Interesting (if dated) graphic showing student rental costs – yes it is something to bear in mind

[clary]

Interesting graphic from the BBC – and already it’s three years out of date, so the figures will be even higher.

It’s sketchy as it misses out masses of places obvs but look at the disparity between (say) Bristol and Exeter vs Sheffield and Liverpool. To the cheaper list I would add Leicester and Loughborough and maybe Newcastle as well. To the more expensive, Edinburgh.

To me this really shows why it is a good idea to look at rents when applying. The difference between £6.5k and £9.2k (or whatever those figures have both risen to now) is significant and valid when the max loan is about £10.5k. If a student’s family has a low income and thus they are on max loan, that also means no parental support. So that student needs to be choosing Sheffield (av rent in 2023 leaving about £4k for food, fun, travel and study expenses) rather than Bristol (av rent in 2023 leaving about £1200 for those things).

I think student housing is a significant factor in the increasingly expensive and competitive rental market. Take Exeter as an example - 40 years ago there were between 4-5k students. Now there are over 30,000.

I also think students are ripped off by landlords charging vast sums for grotty properties. The 8 sharing DS's 2nd year house in Nottingham were paying about £40k for the year for something which, if rented whole, would command a fraction of that.

@clary good post and it is something we looked at when our children were in late secondary school to show them the costs of going to uni. Information from sixth form about finances came at the start of year 13 for parents which in my opinion is incredibly late.

I think this sort of information plus having a household income chart with the expected parental top up should be shown to parents and students when Options Evenings roll around so here that would be toward the end of year 8. A lot of parents are unaware of the costs associated with uni as they believe that their child can get a maintenance loan but not that it is capped by household income. At least an email out to parents would prepare them early.

Then again in year 12 they should show accommodation costs for different unis to highlight the differences. When my friend said her DD was going to Bristol I congratulated her but then said ouch for the accommodation costs.

@insightnumber9 my child is in private halls of residence which works out at £180 a week for an en-suite room whereas nearby you can rent a room in a grotty carved up house for £220 for a week, bills in. They know they can charge this because it is close to the uni. Luckily we researched early so got onto the private halls waiting list early.

My daughter is at Bristol it is so expensive and fortunately we have a house she can live in there (part of the reason for selecting it) as for a 5 years course it wouldn’t be affordable otherwise!

Its not just the cost. DS1 is in Bristol and even getting a house is difficult. Its a LL market and they can be v choosy. There were often 20 groups queueing to view houses.
By contrast DS2 in Birmingham and as well as being cheaper, it was so much easier to find somewhere.

Basically unless you are wealthy enough to subsidise you dc to a greater extent, Bristol, Bath, Exeter, etc are becoming impossible to attend. Cardiff is still affordable (niece is there) and Nottingham isn’t as bad as that graphic implies, Leicester isn’t too bad, Newcastle, Lancaster, Warwick, etc all are ok

My daughter is at Nottingham and I'd say it's fairly accurate....

Thats why more students live at home and commute to the closest Uni.

This has long been the case, and I agree with @LaurasBestBag that it would be really helpful to get this information out there much more, and also earlier for parents who have no idea.

When dc1 was looking,(30 now) there was a really useful website that showed the cost of living at different places too - cost of a pint / takeaway / bus ride / 3 mile taxi ride / haircut / 'basket of shopping' / I think it included things like going to the cinema, today would probably be price of joining the gym. It was really useful and I was disappointed when dc2 started looking to not be able to find it again. Some places (Liverpool springs to mind) have expensive accommodation but really cheap cost of living generally, for example.

Thanks for sharing @clary

Thanks Clary. I'm surprised that Nottingham is so high. It would be really interesting to see all Unis listed. DD is at Lancaster and her halls this year were £5700 which seems like an absolute bargain. Her house next year will be about the same, lower weekly amount but obviously for a lot more weeks.

Do many students stay in halls for 2nd and 3rd year to avoid the gritty house shares? Or isn’t there enough to go round?

Generally not enough to go around. My Dd has a chronic illness so is able to stay on campus, but ds was off campus for years two and three.

@clary - very useful info. Also worth students/parents comparing campus accommodation. Ds was at Warwick which was £, but Dd is at Bath which is £££.

DS1 was at Nottingham. That seems accurate. DS2 is at York, now that was a shocker!

DD is in student accommodation in Liverpool, not her first choice or the closest... over £9.000 for her first year.

Ds1 is final year at Southampton and his halls were £5700. I now pay £500 a month for his house shares. Absolute shit holdes though and the landlords are taking the absolute piss but I think this is maybe quite affordable. Ds2 has applied to Bath, Exeter, Nottingham and Loughborough, in that order of favourites, and has mild OCD and wants an ensuite 😭😭😭

Oooh yes York is also known as £££.

I agree – parents are perhaps unaware of the amount they may need to contribute. A colleague was looking for their DC and they had found a place in halls that the YP liked that was £250 a week. I was a bit “blimey” – colleague says, “oh, is that a lot? Well it’s OK as they will get the loan to cover it.” Yes they can apply for a loan, except with your HH income they will get minimum which won’t even cover half of that. (I didn't say that tho).

Leicester is a great example IMHO of an underrated uni (see posts from me passim) – my DD went there and her hall accom was about £120 pw with her own washbasin (shared bathroom obvs) and then her private house was less than £100 pw. That was about five years ago but the Leics halls accom is even cheaper now - this for example is £82 pw https://le.ac.uk/study/accommodation/search/southmeade-court

It’s worth looking carefully. Loughborough for example (where DS is) has some cheaper options but bathrooms are shared, but also some catered with ensuite that are £££. DS's rent this year is about £560 pcm and it’s a really nice room in a pretty good house. So that's a bit less than £7k for the year. Not too bad.

@LaurasBestBag Couldn’t agree more that an informational film on YouTube shown year 8 or 9 in English schools would be a great idea. Bar chart showing loan and accommodation costs. Lots of people are unaware they will only get min loan and min loan won’t even cover accommodation.
@clary thats my old uni accommodation! I’ve revisited fairly recently and it was still nice. It’s in a safe leafy suburb next to sports centre and botanical gardens and a big Asda nearby. There’s a free bus to campus too. The study centre mentioned was our bar and common room back in day.

My DD is also at York. Her 2nd year rent is pennies off £1k/mth.

Yes DD really liked the village. Also handy for Oadby which is quite low-key if that suits and Asda is very near too.

The bus wasn't free when she was there so if it is now then that's great.

@clary I would have sent the parent a link to Save The Student which has a breakdown of household income and loan amounts just so she doesn't say yes to her DD and then realise her loan won't cover it.

I think the other thing that comes to light is actually what household income families have. We have never told the children exactly what the HHI is just that they will only get minimum loan. It is weirdly a difficult topic to talk about. They know how much our house cost to buy, the cost of our cars, even sofas, pans, meals out and holidays. It just feels awkward when it comes to actual salaries.

@TheClangyClunk mostly students move off campus. Those that stay on vary from international students, those with uni jobs like Student Union Rep and those who need proximity to lectures falling under medical/disability. Most unis say they will accommodate all first years so usually students move off campus.

What I will say is 2nd/3rd year accommodation is often dictated by the person with the smallest budget and that can limit choice. The closer to uni the more expensive, some are closer to nightlife/towns so again, potentially more expensive. The further out the cheaper it is. As I said close to uni £220 a week, Dc's mates lived a 40 minute walk away costing £160 a week refurbished property.

DD is at Queens Belfast, is in halls for second year, university owned house turned into two flats, shared bathroom, three of them, two others £89 a week all bills except food and TV licence. That and the £3k scholarship which is given to all students going there from mainland UK was a big part in choosing where to go

Dd isn’t at a campus uni but she’s in her second year and still in private halls, she’s booked the same room for next year already, lots of the students do this as it’s a five minute walk to lectures and right in the middle of the city, to move into a house share locally would either cost a small fortune or she’d have an hours commute on public transport.

Her halls are just under £9k for 44 weeks in an en-suite room, she gets the minimum student loan which she uses to live on, we pay the accommodation costs and she works in a supermarket to top herself up.

I have 2 at uni. One in an expensive city £9800 this year for accommodation, the other in a smaller, cheaper city £5800. We pay the rent and they live off the minimum loan. Both are doing high contact hours courses so limited opportunity to work.

Very timely post with offers coming in and people soon firming their choices.
DC1 went to one of the "cheap" examples in this table. Three years on and DC2 is paying almost double the rent somewhere else. Chose wisely!

So it seems that even though halls are really pricey it can still be cheaper to stay there for later years (if you can get in) rather than be at the mercy of very expensive house sharing.
DD is hoping to go in a couple of years so I’m getting up to speed with how it all works at the moment. Some of the rooms look so tiny, it makes me a bit claustrophobic looking at them!