Bristol accomodation for insurance offers - recent experiences?

[bristolasinsurance]

DD is applying to Maths at Cambridge and is planning to firm there if she is fortunate enough to get an offer. But the situation with STEP (only 1 in 2 offer holders will actually make their offer, even if they make the A Level part of it) means that having a solid insurance is essential, because there's a high likelihood of needing it.

She loved Bristol and I think would be really happy there. She's also eligible for a contextual offer which would potentially make it a great insurance choice.

But the big worry is accomodation. Obviously if she missed a Cambridge offer she would be disappointed, but I think she'd get over it quickly if she was able to have the full first year experience in halls at Bristol. But if she misses her offer AND then ends up in crap accomodation at Bristol (either privately renting and/or not with other freshers) I think it will really take the shine off what should be an exciting time.

I've heard that most universities prioritise firm and then clearing applicants, with insurance applicants often struggling. But I've just seen this on the Bristol website, which seems to suggest they actually do guarantee accomodation for insurance offers holders.

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/apply/guarantee/

I was wondering if anyone has any experiences from this year they could share?

That seems clear enough @bristolasinsurance – guarantee as long as you apply in time ie by the end of August.

I guess the thing is that it might not be your first choice of hall. DD took up a clearing place (not Bristol!) and that uni guaranteed uni accommodation but IIRC there was a very sparse choice (tho what she was allocated was fine).

The thing is with Bristol is that quite a lot of the accomm is catered which is expensive, if that's an issue. Also a lot of it is at Stoke Bishop, very lovely setting but a big hike from town and the uni.

I would imagine a later applicant will be placed in catered accomm (often less popular) at SB (I don't have experience of this tho!). I was at Bristol (2,384,566 years ago) and a lot of people I knew in SB halls had wanted a place in a Clifton hall and not got it. So I imagine the preference for places like Goldney, Manor and CHH still exists. Some more recent experience may contradict this of course!

The part that would concern me is, ‘We may offer rooms that are not in our advertised residences.’

I’m not sure what that means but would want to get it cleared up if it’s such an important factor in her choice.

I’ve never heard of anywhere that prioritises clearing applicants over insurance place holders.

@clary@bristolasinsurance That’s not correct to say quite a lot of Bristol accommodation is catered. Only 4 are catered out of over 30 options. These are Badock, Wills, Churchill and Clifton House. All the newer accommodation. Is self catered.

My DD was insurance but years ago so not relevant now. If she doesn’t get an offer from Cambridge, firm Bristol. Misses grade - see what she can get after results day at Bristol. The key is probably not being choosy! Great place to be though!

Yes fair point @OhDear111 , I guess it’s the older halls that are catered. HB is also partly catered btw. But agree, looking at the list, I can't manage to do the math! but yes only a small % are catered. Apologies for misleading deets @bristolasinsurance.

Tbh tho looking at the prices of some you'd be better off with a catered room in Churchill at less than £8k. Some of the newer ones are shockingly £££ like more than £9k for a SC room? Blimey.

Some of the most ££ ones seem to be aimed at postgrads tbh. But still that's a lot of money.

It's interesting that they seem to be located all over the place. When I was there the uni (for first years anyway) was basically union, depts, library and some halls (CHH Manor Goldney) in Clifton and the rest of us snuggled away up in Stoke Bishop. It's very disparate now by the looks of it. Certainly a city university.

Someone with more recent experience may be able to help with info on which halls are usually available for insurance options.

You can search halls by using a price filter and undergrad filter. If students want a new hall near the river they will pay more. Definitely not wise to go for en suite if you need to save money. Catered can be a great option at Stoke Bishop if dc don’t mind an older building and are happy eating with others. It’s a good way to meet people.

Bath definitely prioritised clearing student over insurance (a couple of years ago) clearing got guaranteed accommodation and insurance applicants were told they may get accommodated, then there’s no accommodation you can go on a waiting list / look for your own / defer.

Friend of DD's has gone to Bristol with an insurance offer. Was offered accomodation at a private hall costing a whopping £12k a year, take it or leave it.

@exhaustedbeinghappy That’s an odd attitude. Insurance students have actively chosen the university months before and probably visited. Clearing students are very late to the party! Probably avoid Bath for insurance then.

Lancaster, Loughborough, York... (they're just the ones my DS is applying to!)

It makes sense, it's all about competition - unis want students to confirm them rather than insure, so offer the accommodation guarantee for firm only. And during clearing, they want students to select them over the other clearing options, so they roll out the guarantee again.

And I've just checked and Bath still only guarantees accommodation for Firm and Clearing.

I’m a current first year SB parent. SB is very popular and very social. A room with a basin in a catered hall with shared loo/showers is £10k. SB has a free bus service to the campus but some halls in other parts of the city the same distance from the campus don’t have a free bus. Also lunch isn’t catered so you have to factor in buying a meal deal for lunch. You have to spend a bit of time trying to work out how to answer the questions re accommodation to end up with what you want, the first question is the budget and you then choose 3 halls. This was a new system this year so they may change it next year.

@Newlittlerescue Hardly fair though. Often lower grades AND accommodation in clearing!

Thank you everyone for your replies. @Muchtoomuchtodo, that's exactly what I am wondering about - what exactly does 'We may offer rooms that are not in our advertised residences’ mean in practice?

@Newlittlerescue, Lancaster is also on DD's list but as you say they explicitly prioritise clearing over insurance (as do many others)

"Students joining through Clearing in September 2025 will also benefit from an accommodation guarantee providing they apply by the deadline advised at the time.

We do not offer a formal guarantee to students joining us as their insurance choice, though we can usually accommodate many students in that category and can advise on alternative options if the need arises."

Given that Lancaster went into clearing for Maths this year (I believe with lower offer than their standard offer), I would be pretty pissed off as an insurance offer holder to miss a place in accommodation to someone trading up with lower grades. But I understand why they do it, clearing is all about getting bums on seats. Sigh.

From the sound of @Beamur's DD's friend's experience, Bristol's accommodation guarantee could mean £££ in a private hall. Although I suppose it's better than nothing...

@bristolasinsurance In the case of Lancaster, I wouldn't worry at all - it has an oversupply of campus accommodation, all good quality and the accommodation team said at the open day that they have always had sufficient accommodation for all incoming students. I'm on the Lancaster Parents Facebook group where lots of parents joined after results day and many of their kids (insurance and clearing) even got their first choice accommodation!

Yes, Lancaster Maths went into clearing at BBB this year.

Correction: Just looked back at my notes and Lancaster Maths was BBC this year!

That's both reassuring (re. accomodation) and a bit concerning (re. the clearing offer). Lancaster's standard Maths offer is A star A A. That's a big drop and I'd wonder how it affects the overall academic experience for those students who have achieved (or exceeded) their offer.

I do wonder if there is a bit of a trend (not just at Lancaster) of inflating standard offers in order to be seen as aspirational and thus more attractive?

What I've learnt here over the past few months is that although some of the Universities go into clearing with very low grades, it may only be for a very limited number of places. So chances are most students will still have the grades asked for originally, at least for the more popular Universities and subjects

A-star AA is for the MSci. For the BSc it's AAA (or AAB if you have maths and further maths).

But yes - a very significant drop!

If of interest, the other target unis I watched for in the NatSci/Maths area in clearing showed similar drops:

Exeter - Natural Sciences - ABC
Southampton - Mathematical Sciences - BBB
Loughborough - Natural Sciences - BBB
Lancaster - Natural Sciences - BBB
Lancaster - Mathematics - BBC
Nottingham - Natural Sciences - ABB
Birmingham - Natural Sciences - AAB (left clearing by evening)
Birmingham - Mathematics - ABB (left clearing by evening)
Leeds - Natural Sciences - AAA
Leeds - Chemistry & Maths - ABB
Durham - Natural Sciences - Not in clearing

Bristol over-offered in 2022, and had to offer accommodation in Newport in Wales: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-63291585

It may have just been a Covid-era anomaly.

Fwiw, Southampton guarantee equal treatment for insurance-choice applicants. My DS got his first choice hall there, despite being an insurance applicant.

@zookeepa, I’m on the Bristol uni parents FB page and no one has been placed out of the city. More student accommodation is also being built near the station for a new enterprise campus .

My daughter has just started Bristol uni. She missed out on her first choice so Bristol was her insurance.

She applied for accommodation the day she found out she was going to Bristol. She had to pick three halls and actually ended up getting her first choice. It did take 10 days from A Level results day to finding out what accommodation she’d been give though.

Happy to answer any questions you might have (although I may not know the answer 😂)

York offered an accommodation guarantee to insurance candidates for 2025 entry as long as they applied by 31 July. So insurance were in a better position than clearing candidates. However, that was a line York took later in the cycle, so it pays to keep on top of these things.

I don't think this is necessarily the case. My DD was recently at Stoke Bishop, and it was very popular as a first choice. Hiatt Baker was the unpopular hall years ago but that's no longer the case since refurbishment. There will definitely be some who want city centre or Clifton but a lot choose SB, it's not seen as second best. The free buses were great, very easy to get to the university and the city. No experience of what OP is asking though, sorry.

Yeh @Motherhubbardscupboard looking at the accommodation list I can understand that tbh.

While Clifton may be popular, a catered place in Churchill or Wills looks better value than some of the newer SC halls – and some of them look far away. Bedminster is a nice area of Bristol but it's not ideal IMHO for a first-year student – not near the uni really and not in the SB "village".

@bristolasinsurance feeling kind of sorry I posted haha as my intel is so dated. Couldn't resist it tho. Loving looking at Churchill Hall on the Bristol uni website, looks about the same as when I spent a happy year there (hall fees: approx £800 for the year IIRC).