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...

@SageBlossomBunny Here are some grants that are not linked to only one university (bar a couple).
www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/weird-university-bursaries-grants-scholarships.html

It’s 39 weeks even for catered now from what I can see. Most unis charge much longer rent periods than they did even a few years ago. And it’s just become the norm.

York offers on campus accommodation for people who attend short summer schools. No idea on numbers but I know they do it.

York offers 40, 44 or 50 week with only one college offered limited 38 week contracts (move out easter)
Not sure on York specifically but back in the day unis would offer catered for around 30 weeks (3 x 10 weeks) so a massive difference in weeks paid.

This is really interesting, thank you.

We'd back DS, but do people tend to split it across the whole group committing to sharing a house together? Is that acceptable to the LL? The students have to act so quickly when they actually find a place I imagine & pressure is on to do this in the first term (when they may not really know each other well). TIA.

Exeter offers 32-week contracts on its catered accommodation, and has recently introduced a twin-occupancy sharing option in catered halls to bring down costs. It also has accommodation bursaries available for some halls. Its average accommodation cost has gone up because it has been building some very snazzy accommodation at the top end of the price range, but the average doesn’t tell the whole story.

We ruled out London; primarily because of cost and the likelihood that friends would be scattered all across London. Over the years we've stayed in a few of the LSE halls (which really aren't overly flash). They are great locations if you have plenty of spending money.

I think we are leaning towards a campus; Exeter seems favourite. We are quite tempted by catered (I think that is a 32-week contract, rather than the 40-48 weeks we have seen in other halls, so although the cost per week might be higher the cost for year 1 might not be that different).

Sheffield was the second that we visited and it was a hit, but I think the hassle of getting there (took us 6 1/2 hours in torrential rain) is weighing on her mind. We have friends there and they certainly didn't seem to have issues getting accommodation.

Swansea seems to advertise itself as a cheap Uni to live at. We're signed up to look around in November.

Interesting - That's not my experience

• DC1 last year paid £6,600 for 40 weeks in Oxford - in a college flat
• DC2 this year pays £5,075 for 29 weeks in Oxford - college room - incl bills ie term time plus an extra week
• DN pays £9,800 for 40 weeks in London plus bills

Oxford isn't cheap on a 12 months basis but you don't have to pay in the holidays while private rentals in London are all year and halls usually at least 40 weeks.

I think Oxford Brookes where students are out in private rents may well find costs similar to London. Oxford Colleges have built lots of accommodation and most house students all three / four years and in effect subsidies it by letting it for conferences / B&B in the holidays.

That’s interesting @JessyCarr Exeter introducing a more affordable option. I wonder if others will follow suit. When I was at uni there were people in 2 or 3 share rooms (houses attached to halls), I was surprised they still offered some twin shares when we visited recently.

I'm not sure if it is still possible post Brexit but a local grammar school strongly recommended The Netherlands Maastricht, Leiden etc.) as a cost effective option. Taught in English, very quick flight from the UK.

Yes I was referring to private rentals in Oxford, not Oxford college halls.

Sadly not.
which is deeply galling as a particular masters course was £18,000 in the UK
or 900 Euros at Potsdam
taught in English, same course leader

Can I just check - is this a common perception of Bristol Uni 😨?

We researched Uni's based on course reputation and Bristol & Bath came out top - discussion boards even recommending them over perhaps more prestigious, but more academic courses.

DS has been lucky with Halls and this year is paying less than if he gone to Uni nearer home (an inexpensive area), but we are anticipating private rental to be more for 2nd & 3rd year. He knows he will have to work alongside and worked alongside his A Levels, but will aim for experience in his chosen field, which we thought no bad thing. He is most certainly not squandering his money on nightclubs (I very much hope 😵‍💫😂, although I wouldn't begrudge him trying the odd one out). My impression is that his cohort scored very well at A Level and they all have to work pretty hard. That they are all pretty driven and serious about their degrees. He is truly loving it so far, but under no illusions how hard it is.

I'd be heartbroken if he ends up paying more, working his arse off, but to be written off as going to a Uni just for the night life 😐.

Surely one of the reasons why your DD got to go onto Imperial in part was because she had done well at Bristol Uni (granted, probably putting in lots of independent study hours), which is no mean feat?

Congratulations on you DD going to Imperial. That is amazing. Expensive, but she will undoubtedly reap the rewards.

Wow she is vegetarian so will apply for that one!!

I hope this isn't too left field a question, but does anyone know which unis guarantee 3 yrs in halls for a) overseas students b) students with disabilities at all?

I have looked on the accommodation pages of York, where my kid has an offer but it is not entirely clear. It indicates they guarantee a room for overseas students but not whether that's for the duration of study. I am happy to call them during the week, but thought I'd ask here first.

@Thedogismybaby
The ground floor rooms in New Vanbrugh and parts of Alcuin are fully wheelchair accessible
not sure about three year access but the Uni's legal obligations would make it likely that they would allocate rooms.
Also not sure about Hes East campus - but its newer so more likely to be level access and wide doors

One of mine went away and the other chose to stay at home. There is a big difference in how they are now, despite the one at home going travelling and being more mature generally, growing up previously.
Living independently was the making of my less mature one. I also wouldn’t be the person I am today had I not moved away from my provincial home town.

Thank you for this info. I'm mainly asking about the guaranteed rooms over the duration of the course, not really if they are wheelchair accessible, though it is good to know there are so may of those (none when I was a student at York). There are lots of disabilities that don't require these rooms, but might require single rooms, of which there seem to be plenty.

I’d contact the uni. Certainly when we checked with disability services at various universities ability to access accommodation all years seemed common for disabled students but we didn’t look at York.

Staying at home would be sensible if all universities were made the same and gave exactly the same educational outcome, but they don't.

For example courses for each subject vary per university. And frankly some universities are better than others. Like should someone who lives in Wales be restricted to the Welsh unis and/or Bath,Bristol? What if they wanted to go to Oxbridge or if they missed out on Oxbridge, one of the many excellent universities in London.

DS was fortunate that he could stay at home and go to one of the best universities in the world for his subject

@Thedogismybaby I grew up with wheelchairs so am always watching spaces.
Key points are - level access, sensible doors, sensible socket placements, sensible lighting and ventilation.
That applies to those with ANY sort of mobility issue.
Its also kinda been a legal requirement for decades !

Just starting to look at Unis - our 2nd is looking at a really specific course and its either Loughborough or Bristol UWE for the course and their sport. We will have a cross over with 2 of them at Uni for at least a year and the amount we will spend on accommodation makes me feel sick!! Aprox 400 - 500 a week its ridiculous

@Whereissummer24 accomodation for Bristol UWE post halls is in a slightly different area than for UOB, - my son is at UWE and has found it fairly easy to find accommodation for year two and three, and pays (or rather, I pay) £600 a month for a large room in a fairly nice four bed house.

Well this thread has spurred me on to talk to Dd about applying for some other places rather than sitting back with her Oxford Brooks offer in hand. She admitted that Oxford brooks has a poor reputation for her subject and I said I’m not wanting to pay a fortune in accommodation for a mediocre course. Would be different if the course was amazing.

She’s looking at a few other places now but it’s difficult when the places which are higher up the league tables such as Sheffield and Nottingham she discounts as she says the cities are shitholes. Trying to get it through to her that it’s two years of her life, she’s not making a firm commitment to live in that city forever. Plus the campus at Nottingham is lovely! 😁

Has she been to Sheffield or Nottingham, @DanielaDressen? Probably worth seeing for herself if not...