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?

Newcastle has one catered hall, Castle Leazes, have never heard it described as like boarding school (pp) but like most universities also has loads of cafes and coffee shops around campus with various meal options.

Oxford - it depends on the college, they're all a bit different. At D1's college, they load credit onto their Bod cards and meals in hall are PAYG rather than a catered package. They also have shared kitchens.

Entirely depends on which course he chooses obviously! DS will getting much more than 9 hours.

My DN is catered at St Andrews and hates tte food. Complete waste of money its all stodge and carbs. Its not at all like the planned menu on their website.

Exactly this. And if you do a lot of sport, like my DS does, that eats into free time to cook even more.

My eldest is in self catered and would hate catered with a passion. My dd however is applying to catered - she feels that having to buy / cook / plan would increase her anxiety (she suffers from anxiety) and knowing that she doesn’t have to worry about this really appeals to her and takes the pressure off somewhat. (And the colleges will provide packed lunches if you’re not going to be in).

Castle Leazes has catered and self catered options. DD had friends who were in catered there. The food was awful and served at set times which were a PITA if you had a late lecture or involved in sport or any other activity that occurred in the early evening.

It does seem to attract more privately educated students than the other halls, and maybe some of them did go to boarding school.

@Shinynewname14 I would look very carefully at what "catered" actually includes as many catered options don't include weekends, many students don't bother getting up in time for breakfast and often the food is awful and repetitive. It does seem to represent poor value for money unless it is Oxbridge.

@Shinynewname14
DD loved catered. Wills at Bristol has an old fashioned dining hall. She didn’t want to cook either. She’s not lazy but was not fussy about food after boarding. The food is not wonderful and it’s not all meals but it’s good enough. Plus it’s sociable. She didn’t dine alone. She did 3 further years of self catering but preferred to get used to uni in y1. It’s just a preference. Lots of her friends did catered elsewhere. So choose the courses, unis and explore the catered options. Ignore the nasty comments on here.

DD is currently in Wills at Bristol and loves it. Yes the food isn't amazing but it's there.
I take a different view now having known lots who started uni this year. One of the hardest things was adjusting to being so independent.
Being in catered halls has taken the stress element of eating out of the whole organisation of their life. By the second year they can embrace self catering, but in the first year it means that all uni work gets completed, laundry is completed etc.
Plus with cost of living as it is, it's probably better for their budget

Thanks @Piggywaspushed - same here! Some great recommendations on here - liking the look of Bristol and York (on campus west). Durham college allocation just too random for us - DD got the college she’d ranked 14th so turned them down. Newcastle is now self-catered only (Castle Leazes used to be catered) as is Leicester - seems they stopped the catered option very recently too. As @Piggywaspushed says, catered options are dying out fast

@TizerorFizz @NCTDN DS really likes look of Bristol. How difficult is it to get the catered accommodation though - must be popular?

Most universities offer a meal plan, you use your credit in the hall catering outlets, shop or on campus, only a few have boarding school style canteens now (does he really want a choice or 2 or 3 mains? It was pretty poor when I went 30 years ago!)

Oh and even if they have them, he might not get allocated them. Dd chose catered in Southampton but got self catering

A friend went to Swansea and stayed in catered Hal's

@Shinynewname14 no idea really about Bristol now, but when I was there the catered halls were not popular bc they were a bit if a way out from the uni. May be a different story now.

As I said, catered us deffo not popular at lboro - ds is there and when he struggled to sort his accom he was told he would be allocated somewhere and it would almost certainly be catered as that was less sought after.

Thing is with catered is that it costs a lot and leaves very little room to budget (by eating cheaper food I mean). And that’s if you don’t end up buying other food bc you missed dinner.

If you get a full loan with no parental help or if, like ds, you get a large-ish loan your parents will just top up to the max, catered accom is probably out of your budget. Sc hall at £4k plus 35 weeks at (say) £35 fir food is a lot less than catered hall for £8k.

Newcastle is now self-catered only (Castle Leazes used to be catered)

Oh, I didn't know that. TBH the food was awful anyway.

It's interesting that students who were ex boarders didn't mind being in catered halls.

DD would have hated that. She is vegetarian and an excellent cook. Eat indifferent food was not an option for her.

@clary this is very useful to know. Thanks. This thread has made me question DS’s preference for catered halls (inconvenient times, lack of choice) so I will discuss with him properly. Unis with meal plans sound more promising (although not as social)

DD only put catered choices but was really lucky and got her first choice. You get to choose 9, although they do say 1 in 5 might not get any of their choices.
It's social mealtimes (although dd says breakfast is a very quiet affair but she is so grumpy first thing no one would be brave enough to speak to her but I do think going to evening meals together has helped them bond. There's no lunch option though and Bert basic facilities in the shaded kitchens if catered.
If they are not around for mealtimes because of clubs etc, they can go as soon as they serve and get a Tupperware to reheat later, gets friend to take one for them or get meals plated up if they give advance notice.

Grrr when I'm using the app and adding a quote, I can't see what I've typed! Hope that all made sense.

DC in catered at York - traditional set up within each college, so aside from not having to cook Mon-Fri, it's a social event which helps everyone to gel in the first few weeks.

I'm disappointed that people seem to think that self catered isn't sociable. DD used to cook with some of her flatmates in her flat and in the flat opposite. She also used to go to shared meals with some of her housemates where everyone contributed something.

She would have found it far more daunting going to a dining hall on her own.

Perhaps inform yourself before rushing to criticise my DS. Very, very few universities have catered halls nowadays. Some have Meal Plans but they are far outnumbered by self-catered unis. Utterly wrong on every level

Not sure that is the case. All mine applied for SC due to budget and also being more than capable of shopping and feeding themselves. The self catered choices on York west campus are limited and they were allocated their second choice and it worked out well for them. The ones in SC had just as sociable a time, even in spite of Covid.

Sekf catering can be awful if students eat in their rooms. Plenty do. Eating as a large group is sociable. Suits some. Not others. But posters saying catered students are lazy is ridiculous. You spend many many years cooking! A year at uni not doing it is fine.

DD was insurance at Bristol and just allocated it. Shared room and it was cheap. Also not everyone is on a tiny budget.

Are shared rooms a thing at Bristol @TizerorFizz? Ds not fussed about en-suite but don’t think he’d like to share…. Also, is the catered accommodation way out as PP suggested?

@Shinynewname14 No! As DD was insurance they gave her a room no one wanted! The other girl had to walk through DD’s room to get to hers! Yes: Bizarre. DD was ok with it but there was no choice. She was lucky to get anything. However if you don’t want en suite, it’s not ridiculously expensive. There are also two areas of Wills Hall. Old quad and newer accommodation. I would look at the other catered hall options too. Churchill is another one.