Is it becoming more common to stay closer to home for uni?

[ClementinePancakes]

DS is year 12 and just starting to research some uni courses. He particularly likes (on paper) Southampton and Swansea, so we have started planning to visit in the summer. They are both pretty far from us, about 6 hours at least.
Everyone we have told this to has reacted with horror, because they are so far away.

I accept if he does end up at one of them, the drive at the beginning and end of term will probably be a two day undertaking with overnight stay, yes, a bit of a pain but not that horrifying.

Both my brother and sister were at uni a similar distance away, they didn’t really come home during term time (but then I didn’t either and I was nearer home - I didn’t really know anyone who went home at weekends). Is this the difference? Are students more likely to come home at weekends than they were 30 years ago? I suppose it could be for weekend jobs etc. Or are there other reasons if there is a trend to stay closer -are there cultural differences across the UK?
I get staying at home and commuting for cost reasons, but I’m talking more about moving away, but not far.

How much of that was because students in Scotland tended to be younger than in England?

When I went to university there in the 90s (Edinburgh) most of the local students started at 17 and some at 16. I don’t know if that is still the case now.

DS doesn’t want to go far away because he wants to be able to keep his job and have access to his car. He won’t be able to keep it onsite. Luckily we have a very good university with a good reputation for his chosen subject within 15 or so miles.

I, on the other hand, wanted to get as far away from home as I could possibly get. Hence studying in Scotland.

Yes, to go after highers to uni in England would be quite difficult as it is a 3 year course, and others would have done a levels. Whereas it is a 4 yr course in Scotland.

We are quite lucky in that the uni my eldest wanted to go to is only an hour away. So it is the best of both worlds for us. They live in halls and are arranging a house for next year, but they can also just pop home for special occasions or for family outings (we go to a lot of gigs together). The railway station is 10 mins away from halls. It also means I can pop into the city to meet up for a lunch if I want to see her. We can go weeks without seeing her but the next few weeks we have a lot arranged.