Accommodation cost impacting university choice - very troubling for institutions like mine

[Tulipgardens]

Name changing for this and wondering whether any one has stats. My sixth form students used to put down unis like Bristol, Bath and Exeter but, over recent years, no longer. Newcastle, Sheffield and Leeds now top choices. London unis nowadays a complete no-no. It has been a marked shift...

Cost of living and availability of second and third year housing was high up on the list during the ‘Why come to Cardiff’ talk yesterday. It is definitely a factor we will consider for DC2 and was one of the major pluses for our DC1’s university choice.

So did I over 30 years ago. London accomodation would have been just too expensive. DC1 did not consider London for the same reason for which I am thankful. I think that the accommodation costs factor has spread to other universities though. I'd be worried I'd DC2 wanted Bath, Bristol, Sussex, Durham etc.

Both my dds attend universities in the South East . Both like the universities that they attend
However, they both say that if they had to choose again they would go to universities in the North such as Sheffield because of the cost of accommodation.
One of my dds pays 9.8k for a shared flat whereas her friend pays 7k for a large studio flat in Leeds

From what I hear, rent in Oxford is as much as London but you get a much bigger loan in London. DC1 recently graduated from Imperial College London. There, the students with a parental income of under £60K get a grant. DC1 got £2000 or £3000 every year from the university.

@Philandbill I wouldn’t have been able to afford the journey home very often had I not stayed in the north, so there was more than accommodation costs in the mix even back then for me.

@ThePure so there's no bright people up north already? That's not what levelling up is.

FFS. That’s right @ThePure . Slow 👏

For those thinking of Sheffield... Accommodation is really difficult in second year. If they haven't got it by the end of first term of first year they will struggle. Most people keep the same house of 3rd year.

Having said that it is a really good city for students.

That’s not how I took the comment, I thought they meant that by having more people coming to uni up north they’re more likely to stay which will encourage and diversify the industry up here.

Our dd is at York and her accomodation is ridiculous. Over 8k a year for self catering. She put her choices down on application, cheapest first, but that seems to have been totally ignored. Initially, she was given one at 9200, which is more than her loan, and only managed to change as she swapped with another student - the university said they had done their bit and turning anything down took away their responsibility

Luckily, she'd worked all summer and got a bursary from the university, but it is still almost impossible. We can't top up by much (hence the automatic bursary - we are mn despised poors)
Working class kid and poorer families are definitely being pushed out.

I guess it's no different to how everyone on limited incomes chooses to live. I couldn't afford to live in some of the cities mentioned and I couldn't afford to support DD at university in London. It is a shame for all concerned.

Surprised that Exeter is getting a mention, I didn't know it was an expensive city for students.

This isn't new though, DS applied for universities with cheaper accommodation in 2011, he ended up choosing Leeds.

Sorry but that’s peak London. Londoners find Northern gem 😂
It just miffs me off that most ordinary northern kids can only chose from half the country essentially because of the cost. Otoh as usual kids from the south, well the world (or country) is their oyster.

Both mine are up north - Edinburgh and Liverpool. We live south west ish and both wanted to live further away. I went to Leeds and think going to uni up north if you live where we live is a great choice.

As for accommodation, we chose cheapest each time and neither got that, but a more expensive offer.

Like pp has said, loan just about covers the accommodation, they have part time jobs and I send them £100 each a month. It's doable but wouldn't be if they were in London.

This was really useful data - I had no idea you could access this stuff until you posted the link.

I have two shy teens and both have been daunted by the idea of living away and incurring huge debt, but actually live within an hour of london, which sounds long, but their dad has been communting for 20 years. Student orientated SM sells the idea of parties and social lives etc, but as a mature student myself, the younger cohort I met on my post grad courses all describe working 3 days a week, living at home and driving in, and get togethers as a student cohort was one or two evenings in the student/campus bar because the drinks were cheap. As many had to commute home afterwards, going overboard was not an option. Most had been undergrads at the same uni and described experiences that had been fun, but due to money/commuting only the overseas students lived on campus.

It’s liberated my kids as they’ve decided they will live at home, and only apply to unis they can drive to or commute to by train and if there is a gig/party they’ll stay in a premier in or kip on a sofa.

This is how it is in many countries. It is considered a luxury to move away for uni. I went to uni in London many years ago. There were loads of students who lived at home. Virtually everyone worked whilst studying. Some worked long hours. The uni accommodation was nothing like as fancy as it is now. There were shared bathrooms in halls which I think is quite rare now.

@Needmoresleep Glasgow is not a cheap option! Look at the % rise in accommodation costs since Covid, I think it has the highest increase of anywhere in the country.

Its definitely a thing though OP. I know some of DCs friends avoided the West Country because of it. Similarly I have friends who deliberately chose Cardiff and Liverpool as accommodation there plentiful and decently priced (and both fantastic cities with amazing nightlife, where students can get part time jobs).

We will have 3 in uni next year (twins in y13, eldest doing last year of 4 year degree)

We looked at Bristol which was super impressive, but costs are a limiting factor which I've discussed openly with ours - and so if the courses are equivalent elsewhere they should lean towards those. York seemed similarly expensive for rent, it's not just a South thing. London wasn't on the contender list which is fortunate or we'd have had to have a hard look at it all.

Eldest is at Leeds, twins are looking at Liverpool, Sheffield 🫶, Leeds, possibly Birmingham, Newcastle. Halls & Y2/3 rent more reasonable, cost of living / travel time & cost to come home (Mcr) are also a factor.

There's a limit to what we can afford to supplement their minimum loan with, and I want them to have a life while they're there, not to have to work in term time or be broke.

https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2023/10/26/student-rents-now-swallow-up-virtually-all-of-the-of-the-average-maintenance-loan-as-market-reaches-crisis-point-in-affordability/

It didn't work on my phone, but it did on my laptop. Thank you.

Both Scotland and N Ireland are facing huge % increases in both house and rent prices. I don’t know about Glasgow specifically, but my junior doctor daughter, raised in central London with a degree from Bristol, is astonished at how cheap things are outside England. Others around her are shocked at how much prices have increased, but she is finding that there is still a significant gap.

The first comment is interesting, the figures are for PBSA only. So most relevant to first year?

I rent a lovely 2 bed flat with parking and balcony, lovely views for £650 a month, 15 mins walk from Sheffield city centre. Not sure if you would get that in the south.

Certainly in Glasgow, HMOs that are more than 2 bed are vanishingly rare because of the huge fees landlords have to pay in Scotland when people from
more than 2 households share. Therefore it can end up a choice of private student halls or 2 bed flats, which are ££££.

My ds completely set his heart on Bath (for the course more than the city), and halls aren't vastly different to other cities although he's in the cheaper halls with a shared bathroom. His gf is at Lincoln and has swanky new halls with an en suite for the same price or less.
I can't say I'm looking forward to second and third year accommodation costs, but he works part time and realises that we don't have bottomless pockets. Much as I would have loved him to go to Sheffield (his second choice and one of the cheapest cities to study in) luckily we get more than the basic maintenance loan and can just about stretch.
I'm so relieved he didn't want London though.