Accommodation Costs

[mrsnjw]

My son will be looking to do a business type degree next year. We have just started to look at universities. He would like a campus based style uni. What am now working out is the costs of accommodation and how much it varies and what we can afford. He will get the minimal loan due to our income. Any advice around which unis are mega expensive to live at or really cheap? Obviously we will support as much as we can wherever he wants to study. Many thanks.

London is expensive :)

Many big cities are expensive (e.g. Bristol).

Northern universities tend to be cheaper (but not always).

Thishttps://www.savethestudent.org/accommodation/universities-students-pay-the-most-rent.html gives you an idea.

You also need to consider variation across a univerity - a self catered shared room will be cheaper than a catered room with ensuite, for example. Although in many cases, the student won't be able to guarantee they get a particular choice of accommodation.

Also worth factoring in rents beyond the 1st year - is it cheap and plentiful or is it sparse and expensive? Will living away from the university involve travelling costs?

So much to consider!

The factors driving accommodation costs include:

Prevailing land values in the locality; broadly higher as you go south (as always there are exceptions)

Amount and type of accommodation available to first years; note, of those unis that have expanded supply recently, often they focus on higher cost en suite units so budget options are in short supply

Availability of general housing stock for second and subsequent year students; this can be a particular issue in smaller cities where the uni student population is high relative to the local population eg Bath, Exeter, Durham, St Andrews

General dispersal or otherwise of student housing within the town or city, particularly if 'favoured' student areas are also high value areas eg parts of Bristol, Edinburgh

The expectations of students themselves; en suite units are clearly more expensive than units with shared toilets; less desirable, remote suburbs vs 'desirable' areas

Some very unfair traps also exist for those needing to work to a budget: First year accommodation is typically not guaranteed for those insuring or going through clearing, so you can be faced with only expensive options. In addition, some unis (eg U of Notts and U of York) effectively operate a 'firm early, get first dibs' policy (contrary to UCAS policy but unchecked), so, even if you do firm them but only closer to the June cut-off, you may be faced with the expensive scraps.

Also - uni accommodation includes electricity, water, WiFi etc.
Private rentals for yr2+ often doesn't.
Uni accommodation is usually from September through to mid June. Private rentals are usually for the whole 12 months, whether the student is living there for the summer or not. Deposits for Y2+ rentals are often needed to be paid around Christmas of Y1.

I would say that accommodation in most uni cities is in short supply and therefore expensive. Be prepared for the fact the student maintenance loan is paid in 3 tranches, which I believe is Oct, Jan and April. Rent is usually monthly and can run from Aug/ Sep - July even though students might not actually be there for all that time. Private renting is less expensive but the term can be 12 months again this means paying rent even though they are there mostly Oct- end of May. Deposit for 2nd year are often paid in Nov/ Dec as rentals get snapped up quite quickly.

Avoid London, Bristol, Edinburgh

And York!

In addition, some unis (eg U of Notts and U of York) effectively operate a 'firm early, get first dibs' policy (contrary to UCAS policy but unchecked),

That's not what York say at their Open Days. They say they don't allocate until A Level Results day.

Yes, you are right and thanks for flagging. I have just checked (link below) and is a welcome change of policy by U of York from previous years.
www.york.ac.uk/study/accommodation/undergraduate/how-to-apply/#guarantee

My dd is year 12 and we are expecting most of her choices to cost around £10k a year 😭 and at some of them (Durham eg) that won’t include food 😭

Brighton is incredibly expensive. Bristol & York are expensive too.

Sheffield is incredibly cheap. Liverpool is also well priced. Oxbridge accommodation is heavily subsidised.

Exeter - DC last year in halls was £220 a week for 34 weeks
This year - room in house share £800 a month plus bills for 48 weeks.
Durham was the insurance. Also considered Bath and Bristol. All similar costings of approx £9500/£10,000 a year for room only.
Friends with DC in London are paying £15k a year +

But please don't choose a university on the cheapness of accommodation - that is a false economy.

Look at the quality of the degree, its reputation, and the kind of employment he'll move into afterwareds. What assistance does the university offer in helping students toi apply for internships & traineeships? Hoew active is their careers service? Does the degree programme offer a year in industry or a year abroad?

Those are much more important considerations.

This is great so far we aren't looking at any that have been mentioned. We have looked at Keele and Loughborough. Loughborough was far cheaper as in we could get accommodation and food for the price of accommodation at Keele which surprised me considering, I know it not RG, how well regarded it is.

DS is going into second year accommodation in Coventry £115 pw inc bills. House is nicer than ours! That is with no ensuite. With en suite would have been £135pw. Accommodation in Coventry can also be used by Warwick students if looking at that campus university

@YellowAsteroid absolutely and we would support him wherever he chooses to put as his first option. I'm just surprised at the variation in prices although I appreciate some areas are more expensive to live than others. He could community in to London but not interested in any there. I went to a London uni but lived at home.

@YellowAsteroid would I find all this out during open days?

Loughborough university has a good reputation for a number of courses. RG universities are not always the best

You can normally find quite a few statistics about courses, future employment online.

Open days can be very much a hard sell. Good to talk to actual students when doing tours

Some of us have to take it into account.

I know a young person on maximum loan who turned down a university in Brighton as there was no way he could afford accommodation there (you have to consider 2nd & 3rd year accommodation too). He is now in Sheffield.

my own daughter turned down Brighton in favour of Liverpool wholly based on finances.

Yes there is no money tree and if he chooses to attend somewhere more expensive he might have to sacrifice other things - like eating 🤣

Look north...

Yes!

These are the questions to ask. Most universities will require that undergrads are pro-active about internships and placements. Departments & Careers Services won't do it for the students (this actually wouldn't be good preparation for employment in business) but you can ask about the structure of the degree programme, and the exchange agreements they have with universities abroad.

I teach at an RG, in a notoriously "non-vocational" subject where actually, our students are highly employable (eg. placements with Disney, and exchanges at top US universities), and we have vetted & bespoke exchange agreements with some of the best European, Australasian, and north American universities. These are places where we, as academic staff, have personal knowledge of programmes, and we visit them regularly.

This is the kind of thing your DS should look for. But I'd encourage him to ask these questions. Rehearse them with him, perhaps?

Northern cities are cheaper from what I can see, accommodation plus cost of living - groceries, transport, etc. Eldest just finished 2nd year at uni of Leeds. First year was about £6600 for 42 week contract in en suite self catered room in halls. That's now £7400 with recent inflation.

2nd year was shared house, £100 / pw + bills, ended up £6400 for the year including £96/month for utilities.

Following with interest as I have twins finishing Y12 and heading off next September. Gonna be painful (eldest will be heading back for 4th year at that point 😬)

I do think that it is a good idea to consider accommodation costs when looking at unis. Not the only thing, for sure, but unless you have £££ to support your DC it is a factor.

I agree with others @mrsnjw that places like Bristol, London, York, are known to be expensive.

Some unis have a range of student halls accommodation for first years - look for SC with shared bathroom. DD was at Leicester and paid £115 a week. DS2 is at Loughborough and paid £100 a week (so £4k a year as the rental is 40 weeks). These figures are a few years ago but the halls are still there and still among the cheapest.

As a comparison, a catered room with en-suite bathroom at Lboro would have cost DS about £10k for the year.

Nottingham uni only has catered halls on campus, with SC halls off campus a short walk away.

Both DD in Leicester and DS in Lboro have found accommodation cheaply in subsequent years. Leicester in particular has a huge range of Victorian terraces within easy reach of the uni at good rates. This year DS2 has paid £5,200 for his full year's rent (not including bills admittedly).

Other places that anecdotally have cheaper options include Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham for private rentals, Warwick (has a range on campus), Birmingham. I don't know about Keele sorry. Often unis building a lot of new student accomm focus on en-suite bathrooms which cost more, so it's often the older blocks that are cheap.

Loughborough is a great uni btw! maybe I am biased but I have been impressed with it - not RG, but often called RG+, with Lancaster, Bath and St Andrews.