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...

We went to a Sheffield open day before her undergraduate degree. She knows Nottingham as a city fairly well but never been to the uni. Will look for open days.

Yes, it was a consideration for us and for ds's friend's. London wasn't out as I felt the increased London loan mitigated things a little. But ds's friend loved a course in Brighton but just couldn't afford to live there even on maximum loan so chose Sheffield instead. My own dd also liked Brighton but chose Liverpool partly on affordability.

Yes accommodation costs are v. high. I was surprised though to find that others in modern halls in cities like Manchester are paying similar weekly rent to my son's costs this year at UCL.

However the state of his accommodation is shocking. We're about to help him write a rent reduction letter, his corridor have been without safe/ unusable oven/ hob for over half the time they've been in. That is unacceptable.

He like many others at UCL get Oxbridge offers. We decided not to discourage on account of cost because of the value of the degree, once in a lifetime opportunity to live in central London. He takes the, London weighted, maintenance loan but is only entitled to the minimum but has had the benefit of a rent reduction because he needs an ensuite for a disability and UCL has a scheme and he receives PIP which help towards his living costs. We are topping up so he doesn't have to work. He will be entitled to stay in halls but I think he wants the experience of sharing with friends he's made this year. We'll have to look at the financial implications of that as financially he may be much better off staying in halls.

He hasn't found a disjointed social life fwiw, although a few of his friends do go home most weekends as they are local enough he has some international friends who don't. There seem to be a fair few who will be looking at accommodation beyond year 1.

Can someone explain what they mean by 'topping up' please? We're not at uni age yet but already panicking about money!

We were charmed by Sheffield and Nottingham has a lovely campus. I’m surprised your DD doesn’t like them @DanielaDressen

It's expected that parents will top up the difference between the minimum maintenance loan and the maximum.

Loans are means tested on household income. So if your child isn't entitled to the full amount due to the household income then the expectation is that parents will make it up.

Many do that, some don't.

Thanks for explaining that. Am I right in thinking though, that even if a student is receiving the maximum amount (either through the full loan or from parental contributions) that still isn't enough to cover accommodation and living costs?

DD's school really tried hard to channel students to Exeter and Durham. DD did a lot of research before applying and felt that neither of those were right for her. She chose Leeds, and is loving it. Accommodation is not cheap (although obviously cheaper than London!), and her student loan doesn't cover it, so we have to chip in. I hear a lot in the UK about how universities welcome kids from disadvantaged backgrounds (and I'm sure they do) but how these kids are supposed to manage uni when their parents can't help is a complete mystery.

Lifeturns has explained the concept. So based on this year's figures.

Child A has a family income of £25,000. They are studying outside London and living away from home. They receive £10,227 maintenance loan. No parental top up is expected.

Child B has a family income of £40,000. Because they are studying in London they get a higher rate so receive £11,120. They parents are expected to top that up by £2,228 per year.

Child C has a family income of £65,000. They get the minimum loan of £4,767 and their parents are expected to top it up and give them an extra £5,460 per year

My son is in Leeds and my daughter is in Liverpool. Dd receives the full loan as she is an independent, mature student and we top ds's up from minimum to maximum loan. It covers their rent and living costs.

However if dd had chosen to go to Brighton based on what we know of rents there it would not cover her costs.

Correct. I think the max loan is about 10k. Some of the accommodation could be 8k a year depending on uni. 2k a year isn’t going to be enough to live off. Students depending on the course can potentially get a part time job I guess. But sometimes there’s not work to be found.

I used to work in Sheffield and love it. Guess the city centre is a bit run down these days. We had lunch in kfc and someone off their head kicked off big time and dd was like nope, not coming here 🙈

Nottingham Campus in indeed lovely.

Amusingly Bath as a city is wonderful but I thought the campus was a dump when I visited with child A

Thanks @DanielaDressen and @Comefromaway, we're lucky that we live near to a good uni, but I do feel uncomfortable about saying that's where DD should go.

Ah, I can see why she thought that. We went to Sheffield and it seemed fairly unimpressive on the first night - we stayed in a premier inn near the station - but the university area seemed much nicer the next day.

UoN campus is nice on a sunny day

For anyone with DC considering next year this is a generous grant if you live in the right area.
doggerbank.com/community-news/dogger-bank-wind-farm-opens-fourth-round-of-scholarships/

DD's school really tried hard to channel students to Exeter and Durham.

I do wish schools wouldn't do this. They clearly don't have their pupils' best interests at heart.

How do schools do this? They don't have any control over where the students apply?

Probably just verbal encouragement

They arrange bus trips to only one or two universities, signifying those are endorsed by the college/school. My DC’s college arranged a free bus to Warwick last week, for example. My DD didn't go as they’re not offering a degree in the subjects she wants, but had she been undecided I can see how this trip might have turned her head and given her a Warwick bias. My DS will likely go next year…

They arrange bus trips to Exeter and Durham? Long bus trips!

No need to be facetious - but yes, a bus trip from my DCs college to Warwick is a bloody long trip. The point is that many colleges and schools DO encourage students to consider specific colleges by these types of schemes. Other local colleges also look at Exeter and RG unis in other parts of the country with group trips via the college/school minibus to open days. It’s to improve access to these places for students from less privileged backgrounds where parents don’t drive/have cars/etc. Most 17/18 year olds can survive a long road trip quite happily.

My point was no school would organise bus trips to both Exeter and Durham. I guess Birmingham might be half way.

The only trip DD's school did was an Oxbridge one where these two universities do an outreach programme and visit different parts of the UK. The brighter students at DD's sixth form were taken on a coach to Liverpool to see a presentations given by representatives from Oxford and Cambridge.

Her school did push the RG narrative though.