Do universities bounce students into decisions by only allowing 'firm' offer holders to book accommodation?

[naomichange]

DS has 4 offers - Durham, UCL, Warwick, Nottingham. He has told me that he doesn't need/want to decide between them until early June. This is partly because he is struggling with the decision (he will be talking to someone at school about this), but also because he has applied for a sports scholarship at one of them, and won't know if he's got it until the end of May. (The others don't open their sport scholarship processes until later in the year).

In the meantime, Nottingham is opening its accommodation bookings process from early April. I haven't yet checked when the others open their bookings - there is so much marketing material on university websites its sometimes difficult to look things up quickly and get a straight answer. But in general, if he waits until to the last minute to decide on his firm and insurance choices, will he miss out on the best accommodation?

Pretty much, as I look at it it's like tickets for the cinema, soon as they are released if you know exactly what you want, you get the best, as soon as possible.

Some universities guarantee accommodation for all 1st years &/or don’t operate a first come first served system. You would have to check with each of your dc’s offers to see how they operate (obviously you already know the answer for Notts!)

You need to check how they allocate as some open applications now for those who have firmed (or insured) but don't actually allocate until they have a firm unconditional and only allocate proportionally to number of firm unconditionals so you have a reasonable chance of good accommodation. However check the details as even then there can be advantages of applying earlier eg they might allocate everyone who becomes unconditional firm on the same date eg A Levels results day in the order they applied.

Yes, he will probably miss out on the best accommodation.

This isn't some Machiavellian plot on the part of the university though - it's because most of them barely have enough accommodation to get all first years into halls, so they can't offer rooms to people who might not come.

Many top unis have still not given out a majority of offers,Edinburgh,Durham,St Andrews,various London etc,so if any of the unis that are pushing accommodation are doing it on a first come first served basis,then its hard to see it as anything but an attempt to bounce students into firming..
A list of unis offering first come first served would be interesting to see my guess is it would be mainly bottom of tier 2 unis or the less competitive RG ones..

The decision deadline for universities for all on-time applicants is 19th May.

UCL:
Deadline 31 May.

Accommodation offers will be sent outJuly / Septemberin the year of study.Not all allocations will be generated at once and due to the current situation there is a slight delay in offers being sent out, so we kindly ask you to bear with us and be patient.

Durham - system is detailed on the website re expressing preferences for a college and their allocation. Not a 'direct book' system.

Warwick - From the 2022_2023 brochure:

1. Accept your offer of study from Warwick (conditional or unconditional) 2. Check our website to find out when applications for accommodation are open
2. Submit your application online by 24th August 2022
3. In most circumstances we will email you after A level results are released with more information about your accommodation.

(i.e. After the applicant's Conditional Firm offer becomes Unconditional Firm).

Nottingham- opens 4th August, deadline for guarantee of accommodation 13th June. Express 3 preferences, requests processed in order of date received.

Nottingham appears to be the real risk of those four, but not so much if they are being relatively slow (given another 2 months to the UCAS deadline) generally.

(Had a nose around the websites as a displacement activity- putting off getting out in the garden and getting on with sorting out a collapsed shed).

Is UoN generally thought of as a Cinderella of the RG, btw?

Interesting. My dd applied for courses that required an interview. One of which was not scheduled until the end of April.

Her preferred uni opened accommodation on 1 March. She very much wanted a certain accommodation. What I understand is she had to wait for all her applications to have offers on before she could firm anything. At 1 March only her preferred interview had taken place.

So without consulting anyone she withdrew ALL her applications except this favourite and firmed that rather than wait til end April when the best accommodation would be gone.

So she has no insurance place. I think she'll do well at her chosen career as she's done lots of volunteering- but she's not the most academic. The place she's formed had by far the highest entry requirements. It's v high risk!

There is more than one Cinderella,the most obvious are QMU and Queens but Notts isnt exactly at the top..

Should have added Newcastle to the obvious ..Dont know anyone that gave as the main reason for applying to it..Academic Standards.,known as Party Central at school..

@nolanscrack

Many top unis have still not given out a majority of offers,Edinburgh,Durham,St Andrews,various London etc,so if any of the unis that are pushing accommodation are doing it on a first come first served basis,then its hard to see it as anything but an attempt to bounce students into firming.. A list of unis offering first come first served would be interesting to see my guess is it would be mainly bottom of tier 2 unis or the less competitive RG ones..

A relative of mine was offered Bristol -which is pretty prestigious- but would only guarantee accommodation if they put it first. They were so worried about not getting accommodation, they put Cambridge second, in case they didn’t get the grades. In the end, they did get the grades for Cambridge, but still went to Bristol. This was a few years ago, but I think it was a shame.

@nolanscrack

It tends to be the universities with less housing that push for early acceptance. Mostly expensive locations.

In cheaper locations it's easy to get accommodation at shorter notice eg my dd booked hers in July when she went through clearing (with grades) and she got a choice of baby private sector options as well as a ballot for university owned that happened on 1st August

@nolanscrack

There is more than one Cinderella,the most obvious are QMU and Queens but Notts isnt exactly at the top..

It went down the league tables when it expanded, because its offer grade boundaries went down in order to fill all the places. Doesn't make it any less good, except in the eyes of league table purists. It's brilliant for sport.

If you expand and have to lower grade boundaries to fill those places,then yes that rather obviously makes it less good in I imagine most peoples eyes,not just "league table purists"(whatever they are..)
Im delighted its brilliant for sport,personally id rather go to a University that was brilliant at academics..

From what I can tell it is certainly a minority that do a first come, first served approach. Notts seems to be a key one for this. I’d say an outlier, but I’ve not looked at enough places to say that confidently!

I think students (understandably) get very hung up on wanting the ‘best’ accommodation, but if you look through threads and WIWIKAU on FB, the vast majority of complaints about accommodation are about flatmates - they’re usually what make or break the experience, much more so than the actual accommodation you are in.

Also, for the most part, students are in accommodation for one year - you’re on the course for at least three. It’s more important to be sure about the course and the university as a whole, than peg it all on a particular halls.

Deadline is 9th June @MarchingFrogs

@titchy

Deadline is 9th June *@MarchingFrogs*

19th May is the deadline for the institution, which is earlier than the deadlines to apply for guaranteed accommodation at UCL, Warwick or Nottingham, giving, at the least, 12 days to decide which to firm and still be guaranteed a place in halls. (I didn't actually plough on through the Durham college selection/ allocation system details). Admittedly, for UCL you will have missed the boat if you don't want to decide by May 31st, or if you are still waiting for a decision from a university which accepted a late application, but hasn't decided yet whether to offer, I suppose.

( Thu 19 May 2022 - 18:00
If you applied by 26 January (18:00 UK time) and you’re still awaiting a decision from one of your choices, unis/colleges have until today to decide whether they’re making you an offer.
Any choices outstanding after this will be made unsuccessful.

Thu 9 June 2022

If you receive all your uni/college decisions by 19May,you must reply to any offers by today (except if you are using Extra to find a place), otherwisethey’ll be declined.

These reply deadlines are based on when you get the last decision from your university or college choices. Sign in to your applicationto see your personal deadline.

www.ucas.com/ucas/events/find/scheme/undergraduate/type/key-date )

Not all Unis work on a "first come first served" basis. Some make it clear that they don't prioritise choices etc based on application date - it's all done after the closing date has passed, so students who apply later have the same chances of getting their chosen accommodation as those who applied sooner.

So whether he misses out on choices by firming his offers will depend on each Uni. For some it will, for others it won't. Each Uni should have their accommodation application/allocation process outlined on their website, but if they don't, you could email them to ask for confirmation.

Most universities offer accommodation to applicants who make a firm acceptance of the offer of a place.

You can’t reasonably expect universities to offer accommodation to applicants who put them as an insurance choice.

To clarify UCL, (assuming it is the same as last year) the accommodation date in late May is the deadline to get the benefit of guaranteed accommodation to firmed offers. One can apply after that date and may well get something but there is no guarantee. As with many universities, you can’t choose individual buildings at UCL anyway, just rank types (or name intercollegiate halls)

Don’t let accommodation be too much of a tail wagging the dog though. It is just the first year But I agree it is an unnecessary extra complication.

Very few Universities work on a first come first served basis.
Nottingham is notorious for it and I would suggest that for every student that it panics into putting them as first choice early,, there are others that are put off the university by the daftness of this way of allocating accommodation.

Ultimately living in a room you wouldn't have chosen for 10 months is not at all important compared with the luck of being with great or terrible flatmates - which can happen in any accommodation. Nor is it important compared with everything else about the University.

I’ve been feeling the same, OP. DS applied to several long shot universities who are also (unbeknown to us at the time) notoriously slow at offering so he’s been sitting on a single offer from his 5th choice for about 5 months before two offers came along at once just this week. Meanwhile 5th choice uni is sending emails and marketing material about booking halls before they go and it is tempting to think “sod it, I’ll firm so at least I get a decent room”. Ds got an early rejection too and had no confidence that any of his other choices would come up so very much felt like he could end up at his last choice uni in scumsville halls a 2 hour bus journey away from campus. Or worse, St Shinealot’s Splindide Halls at £250 a week. When you are a bit skint it’s not just about not being in the room you haven’t chosen, you want to be able to afford the room you are allocated. Ds doesn’t have any other concerns such as medical need or access or wanting a quiet or alcohol free or en-suite or single sex so apart from a preference for self catering he basically wants not too far, not too expensive but if you do need somewhere particular then it’s even more pressured. That said I think it’s fair enough to have to scramble if you end up at your insurance because it would be unreasonable to hold rooms for people who are basically saying “I’ll come there if my real plans don’t work out”.

It would be fine only allowing “firm” offer holders to book, if they weren’t first come first served, and the bookings didn’t open until after the May deadline. Just no need to be pushing accommodation at people in January in the knowledge that other unis may not make them an offer until May.

Dd is at Bath. They do not do first come first served, but they do start allocating a little earlier for those with unconditional offers ... so those who already have their results... mature students/gap year etc

My dd who I spoke of earlier, firmed the offer at Liverpool JMU. Rather than wait til May for all her choices to come back. I'm pretty certain it's first come first served there - they do keep back some rooms for people yet to interview/ audition. In fact, she's been allocated, signed the paperwork, they have her bank details and her dad's details as guarantor.

Which seems quite nuts compared to other places (she's must first to go so to be honest I didn't know what to expect from the process).

It has focused her mind tho, which was needed!