Sharing toilets and showers university accommodation

[Evergree]

What is your DC experience of this? One shower and one toilet doesn’t seem enough for 10 rooms? What about cleanliness and things like that? Some people are not that clean or leave things as they found it.

Also, are the buildings single sex or mix sex?

DD2 had a mixed sex flat with shared toilet and shower facilities in her first year. Elderly accommodation, I believe it is closed down now (not before time). There was a rat problem in the building.

Unfortunately some of the people she shared with had never learned how to clean up after themselves. This extended to the kitchen.

I have had 4 kids go through uni one still there all had cleaners but once a week (communal space only). Only the oldest 2013 shared bathroom the rest were onsuite, they were all expensive but lovely. The shared houses were nice too but most had at least 2 bathrooms for more than 3 people. Usually someone takes the initiative and puts their foot down if they become messy or unhygienic.(usually my kids)🤣🤣

DD has booked accomodation which will be 5 students and two bathrooms.

She was going to book the Hall with ensuites but decided she didn't like the look of the rooms ( they did seem a bit cell-like) and thought that two toilets between 5 people should be manageable.

We will see.

Actually I don't think that's especially cheap! Typical weekly rent in the mid 80s in my expensive city was about £20-25 a week. Ds2 was in (admittedly very cheap) halls in 2021-22 so only three years ago and his room was £100 a week.

DC1 had 2 toilets & 2 showers between 5 in their first year.

Are you sure it's just a single toilet and a single shower between 10?

I'm trying to count what we had!
Think we had
1 shower
2 baths
4 toilets
Between 13 of us

We had 1 toilet and 2 showers (each self contained) between 6. This was in a ‘flat style’ accommodation. The issue I found was more the kitchen! It doesn’t take long for it to get filthy when people are lazy.

That's crazy!

In my DD's halls (both DDs - different Universities,) they all had a room with an en suite. So they all had their own loo and shower.

This was early-mid 2010s.

.

Same. I wouldn't have liked mixed bathrooms at all, I'm quite surprised to read that they're a thing now.

Or ensuite toilets as they were known in my day (not by me)

What I'm finding weird on this thread is the kitchens. We didn't even have a cupboard with a kettle in either hall. One was fully catered, although lunch hadn't been invented in the mid 1980s. And the other had been converted from some sort of warehouse and was more like a squat, later I did live in a squat which was nicer, neither had en suite and there were a lot of us sharing bathrooms. Not mixed though .
University of London believed in building our character back in the day.

My DS had 14 students (mixed sex), two loos and two showers last year. All 4 in separate enclosed cubicles, not stalls, so you had privacy. Got cleaned by the cleaners but of course not constantly. It was more than £50 a week cheaper than having an en suite and I advised him that his Dad and I survived shared bathrooms at that age and he would thank me for the £1700 he saved over the year and could therefore spend on having fun - which he very much did.

@Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit catered halls don't have much of a kitchen even now - maybe a room with a kettle and a microwave. But so many halls are sc - cheaper and easier to deal with eating preferences - that they have to have a decent kitchen.

Obvs unis do offer en-suite accommodation - but many students (inc my DC) and their parents can't afford it.

It's more just separate small rooms though - like in a house - so you're not actually lacking any privacy.

I had this set up. We had cleaners who cleaned the bathrooms a few times a week.

That is a rough ratio. But hopefully they are saving on rent. I'd suggest joining a gym.

That’s expensive ! Mine was £37.50 a week -big northern RG - 8 of us with 2 bathrooms. Mid 90’s

I agree, £75 a week seems very steep for 1994. My uni room in 1992/93 was £28 a week (7 rooms one shower and two toilets). My room in private accommodation the following year was £37 a week which seemed extortionate in comparison.

Meh, ours was like that and it was fine. Never a queue, people’s schedules varied so much, and lots went to the gym / pool anyway. I think we used to take our shampoo etc in with us and out again, so it was an empty space otherwise. Mixed gender seemed irrelevant to me.

My dd's second choice uni had blocks with two toilets and two showers to a flat of 16! I couldn't imagine how horrendous that would be during freshers week!

@Babbadoobabbadock @RichardMarxisinnocent maybe @Muchtoomuchtodo means £75 a month which is pretty cheap for mid 1990s.

I shocked my DC by telling them that I paid £43.50 a month for my fourth-year room in a shared house in Bristol in the mid 1980s! That was very very cheap (no heating and a busy road lol - still a bargain tho).

Thank you

I should have enquired more. It was Bath university, I asked how many rooms per floor and they said 10; but maybe some were ensuit. They look a bit old and tired but similar for Loughborough. I find the student accommodation at university a bit depressing tbh. Bath has a new building with quite modern accommodation and modern ensuit bathrooms. £227 per week plus they have to pay £25 extra for a card they can use to buy meals at the university; quite expensive.

Maybe it was per month. I did wonder when I typed it if I was remembering properly! I am getting old and increasingly forgetful!

We managed with 1 shower and 2 baths to 13
Stuff like big events needed a bit of planning
Some of us would often go over and shower in the boys block straight after the cleaner had been in

That is expensive. Do you know how many weeks the contract is for?