What is studying in London really like?

[Tamar86]

DD is very keen on applying to university in London - UCL is her top choice (modern languages), and she also likes the look of Kings (European studies).

I’m concerned about:

The cost, especially in second and final year. Worried we might really struggle to afford accommodation. I know you get a slightly bigger loan in London, but worried it won’t be enough. We live several hours away, so commuting not an option.

The student experience - I’ve heard stories about most students commuting/living really spread out etc etc so it is hard to get to know people.

I actually did a 1 year masters at UCL myself. But I was older, already living with friends and able to commute in from a cheaper location, so slightly different. I didn’t need the social side of the uni, and I didn’t really get to know what it was like. Anyway, I expect things have changed in 20 years.

Not sure whether I should be fully supportive and enthusiastic, or the wet-blanket voice of reality.
It’s an expensive mistake if the experience turns out not to be so great in reality.

Dd also likes the look of Cardiff and Nottingham, which are much more affordable, and maybe offer a more standard tight-knit student experience. But of course UCL has more international prestige than either of them.

Planning a road trip in the summer to look at them all. London as a city is more exciting than Cardiff or Nottingham, let’s face it.
So it would be useful to have some up-to-date facts and personal experiences to discuss and weigh up.

My DS was not paying 1k per month without bills.

He is now living in Bethnal Green in a room in a shared house with bills included for about 900 a month.

@Needmoresleep I haven’t said anything about what we paid! Maybe you need to read what others have said a bit more closely! Such a nasty unwarranted comment yet again - it’s tiresome!

@Tamar86 As you can see I asked another poster what they considered to be expensive. I think we can all agree that £1000 a month with bills extra is expensive. When my dc went to uni it clearly was cheaper but that’s highly irrelevant so I didn’t say anything about them. Plus there is no evidence that MFL is better at UCL. None. I would honestly look elsewhere if you need to spend less.

I would be a bit careful about wanting Paris too. Again money could be an issue plus often the unis offered aren’t the best. DD went to Geneva for French. This might sound expensive but she got well priced uni accommodation and shopped in France. So it was fairly economical as long as you didn’t eat out!

Bristol doesn’t have a very vibrant SU but no one much seems bothered. Socialising is more in flats, halls and bars but if she wants a buzzy city life, it’s all there!

As I said, DD was extremely close to UCL campus for that money! But it was offset by having no transport costs, most of her socialising was done around central London anyway, all within walking distance for her.

I agree it's very expensive, and DD is fortunate to have a loan, her bursary and us parents to support her. But capital cities are pricey, no doubt about it.

Fortunately DD is really enjoying her course, really enjoying her year abroad. UCL was her first choice and she really wanted to be in London. And yes, she's made use of galleries, theatres and cinemas etc.

I think my DD was happy enough to do that in the holidays when all her friends came back to London. Luckily other cities have entertainment too. However as my dsis went to UCL for exactly the reasons you state, I can see the appeal but it wasn’t so expensive then!

@SalGoodwoman 150 pw is pretty standard in a lot of unis now (halls so 40w = £6k) so that was a really good deal fir London.

Otoh £1k pm (12mo probably so = £12k) just on rent is properly out of reach of the vast majority I would say. Even with no transport costs; the full London loan will barely cover it. And so many of our dc get min loan or not much more. I'm relieved that my dc chose cheaper places tbh. I've basically paid most of ds2's rent this year as my contribution and it's a lot less than half that. But deffo all I could afford to sub him.

In Cardiff, house of 6. £100-150 per week bills included. Depending on which room in the house you get!!

ypu can get cheaper slightly further out

You can check student rents around the country on sturents.com. I've found it really interesting, especially since we're likely to be paying the rent wherever DC end up.

I have been called out in this on MN before - there areSC halls at Nottingham but they are 10-15 min walk off campus - fine for sure but as it’s a campus four miles from the city, surely the point is to be on campus for the first year?

Well, they are on campus for lectures, library, gym, sports, some societies etc and then they go home to their off campus halls/flats nearby.

And it's an amazing city for student night life so a lot of socialising is done in the clubs and bars there.

It's a beautiful campus but you don't have to sleep there to get the full uni experience.

@SalGoodwoman - a couple of questions if you don't mind (DD 1st year MFL!) - is your DD receiving any financial help from her uni for her year abroad?

And was it time consuming/expensive getting the visa?

My daughter went to University of Westminster. She stayed in halls for the first year, on campus, but not in central London, but on the outskirts. After that she was fortunate to be able to stay with family for a while and then when she graduated she moved to a flat share where she remains. It's been a fantastic experience for her.

If you stay at home or with family and don’t pay rent for 2 years, it’s a huge bonus. Having said that, lots of London students do exactly the same. Others who have to find the rent do pay a lot more .

I would ask MFL departments about visas on Open Days. Many Y3 students do not work abroad now but I’m not sure what the visa requirements are for study.

UCL first year halls are definitely not £150pw. I think the cheaper ones are about £240

Yes @Revengeofthepangolins, we have looked at UCL halls in walking distance. Kings halls are all a distance away, so you’d need to budget for a travel pass.
There are a couple under £200, but lots are £300+ per week, many pushing £400 - and presumably you could end up being allocated an expensive one, even if you were hoping for a cheaper one!
We don’t have family in London who could take in a lodger, sadly.

We have budgeted on the basis of £170 pw max for accommodation in first year, term time only, plus £8 per day for food, so £56 per week. We have planned to have to top up the maintenance loan to cover this amount.

We already pay a monthly allowance for clothes, toiletries, books, stationery, phone etc and will continue to do so.
Travel costs hadn’t really been on my radar, though we do pay for them at the moment, we’ll need to consider those.

I am a bit shocked at the prices on the student rent website. They all seem rather high for just one room.

Dd remains sanguine, and the discussion of Bethnal Green has prompted her to add Queen Mary University in Mile End to her shortlist.
I must admit I had never heard of it, but it does seem to have quite a good modern languages syllabus.
It’s a possible compromise, as it isn’t so central, and accommodation is cheaper in the first year, but still allows her to be in London.
We will try and visit all three anyway.

Following with interest, as DS has Imperial as his first choice.

Your DD will be able to get a student oystercard, which will get her 30% off travelcards.

It might be worth her seeing how often she uses the tube etc for the first month or so, and then work out whether it is worth her while getting a travelcard or not.

tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/18-plus-student-oyster-photocard#on-this-page-0

Have you looked at the UCL and Kings websites to see if your DD qualifies for a bursary? The are based on household income. It’s also worth looking at the university websites for suggested living costs. You might want to look at the suggested budgets on other university websites too as some are more detailed than others or based on student surveys rather than market rental rates etc.

It’s also worth looking at where the off campus socialising takes place and popular areas to live in after the first year when choosing halls and looking at rental costs budgets. It used to be centred on Hammersmith for Imperial and Camden for UCL. It might be cheaper to live in Bethnal Green but if everyone is going out in Camden and that’s where all the house parties are, Ubers and tube fares will soon add up. It’s not ideal to be taking night buses and tubes alone.

Just to mention again DD uses the Santander bikes or some other company, not sure.
I dont know how much she pays for a year card, and I also have to say she doesn't mind cycling in the middle of the night...

The Santander bikes are part of TFL (Transport for London) along with the tube/buses/river buses/trams/overground. Also known as “Boris bikes” because BJ started the scheme when he was mayor. Santander is the current sponsor. There are several other private electric bike/scooter companies.

My daughter’s friends has signed a tenancy for her second year in London. Paying £290 a week. So so expensive.

@Tamar86 Queen Mary is RG but it’s not UCL or Kings. They are more of a local uni in many ways but not top rank for MFL.

I think DD needs to think what she’s going to do with her degree. What matters is the skills you get. Studying 2 MFLs is seen as more challenging. Studying literature is more challenging and gives skills that lead to employment. MFL grads will be competing with history, English, philosophy, classics, business grads and many more for jobs. Therefore doing the most you can to broaden skills is important.

DD was asked once what she enjoyed about her degree: the Year abroad! So what DD gets from the degree matters. What reputation the uni has does matter. If you are UCL type student, I wouldn’t look at QMUL just because it’s London and not look at others with better reputations. If you have never heard of it, I’m amazed, but it’s a bit clutching at straws to get the London experience it seems you cannot afford.

As for UCL students all being in Camden! Has anyone been to Camden recently or looked at rental prices? Many simply cannot afford Camden and will be in other areas with friends. It’s how London works.

Tizer your experience is probably more recent than mine, but do students now all live in Camden? DS was in Holborn very close to both UCL and LSE in an ex council flat, where they used the living room as a bedroom. Not luxurious, but they had London on their doorstep.

I am a landlord with a 2bed in Westminster coming available soon. I try to let to “yo-pros” as I know students may well over-occupy, but this is a smart block with some famous names as neighbours. Other landlords, especially those owning ex-council, expect to let to students. If three were living there it would be £900 pp, and this is based on a Foxtons valuation.

FWIW the new rental legislation which Labour can be expected to put in place even if the Tories run out of time, will set up a separate category for student lets, which should make students more attractive to landlords, as they can be fixed term (10/12 months) unlike standard leases where the ability to issue a S21 notice will disappear.

There are a couple of large UCL halls of residence in Camden but in the second year most people live out and not in Camden. I lived in Tottenham, for eg, and I know of students living off Caledonian Rd currently, so not that far out.

@Needmoresleep I would agree with @Changes17 you're probably looking more likely at areas like Tottenham or maybe Golders Green or Hendon.

For UCL, somewhere out in Zone 3 on the northern, piccadilly or victoria lines seems to be the compromise between cost and ease of access.

That’s interesting about a new category for student lets.

When I rented in London myself, we rented a whole house in Zone 4 (and as @Needmoresleep says, one of us took the living room) and it was pretty affordable sharing like that, but that was 25 years ago.

Most information I can find seems to be based on HMOs and renting a single room, and seems astronomical. So perhaps I need to look at costs for a whole house instead, which everyone would share between themselves. But then you are in trouble if someone leaves.
And the MFL year abroad complicates things, as you’re not on hand, you might have to take whatever you can get in your final year.

I think @TizerorFizz is probably correct, and Queen Mary is not worth it. And I honestly hadn’t heard of it. Or rather, I thought it was in Edinburgh, not London.

Not sure why people keep tagging me. I was simply disagreeing with Tizer's assumption that students rented in Camden.

Move further out, public transport is extremely good, or consider less attractive properties in central London: ex Council, above a shop, on a main road, use the living room as a bedroom and save money by walking and using campus facilities.

I am a fourth or fifth generation Londoner. I think it is a fabulous place to live. Masses to do, much of which is cheap or free.