Warning re Uni Accommodation: Exeter

[WIWIKAA]

I know many parents are aware of accommodation shortages and the often outrageous costs involved but I wonder if they aware how bad it has become.

My DC firmed Exeter and achieved grades to secure the place. The accommodation offered under the ‘guarantee’ was an off site private provider at a cost of over £10k for 44 weeks. This has happened to many students. Of course they make it work, many have to, however I do think there needs to be more awareness.

Exeter halls are ££ anyway however this is at least £2k on top. If your YP gets the min loan it’s +£6k that they or their parents have to find before living costs etc. Plus once you’ve signed your tenancy there is no option to move into campus halls.

I know this isn’t just an Exeter issue, there is another thread about Warwick, however it was a shock for us and very disappointing for DC. So when your YP is choosing a uni look closely at accommodation!

Thank you! Useful to know… it sounds like a minefield.

What’s a YP?

Young person

These things are talked about a lot at Open Days during the talks targeting parents on Finance etc. I remember then how expensive Exeter was and the mm son reason why my YP decided not to apply there. Bristol is the same unfortunately. There are lots of unis with cheaper accommodation, you just need to research thoroughly.

I agree it’s known that there is a shortage however, and maybe I’m just naive, but I didn’t expect to just be expected to find 25% more.

I also agree that there are other cheaper unis however I have encouraged, like many other patents, DC to apply to the highest ranking they can given their grades. The cheaper unis tend to be lower ranking. It’s become/becoming 2 tier higher education.

@WIWIKAA How does anyone know what dc will be allocated though? Bristol has quite a few halls circa £8000 but if everyone wants them, what then? It’s a fault of popular universities over expanding and we need a cap reintroduced. There are private halls to meet the shortfall but it’s not just Exeter and Bristol with them. Students can choose a mid price hall anywhere and find they don’t get allocated one. At least at Bristol £10,000 ish would get you a catered hall!

My DS is going to Warwick and luckily has been allocated on campus halls but we've heard from friends that campus is full and off campus partnered halls are being offered. I don't know how much they are.

DS's halls are self catered and seem to be very cheap at £5k pa, I was budgeting for £8k+. I don't think they're particularly luxurious but he'll survive!

£10k for accommodation is very expensive. Students who get the max loan of £10,544 may be in an even more perilous position than those who get the minimum because they may not be able to access any extra income via parents or their own savings. Who can live off £544pa?

I agree @TizerorFizzthe unis only have a certain number of rooms, it’s supply and demand. However when they put 5 options I think a YP would expect to get 1? I’m not sure how they allocate and I think more transparency is needed. There should be a cap but that won’t be popular as they want to cram them in for the £££.

I think the answer for students looking going forward is to ask how they allocate. Exeter do publish the demand stats although that didn’t help either.

I agree that the accommodation issues in Exeter and Warwick especially this year seem really difficult and unfair. However, I don’t agree with your statement that “cheaper unis tend to be lower ranking”. For us, one consideration in my DD’s choice of uni had to be the likely cost of accommodation over three years - assuming hall in first year and shared house in years 2and 3 (we ignored possible placement). Exeter, Bath, Bristol all very expensive even before this years issues. Whereas Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Loughborough, Sheffield etc far more reasonable, especially in 2nd and 3rd years. All comparable standard universities with many “better/worse” depending on subject.

This is not to disagree with how difficult it is for students being faced with high costs of private accommodation (especially if off campus at a campus uni) but more that unfortunately I think likely accommodation cost for three years in the city of study does have to be factored in by many of us alongside other criteria like graduate employability and obviously course content.

Unfortunately, this is a big problem for certain universities with limited housing stock. Allocations should take account of maximum budgets, but can be random. They may have a waiting list for transfers. Unfortunately, parents do have to exclude universities based on location due to the rent costs.

DD is at a Northern(ish) Uni and her Catered last year was £10500 and her loan was around £4K so we had to give her £6 so she would have nothing!!!

Yes @Limeandsoda2023unfortunately DC didn’t get Manchester or Leeds offer, it was between Bristol and Exeter.

Anyway I just wanted to start this thread to make future students aware of the situation. Let’s face it, this will mean some students have to give up their place/defer. Forwarned is forarmed 🙂

the second paragraph is just completely untrue though and ignorant!

Yes that does suck.
my understanding is Exeter is in the process of building more updated accomodation on campus and they have taken at least one onsite uni accommodation out of the picture this year hence the struggles. But paying an extra £2k with no warning seems unfair

sorry, I wasn’t suggesting your DC specifically should have chosen elsewhere but was taking issue with suggestion cheaper unis were lower ranking.

i totally agree with you that it is important to share info so future students are aware. For us, we looked at unis that had spread of accommodation from £5-10k, recognising shared bathrooms are key to getting cheaper. But even more significant is the difference in cost in 2nd and 3rd years between certain unis so definitely worth YPs (and their parents) adding that into their considerations.

Would also add that I think Exeter especially this year are acting outrageously. They had so many courses in clearing at reduced grades for at least five days post results day but then no accommodation to allocate once places accepted. I can not understand why they thought it was ok to offer places knowing they had no university accommodation. (And yes, this is anecdota based only on 4 students I know).

My Dd is off to Exeter after a gap year and her self catered en-suite room is costing £9200 for 40 weeks 😱😱😱
I was cleaning out my kitchen shelf this morning and found the Exeter accommodation leaflet we picked up at the open day in 2023 which showed me that 2 years ago (to start Sept 2023) the same accommodation was £7900. Which explained why I was expecting the top end SC accom to be max ”£8k or so.
So not only are they expensive but they are raising them to the tune of 7 or 8% pa. Bear that in mind when you work out your budgets.

@Delphigirl It’s heating costs, building material costs and increased labour costs. We ALL know these have increased a huge amount in the last few years. No escaping maintenance costs and heating in a university hall.

That is outrageous.

Thank you for sharing OP

Thank you.

Higher education is a huge disgrace in this country. In most civilised countries it costs a few pennies in admin fee to go to uni and student rental is affordable.

It's a dumb system

@Limeandsoda2023 So where is cheap then? Oxbridge obviously but where else? Where are the cheap high ranking universities? Obviously more students will stay at home or commute in future. Or preferably we get apprenticeships sorted out for far more young people.

I’m not sure if you meant your post to come across as aggressive as it does?

I didn’t say “cheap”, I said more reasonable and listed Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Loughborough unis. Many of my DD’s friends from London are indeed commuting to London unis this year and I noticed that UoM (where my DD is going) has specific information and activities for commuter students so I can assure you that many YP are already making the decision to stay at home and commute. But I am unsure why this is relevant to a thread about YP looking for uni accommodation?

People have no idea how expensive university is. I certainly had no idea before mine went. It's like a whole new mortgage covering the costs. Household income over £58k (I think) means you get the minimum maintenance loan of £4,915. It goes nowhere near covering the costs. Some parents give nothing on top of the loan. My daughter had friends in this position who were in effect working full-time alongside their degree to manage costs, and barely scraped through.

My dd was accepted for a Master's at Edinburgh Uni. With the tuition fees at £13k and post-grad accommodation at nearly the same, she decided to stay in Belgium. It's eye-watering. Especially after being a flat share for the last 2 years at 500 euros per month.

Why is everyone surprised?

Sucessive goverments have been trying to kill off the rental market and not building any houses, so there's a massive shortage. Scarcity of goods causes inflation. The scarce income is taxed on turnover and there's so much uncertainty re the new legislation.

Combined with a massive increase in students coming from abroad as they make the unis more cash, so massive expansion in small places. Coventry is a very small city, as is Edinburgh and Exeter. There is no supply.

There's now an entire generation of landlords leaving the market due to age, abuse and uncertainty. It's like vets, shops, travel, energy and every other area of life where it used to be small providers. The government want the rental sector to be mainly run by corporate build-to-rent providers. They demand a profit and a lot of the profit goes abroad to hedge fund investors....

I've never let to students but it's a specialist market and higher risk for lots of reasons. People have abused landlords, not understanding why it's needed (geographical mobility, flexibility, safer for people with uncertain income, as there was housing benefit) for years now and they are now voting with their feet.

It's basic economics but people seem to want all things, no landlords but lots of rental properties. There's only one area of property with lots of supply and that's AirBnB and that's due to the better tax regime and the lack of regulation.

The goverment regulate everything but enforce nothing, so it's going to be history repeating itself, bad landlords ignoring regulation and profiting and good landlords observing regulations, making effective losses on capital and just leaving the market for safer investments.