking about a single room in a halls of residence for the same cost (possibly with bills and meals thrown in). My mortgage on a 3-bed house is about 400pcm. So it is quite a lot to think you might be paying the equivalent of two more mortgages (or four if it is both DC!) each month.[/quote]
I agree Private schools fees are hardly a typical expense outside of MN but if you compare other things from 20 years ago inflation has obviously been there.
You say rent for a 3 bed in your area is £800. You then need to add about £400 on to that for bills = £1200.
Divide that then by 3 = £400
My daughter's halls in first year (last year) were £95pw, (of course only for 40 weeks of the year). For that they also had a cleaner in once a week.
It's not that different.

Of course, if your young person chooses to go to University in London, Bristol, or one of the other expensive places, then it will cost more. Just the same as if you, or I or anyone else moves to Bristol and tries to rent there as a working person - it will be more than where you live.

Re costs over the years, they have shot up since I went - although that was a very long time ago!

DS is at Bath, which is where I also went. I came across my leaflet for accommodation costs in the 1980s, and compared the identical accommodation to his. As a percentage of the full student grant/loan, mine only took about 30% of the grant. By contrast, DS's was about 60% of the full loan!

@Kite22 £95pw is quite reassuring, but that is around £412pcm, not the £800pcm that I was shocked about.

But aren't all Oxford colleges catered?
I have to say it isn't something I have looked into, but just the impression I have got. Including formal dinners?

No, they're not. DD can live in for 2 years, but even then she's in a College house for a year. In theory she can eat in each day, but at around £7.50 for dinner it's cheaper to cook for herself and just pay a fixed kitchen fee. Breakfast, brunch & lunch re PAYG. Formals are not a given. Places are allocated on a first come first served basis, but it's still the same charge for 3 courses as it is for originally Hall dinner. She could live in for 24 weeks or extend her lease to 39 weeks and come & go as she pleases during holidays.

Thanks @HewasH2O As I say, not something I've ever needed to look into

So would it be typical for Oxford Halls to charge £800 a moth for self catered ?

I think her daily rate is £30 including dinner.

I got my numbers from the Guardian, but this gives more info. Accommodation range is £645-810, not including food. Estimated total costs are between £1215-£1755 per month. That upper figure is pretty close to my take home pay for a full time job on £30k pa. www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/fees-and-funding/living-costs

Although that page does seem to be about 'graduate students', which I assume means postgraduate? Maybe costs are different for undergrad

DD costs (C) are around £1200 for 10 weeks. Food is not included but is around £3.50 for a meal at her college. Formals are around £7-£10 but she only went about 3 times last term. She cooks for herself about 4 nights a week. It does sound as though C is cheaper than O because her college is reported to be one of the more expensive ones. She will live in college accommodation every year (prices vary and she is currently in the second cheapest). She could have breakfast and lunch in the college but she's never had lunch and only sometimes breakfast (£2.90) at the weekend.

I put the Oxford undergraduate accommodation information page upthread.

At my D's college, I think it's about £1.5k per term, food was PAYG (subsidised in hall) and they also had a shared kitchen.