Unis that are catered

[Shinynewname14]

DS is a lazy bugger who cba to cook in his first year at uni - says he’ll struggle organising himself to keep up with the course, let alone cook and shop. So he wants to apply to unis where being catered is the norm for freshers, rather than the exception. He says Nottingham is like this but can’t think of any others. Can anyone help pls?

York has some catered colleges.

Durham has catering, I think,

Birmingham, Bath and Aberystwyth, amongst others have a meal plan type thing.

Majority of colleges at Durham are catered, but self catering colleges and mixed catering also exist.

I notice Warwick doesn’t provide any catered accommodation.

He’s obviously too lazy to have actually investigated any universities! I’d be surprised if there’s a single one that doesn’t offer a variety of catering options - and students can usually express a preference for the type of accommodation they want.

It’s honestly the least important criterion for choosing a university. Do you think he’s quite mature enough to be considering a degree in the near future? (Truly, not being mean.)

Most universities nowadays are self catering as it goes.

RHUL has some, although more limited at weekends. Edinburgh has at Pollock halls.

Bristol seems very geared up for catered accommodation.

Manchester has some catered halls

All the halls on campus at Nottingham are catered.

I don't know of any other uni's like that so you'd have to hope he got catered halls if that's what he wants.

Exeter have a range of catered and non-catered halls

I agree that this is hardly a great way to choose a uni.

Also he should look himself! Yy Nottjnghsm on campus halls are all catered.

Loughborough has a good number of catered halls too and they are less popular so easier to get a place.

AFAIK Newcastle, Warwick, Sheffield I think are all SC.

York offers catered I think, as does my alma mater Bristol, and yy Brum.

Some of these will be meal plan where you eat in a cafe style place with anyone; others (lboro) will have meals in the hall at certain times.

Bear in mind that this is an expensive choice - catered hall fees can be as much as £8-9k which is most of a full loan, where SC can be as cheap as £4k.

Loughborough as well.

I think all Unis have some form of catered accommodation- certainly all those my children have looked at incl. Durham, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol but I assume they all do.

Don’t most universities have at least one catered hall?

They really don't!

Your son is too bloody lazy to find which universities have halls of residence offering all meals. I'm not going to pander to the lazy git by providing the info. Neither should his mother.

With an attitude like that, the chances of him passing exams well enough to get in to any university are minimal.

Most Oxford and Cambridge colleges have a subsidised canteen so your DS can almost be full catered if he wishes.

Yep it's tough with his 9 hours of lectures a week to find the time to prepare some food!

Does he have access to Google?!

Don't know why people need to queue up to have a pop. If I know something, I'm happy to share that info, even to lazy people.

He may need to readjust expectations

I have experience of Nottingham “catered” hall:

Breakfast served in a very limited time window when no self respecting student is awake. Therefore cereal in the room (they get a mini fridge) is the norm. No breakfast on a Saturday, brunch on a Sunday which tbf is quite popular

Lunch is via a prepaid card which is loaded remotely every week with an allowance of £5 ish, about enough for a sandwich and coffee on campus. Unspent money on the card cannot be saved up - it’s wiped and reloaded every week.

Dinner served at a ridiculously early hour which either clashes with late lectures/seminars, sports practice or other extra curricular commitments so rarely taken and/or leaving student hungry later in the evening so they go out / get delivery anyway

Standard of food dire - many ready meals / noodles prepared in tiny kitchenettes on the corridor

No dinner at weekends

occasional black tie dinners, quite popular with the rahs

DC thought the very high cost of this hall was totally not worth it as you ended up spending lots on snacks, breakfast and dinner anyway on top.

Birmingham better as it’s all done via a meal card so much more variety available at a time of student choosing.

NB they will have to feed themselves when they go off campus!!

Southampton uni have catered halls - Connaught Halls

St Andrews has several fully catered halls and I think there's the option to go catered in the self catered halls too as they have cafeterias.
DS2 actually liked the food, especially the cooked breakfasts, but he happily ate school dinners when younger. He even got a wee job in his hall kitchen which was quite handy

Newcastle University's Castle Leazes Halls are still self-catered I believe. I've heard some students compare it to boarding school ...

My dd did catered halls at Nottingham for her first year but she hated the food so much she hardly ever ate it and basically ended up spending loads on take aways and ready meals. She said she wished she’d just gone self catered as it would have been so much cheaper.

I do feel mean - but my point is that it’s just 3 terms, whereas the degree will be on his CV and forming the background to his adult self forever. It’s not a good thing to care too much about, in the absence of genuine need.

Exactly my DC experience - although felt the benefit of being on campus marginally outweighed the food issue