Cost of second year accomodation (not halls)

[BeMintViper]

My eldest DS (20) is currently in his first year and we are paying £9000 for his accomodation in halls.
DS has told us that next year when he moves to a student house his accomodation will, apparently be much less expensive. That would be very welcome, as we have four other DC still at home; however I am unsure whether what he has said is entirely accurate and there doesnt seem to be much info online re potential costs.
Has anybody noticed a reduction in cost when your DC have moved out of halls, or is DS mistaken/having me on?

We are young parents (late thirties/early forties) and so none of our friend's DC have gone off to uni yet and cant therefore offer advice.

Thanks

Yes Newcastle seemed to be a particularly stressful way of allocating.
Its definitely something to ask. How much weekly is uni accommodation, how many weeks contract, availability - will all yr1 get uni accommodation (see Exeter and Warwick hassles this year) and how is it allocated.
My DD’s friend ended up in really expensive uni accommodation at York not her preference.
I knew my dc’s chances were good for cheapest as it’s a huge halls and not en-suite so less popular.

Yeah most landlords are wise to this hence the useless summer being at the start of the lease year rather than the end. It won’t help students at all unless they want to go before the end of the academic year, which very few will.

My DD graduated from Newcastle a couple of years ago.

shared houses were cheaper than halls. She was in Jesmond which seemed to be a big student area.

Yes, costs before the 2nd year maintenance loan comes in are an issue.

Yoyre often looking at a deposit of £500 payable when signing up. Rent will usually be required for 2nd/3rd yr house for July/Aug/Sept even if term and maintenance payments don’t start until October. You can easily be needing £3k in total.

Plus beware of bills packages being offered. Yes - makes it easy for students to manage - but they are paying that £20 per week or whatever it is all through July/Aug:Sept when property empty and out using utilities. That’s probably £250 not required.

And then there’s the fact that often there’s no teaching after Easter but just exams. Students can be paying for accommodation they don’t use as some go home.

I have one friend, whose DD given all this, plus the fact she has contact time on 3 days per week and all lectures are available online, who plans to live at home 200 miles away, use the train to go up once per week and pay for one night in the Travel Lodge - probably just for 20-23 weeks and expects to save thousands by doing this. This will be for the 3rd year as she’s realised how much she’s paying this year for 2nd and feels it’s not worth it, esp as she’s not having an amazing experience being there anyway.

You realise these high costs for 52 weeks when lectures and teaching probably lasts 22-24 weeks max is a poor deal. Yes, they are developing other skills etc etc. yes they are having fun (mostly) but it’s a pricey way to do it.

It’s inevitable that more will do uni from home, less will go and the uni experience a was y from home wil become more the preserve of the rich - a bit like boarding school.

Dd is in her second year at York. 6 bed shared house..£800 a month all inclusive

DD’s monthly rent is cheaper but it’s a twelve month contract instead of 42 weeks and with bills she’s paying about the same over the year.

yes @WombatChocolate that travel lodge idea is defintely a thing, I have read about that before.

It's a poor do indeed isn't it that the full uni experience is becoming the province of the rich, It's true tho – and I have ranted about it on here before :) along with my regular admonishment to check hall fees and private accommodation costs as part of the university choice – unless you are rich enough to shell out £10k a year for a room in a house.

Depends on the uni/area of course. DS is yr2 at UEA. First year halls was £921pm for 10mths. His house this year is £600pm (including bills) for 50wks.

At least in Edinburgh, landlords were very sure that they didn't want students mid July and August. £££’s made by renting accommodation out during The Fringe.

It's crazy. Dd gets a full loan and a small bursary and we still try to help when we can. She's applied for 35 part time student jobs since being back.
I find it so sad that they so many ordinary kids from poorer families are having to worry about surviving when it should be about studying and having some fun.

She has no issue with working but employers can pick and choose as it's so difficult to manage with rents so high in some places.

DS pays more in his second year and his room is smaller than he had in halls! Still doesn't pay £9K though, that's really a lot. First year was catered and it was about £5.5k, second year house is a bit more. The room is around £6K for 10 months, plus bills on top.

Wow where was he in a catered hall for £5.5k? That's a bargain!

(Sorry ofc you don't have to say haha)

DD’s halls are £202 a week .. next year rent including bills will be £170 a week in a shared house . So yes cheaper … but it’s not as you have to pay for more weeks than halls .

Most student rental houses start from June and go through until end of May so it works out less per week as most halls are for 40 weeks and the house would likely be for 48 weeks. You should find something for maybe £750 pcm.

I suspect this may be fairly unique to Edinburgh. There aren’t many cities which have an event which lasts for 1-2 months over the summer where people would be willing to pay top dollar to rent out grotty student accommodation!

£20 a week cheaper in Nottingham £180 to £160 including bills, but because the contract is for 52 weeks, it's about the same.

Thanks for all replies, extremely helpful as i didnt realise that second and third year would be 52 week contracts, that does seem very avaristic on behalf of the landlords, especially if bills are included during the months that they arent actually in residence!
In any case forewarned is forearmed.
It really is an expensive do isnt it? DS only has the minimum loan of £4915 per year so it falls to me and DH to pay for the accom and its as if we have a second mortgage at present.
I agree that its a shame that perhaps people will choose to stay at home for uni in the future. We have a very good university whichbis commutable but had hoped to encourage the DC to spread their wings and study elsewhere, the costs are going to be prohibitive for many (we are just about managing tbh) sad that many will be priced out of leaving for uni when its always been a rite of passage prior to these economic times

@BeMintViper my DS stays at uni (bc he likes the sports facilities and has a job locally) – at least if they have accomm that is an option, say if they can get a PT job that they wouldn't get at home.

I very much agree with you about what a challenge it can be to pay accommodation and I think it is not talked about. A colleague has a DC starting at uni next year and they were looking at accomm – they said to me, oh we saw one we quite liked at £250 pw – I said, wow that's a lot (I mean it's a lot more than it needs to be for sure, tho as I said in a PP, for that ££ you'll get something nice) – colleague said oh well, they'll get a big loan to cover it all. But that's sadly not the case and people are not always aware.

This is why I always think it's a good idea to look at accomm on offer and how likely you are to be allocated the cheaper end (and if you will be hapy with it) as part of the selection process.

Yes, I was balancing this with my previous post about the costs in Edinburgh.

Letting ‘laws’ are also different in Scotland for anyone whose DC is planning for a uni in Scotland.

Mine’s Glasgow but we still paid summer. The current students tend to give Notice and look to be out after exams Mid or end May so contracts starting June not unusual. Only benefit was they didn’t need to look until May so had time to make friends and decide who living with.

I think probably the answer is to go somewhere with plenty of accommodation so there are choices.

Usually but location dependent and how much they are willing to slum it - I’ve heard of students wanting double beds and en suites!

My youngest DD recently graduated from Newcastle. In her second year she lived in a huge student house in Jesmond that was quite reasonable. There were 6 of them in there with a massive communal kitchen/living room which really was big enough for 6 of them. In her third year, she shared with 3 others in a smaller, but equally nice student house in Heaton, again at a reasonable price.
She’s chosen to stay and work in Newcastle and now has a flat in Walker, not as nice an area as Jesmond or Heaton but okay.
Her student houses were always from August- July.

@BeMintViper

landlords want to rent for 52 weeks a year, if one lot of students doesn’t want it another will (remember overseas students and masters students want 52 weeks usually)

£210 a week in York on a 52 week contract, which most are.