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...

It's a shame the loan system can't be changed to cover their halls and a set amount for living costs instead of the the current system where it's parents income. Maybe something we as parent should campaign for

DC of single parent on low income applied to cheapest Brighton accommodation and was given one of the most expensive ones. She wrote and complained and stated she couldn't accept her place on the basis of the accommodation allocated. Lo and behold it they switched her.

Does make you wonder how they allocate it?

I shouldn’t think it’s about that - I would imagine they don’t want to be millions of miles from home. Many don’t want to be more than 2-3 hours away.

It’s also availability of accommodation after the first year - places like Sheffield have plenty and it is a great university.

Is that from international students though?

Did you not read my post? 🙄My daughter had additional needs (autistic) and will need to be localish in order to come home at weekends hence needing to be within a couple of hours of the south coast.

We also have limited income. Great that those who live in the north can access cheaper accommodation for their kids if they want to stay local though! I'm genuinely worried about supporting her at uni but thanks for the rude comment.

Yup!

I told mine I wasn’t funding London so a definite no to there. I strongly encouraged the north and fortunately they listened and had a much better standard of living.

Oh to be fair my original post was a couple of posts above my above comment so maybe the poster didn't see both posts. (Still rude though)

Yes it’s definitely a factor, and good point from pp about leveling up- that might be a real positive.
my DS is in Bristol but he’s in a rather ‘keeping it real’ area, and pays £600 a month for a large room in a four bed house. Nice house actually it’s the pub at the end of the road flying a Union Jack that’s a bit off putting

We had to put our foot down over the cost of uni choices. One child in particular wanted London, but it wasn't doable. Despite good grades they picked a lower ranking uni because of the costs. I feel particularly bad that our choices over where we lived over the years have meant that not all of our kids were eligible for loans, one also has a disability so wouldn't manage work as well as studying.
It's pretty shit. True choice of uni is for the rich and healthy. We aren't even a low income family.

I work in school in the midlands with a high number of disadvantaged children. The vast majority of our sixth form students apply to go to Nottingham university (best in the area) so they can stay at home and study because they can’t afford to move away. Second choices are usually all midlands based for the same reason.

London Universities have some very good bursaries, so it is always worth asking.

I went to a donors event at my old University where a bursary recipient talked about how delighted she had been to get an LSE offer, and then immediately contacted the University to ask if they could help her work out how she could afford to take up a place, given her family were very low income. She was offered a bursary and three years later had just received an offer for a training contract from a Magic Circle law firm.

For a bright ambitious young person a London University might be worth a line on the UCAS form. Imperial have the largest bursary funds, UCL are supposed to be the next most generous. Well regarded London Universities tend to hold their own with Oxbridge when it comes to average starting salaries and employment rates. All will be keen to recruit good UK based students.

Not particularly; you can break it down by home region/country of the applicants.

One of mine went to Bristol and the other to Newcastle. Both doing Masters...so 4 years each. I paid for both their accommodation and there really was hardly any difference in the cost between the two! I think in total it cost me about£40,000...which I am still paying off!

What shocks me is the number of parents ok WIWIKAU, that haven’t looked into this in advance and then post saying their child has their first choice uni but the accommodation costs aren’t covered by the loan and what should they do.

Not just the WIWIKAU posters, but the ones who post on MN who have three or four primary aged and under DC asking should they have another because they could just about afford it (now). They don't seem to be able to understand just how much teenagers and beyond cost.

Next time I see a thread asking this question I'm going to link this thread.

its commuting cost home as well isn’t it

I meant to add another point that parents on low incomes in rented accommodation might find it difficult to act as guarantor for their student DC once they are in subsequent years' accommodation after their first year in halls..

What happens then?

This is my concern. We rent and failed affordability on our current house, we got it from having healthy savings. I’m not sure how we will get through affordability on a second

Distance from home is a major factor in university choice. For everyone. Let's not make this a north/south snobbery thing because it just isn't.

We have a dc at Bristol and the accommodation costs are stupid. We are spending a grand a month just to keep a roof over her head! She gets the minimum maintenance loan and we can afford to send her some extra to top it up but it’s mental.
our next dc has decided not to go to uni, we had saved for them anyway but it’s kind of a relief 😂
we’ve got a bit of a wait now to see if the next one will want to go or not but these are the costs of having kids, it’s all fun and games when they’re small and cheap but they grow and their needs change!!

I think a shift in mindset is needed about the whole going away to university for 'the experience' because it's the done thing. This does not happen on other countries where it is more the norm to attend local universities if possible. I understand that not everyone lives near a university or one that has their chosen degree, also there are other reasons to move out of home. Where the options are available, it should be seriously considered. There are other ways to gain life experience and independence without getting into debt.

Indeed, travel and distance from home is a key factor for many. DC1 wanted to have the option to travel home over a weekend without it being a 5/6 hour drive or a whole days train ride.

Yes, I agree. We looked at Bristol because it sounded perfect on paper. As it turned out DD didn't like Bristol, but the fact that Cross Country trains often get last minute cancellations when they can't find the staff to change over at Birmingham was the final nail in the coffin.

When the trains run to time without cancellations we were looking at 5 hours.

College halls in Oxford are significantly cheaper than many other cities, as they only pay rent during term time, and students often live in their college in their 2nd/3rd year as well as 1st. It’s really not an expensive place to live as a student (though very expensive to live there once you graduate)