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?

Yes £227 pw is very expensive.

DS2 (£100pw) is at Loughboro actually. There is more swish accomm for sure (and more expensive).

Wow just looked up the Bath uni accommodation it's all a bit £££ isn't it unless you are prepared to share a room. If that is 10 students to a bathroom that is v grim for min £150 pw IMO.

At least Lboro's tired accomm is a bit cheaper. DS's old hall is £117pw this year. The rooms are small but it's not bad and the kitchen is a decent size.

Is it one shower or one shower block with several separate showers in it? Or, if not several, at least two or three?
One between ten really isn't great

DD2 had shared facilities last year - mixed floor 2 showers and 2 loos for 8 people. Shared facilities mixed floor again this year. You pay an extra £2.50 per night for ensuite rooms. She had a sink in her room last year but not this year.

I think shared facilities are great as you get out in the corridor more chatting to people. Students soon get used to it and if there is a medical reason to have ensuite most unis sort this.

I had one shower between 7 in my house in my last year - that was quite a pain. One separate loo... but we managed and six of us still go away together each year 34 years on.

I have the feeling there will be more who don’t clean after themselves

£117 is quite good. I think most of the students accommodation I have seen so far looks a bit tired; apart from this new building but £250 per week is a lot.

Not entirely sure there were 10 to a bathroom just that there were 10 rooms in each floor; maybe there was another shower and toilet or some were ensuit,

Wee in the basin

@Evergree Falk Egg hall - very handy for the library apparently.

Two loos and two showers between 7 or 8 students – bathrooms cleaned at least 3 x a week.

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/accommodation/our-halls/falkner-eggington/

Five to one shared loo and one shower. Never a problem. But a uni room is really just glorified camping - both on the kitchen and bathroom front. It’s not “home” and certainly not something you as a parent will be living in. I remember when DD moved into her first shared house in the second year I was aghast at the state of it, but it wasn’t a family home. It represented for her independence and the opportunity to live with friends with minimal responsibilities. They’re not living your life vicariously and you needn’t be upset about the accommodation’s shortcomings on their behalf.

I would definitely check about the ratio, as I've looked round quite a lot of universities with each of my dc, and also talked with nieces, nephews, and with friends who have dc at University, and I've never come across ratios like that.

Mine were in shared flats. One had 2 showers and two sep toilets for 6 students. The other had 7 students with 1 shower and toilet room and one other shower and one other toilet. That would seem a more normal ration that 1 of each for 10.

Re cost, I'm afraid some Universities are known to be more expensive, and that is something to take into account when looking round / choosing universities. I think some of the accommodation is shockingly expensive, but, as long as people pay it, they will continue to charge it.

In 2019 DD was in halls with shared toilets and shower for £137pw.
Each flat had 7 students sharing 2 toilets and 2 bathrooms and a wash basin in each bedroom. No issues at all.

All university accommodation at DDs new uni is en-suite. It’s all ultra modern, 6 to a flat, lovely communal living/kitchen area. She has a double bed, plenty of storage/huge desk area and of course an en-suite shower room. All immaculately clean too. I’ve said to her don’t expect this come second year when you’re sharing a dingy private let flat with one toilet!

Forgot to add - DD is autistic and sharing a bathroom would have been a deal-breaker for her. She chose a special quiet-block for neuro diverse students which is a great idea.

I’m years past uni now and naively thought that most if not all uni accommodation was en-suite nowadays.
i was at Leeds in catered halls on the first floor of an old and very cold house in the grounds of the main building. There were 12 of us in double rooms all with 2 single beds, a hand basin and a mismatch of antique furniture and we shared 4 toilets, 4 showers and 4 hand basins with mirrors over which were in a gloomy area at the top of the stone stairs.
My heart sank when I saw where I would be living - It was nothing like the brochure but whoever was responsible for placing us together did a brilliant job. Despite us all studying different subjects we became such a close knit group, and are still in regular contact with each other now. Some of us were certainly more tidy than others but I don’t remember there ever being any disagreements about who was going to have a shower when. No one wanted to spend long in there anyway as the heating was virtually non existent, the water was never more than lukewarm and the mirrors steamed up so you couldn’t see yourself in them. I can’t remember how often the cleaners came in but we never had an issue with any of the facilities being left dirty and they did their best with the communal area in the centre of the bedrooms which we turned into a sitting room of sorts.

I had 1 shower and 3 toilets for 16 students. Back in 1997. Cost £35/week. It was fine!

We had 2 showers and a bath plus 2 loos on a corridor of 15. Single sex. I think it's good for a young person not to have en suite accommodation. They will need to live in a shared house sooner or later unless they are expecting to go straight into earning £100kpa after graduation. Managing expectations for what a reasonable standard of living should be includes that they shouldn't expect to walk straight in to the comfort level that their parents slogged for 20 years before they could afford it.

We had 1 shower, 1 bath and 2 toilets in a flat with 9 rooms and we each had a sink in our room. It was mixed accommodation and we never had any problems sharing. The best thing was the cleaners did the bathrooms and kitchen once a week (although they wouldn't do students washing-up).

I'm going to encourage DD to pick hall's with shared showing facilities, because a. It's cheaper and b. She swims like 5 times a week so would probably hardly ever use the shower in her room anyway so seems a pointless extra expense.

My daughter's halls had a small en-suite in each room. I think she would have expired otherwise 😆

My experience - First year in halls was 1 toilet, 1 shower, communal kitchen, 7 bedrooms each with a sink. £40 pw in 1997.
Second & third year in very odd digs - 4 student rooms, shared bathroom & toilet. In the basement we had kitchen, lounge & spider infested lean-to with "guest loo". £35 pw plus two 50p coins for the basement meter.

DS - First year £147 pw en suite. This year, shared house £125 pw. 5 rooms with basins, two shower rooms, two toilets, kitchen & lounge.

Three floors in my halls. Ground floor was boys, 1st and 2nd were girls. They rarely put girls on ground floors. 12 rooms per floor, six each side and separated by the stairs and landing. Each group of six rooms had two bathrooms, 1 with a bath and toilet and 1 with shower and toilet. Each room had a sink. Cleaners came every weekday morning.

Back in 1995, I had to share a room in halls, as freshers shared. We were in a mixed “house” with 12 sharing 2 toilets and 2 showers. You’d be having a shower and Bruno, the French student would wander in for a shit. He would cover up the smell by smoking his French cigarettes.
We survived though.

DS has an ensuite this year, £159 per week. My nephew was in halls with shared bathrooms. He said a lot of lads peed in their sinks 🤢 When he had a shower he would walk down with flip flops and a towel poncho thing from a surf shop. Walk back up and get dressed in his own room as there was hardly any space on the cubicles. They had cleaners in communal spaces 2 x per week.

Oh yes and nephew used to get paid by some others in their flat to do their washing up. He got all his beer money that way.

There's often a paucity of showers/bathrooms in certain halls. Many have showers/loos in the room.

But the showers that are 'communal' are just lockable cubicles I think? So you change inside the booth and shower there? I don't think they're 'mixed sex' as in just open or just with curtains?
I hope not anyway.

You're not wrong that students can be messy.
But most halls should have cleaners included?
I shared a student house with five others m/f and one bathroom. It wasn't great. But we survived.

However If there was an option for single sex halls and it was requested then you'd expect just that.

That is disgusting.

I know people survive and there are worse things but it is not very pleasant. I personally don’t think I could manage that if I was a student.

DD had 2 showers, 1 bath and 3 toilets (always one of the three out of service so really two in rotation) between 12 in an all women’s college for Y1 and it worked fine. Sometimes partners (male and female) staying over added to the numbers too. She had to walk a distance to get to them. She has even chosen to stay in the same room with same shared bathroom configuration for Y2. She does have a sink in her room which helps.

DC was in a house of 12 last year. Two showers and two (separate) toilets, but they all had sinks in their rooms. Cleaner came once a week to do corridors, kitchen/diner and showers/loos.

They thought it would be a nightmare, but actually with everyone's differing schedules it all worked out. They said they only ever had to wait for the shower once or twice the whole year!