The traditional uni experience prior to 1992 when the Polys became unis involved students moving away and living in catered halls. Unis were founded as academic communities where living and eating together was a big part of the community thing.
I’d argue that the rise of self-catered accommodation in flats, and often the lack of communal (or well-used) communal spaces, such as bars, dining rooms or JCRs has made a big difference to the uni experience for many. Instead of mixing with hundreds at meal times and having a community of hundreds which get together in a hall or college bar, students are often more isolated now. They meet their self catering flat which might be just 5 or 6 or up to 14 - and not surprisingly, often don’t find ‘their people’ within that small number. There often isn’t a hall bar or much overall communal spaces, just maybe a couple bars or handful of cafes for the whole uni population, so the sense of being part of a community that’s big enough to find your tribe but small enough to be known and belong, is far less possible.
I think it’s a key reason many are disappointed with uni. But self catering accom is popular as students can be fussy eaters, want flexibility about when to eat and often prefer to eat in their room alone, as it seems huge numbers struggle socially even with sharing and eating in a kitchen that belongs to the flat. There’s an awkwardness that isn’t there in a dining room for hundreds somehow.
My view is the uni market is changing. Often the older unis are the more elite ones. Those who can afford it will travel to those and those going there will have more of a traditional experience. The majority will increasingly go to local unis - some having access to elite ones locally, but many not. Unis will become more polarised in social and economic terms. There will be some where many come from a distance and live there - a bit like the small no of boarding schools, which might also have local day students. But many unis of the middling type will revert to what they were before - local colleges of higher ed with a local student body. Yes, students will still have to find tuition fees and have other costs but save tens of thousands on accommodation.
As others have said, teaching is often just 22 weeks. Lectures can be all available online and exams too. Many subjects don’t have lectures everyday. Paying rent for 52 weeks (necessary in most privately owned accom) or for close to that in uni halls seems a wasted expense to many, esp if they aren’t enjoying the communal living. And as more live at home in some unis, experience for those who’ve moved away from home becomes different and less appealing leading to more not living away at that uni. Who wants to live in a uni town where 80% aren’t in the town at weekends as they don’t travel in at weekends, or where even on weekdays most have gone home for their dinner by 6pm.
People who can pay and will pay and who want to be away will have the choice. And those elite unis will still attract people who live too far away to commute. But it will become a smaller number than now.