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.

I’ve got 3 kids, all went to different unis. On the whole, the halls in first year cost about the same. The big difference is rental costs in subsequent years.

Bath was the most expensive, around £100 per month more than Sheffield or Leeds.

However S1 had a great experience at Bath and I would highly recommend it.

Warwick - good range of campus accommodation cost wise and Coventry is reasonably priced for years two and three.

DD has friends at a range of Unis, her friend at Sheffield seems to have a good deal for Y2 accommodation and it is good quality and not expensive. DD stays in halls for all three years at Cambridge and the per week cost is more than her Sheffield friend but she only pays 30 weeks a year and incudes bills & washing so the Sheffield price for 50 weeks actually works out more.

@mrsnjw pls don’t just support whatever he wants- help him with doing proper and thorough research! So many uni students drop out as their course isn’t great, has mostly online learning, poor prospects after graduation etc. look at what past students of that degree go on to do workwise, salary brackets etc - info is available if you look and ask for it.
L

a business degree will have more value with a quality placement year which gives real life experience. These types of degrees are still very theoretical and won’t teach them important real life work skills that employers look for now like AI or how tech savvy al someone is

Thank you. It's hard as I don't want to push him to a particular uni and he's not happy 😡 there. I agree a business degree needs a placement year that will get him out experiencing the world of work.

Choose Leeds!

Husband went to Leeds. We are going to look at Leeds Beckett.

OP DS is doing business at Loughborough. Very well regarded for business (in top 10 in all the league tables), favoured by employers, very good careers service with support for finding good placement options. Ranks above lots of RG unis. Its AAB as far as I'm aware (certainly was last year).

I agree that you need to look at the course content and how well regarded the uni is as I think business is generic and it needs to be a reputable degree. Don't just look at accommodation costs.

Having said that, accommodation at Loughborough is a bit like trying to buy Glastonbury tickets . Once you've confirmed your offer, you're given a slot after results day when you can log on and secure your halls. Its a bit of a frenzy with options disappearing before your eyes as other people get the popular choices. Having said that there is a huge range of options from about £5k for self catered to about £8.5k for the catered options. My DS has loved it. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

@Fiftiesishard interesting re accommodation ballot at Lboro - ds’s experience (three years ago now) wasn’t great but I’ve posted before and been told it’s a better system now!

Anyway even tho his initial allocation was £££, he was able to swap to the bargainous Falk Egg so all was well.

@clary yes there was a switching service after Week 3 I think if you wanted to swap and I am sure if there were mitigating circumstances - i.e. you needed a particular option for specific reasons, I am sure they would do their utmost to accommodate that. We've been very impressed with all aspects of L'boro.

DD is about to move to Leeds to do an LLM. She has found a room in Hyde Park fo £131 including bills, sharing with friends of a friend, one of whom is at Leeds Beckett. She did have a tentative arrangement to move to somewhere slightly cheaper in Headingley, but decided that being closer to campus had its merits when it came to looming deadlines, if nothing else.

Leeds (university of, and the city generally) was somewhere she liked when looking for undergrad, and a few of her friends from home went there, but in the end she chose Birmingham. Rentals around Selly Oak (i. e. walking distance of campus) similar to the Leeds properties she looked at. In between times, she has lived and worked in Norwich for a year, where her rent was c.£400 pcm, even including Council Tax, but her landlord did seem to be rather the opposite of money-grabbing.

Just for some balance on Exeter uni it is not a cheap location and I would say the average price is around £160-£170 p/w for year 2 and 3 accomodation. My DD paid £150 p/w for half decent accomodation she just had a 25min walk to Streatham campus. Every where in Exeter is walkable so no extra costs on day to day transport.

DD's insurance was Sheffield and halls for 1st year was £5500 compared to £6700 at Exeter back in 2021.

If on a tight budget I would avoid London, Bristol and Brighton. Look at the northern universities, Sheffield has a good reputation and seemed reasonably priced.