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Interesting graphic from the BBC – and already it’s three years out of date, so the figures will be even higher.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

My daughter is starting at York next year, yes halls are very expensive. What’s worse I think is it’s a lottery system so you can put the cheaper halls down but no guarantee you will get them.

she has taken a gap year and is hoping to transfer her job to York for term time, hope she can as we may struggle after the first year if she cannot replenish the savings pot she has.

It’s not common to stay in halls as others say, tho most unis like some second years to stay and some (Lancaster I think) encourage students to be in halls all through.

DS’s private houses have all been more social for him than his halls tbf, but then he has shared with mates from his sport. It’s not been that much more. Also he has been able to stay through the summer (he has a job locally and the uni sports facilities are great).

DD is at Warwick on minimum loan. She has a part time job while there and at home. Second year onwards has been in a house share in central Leamington Spa for under £5.5k Pa. Walks into town through a lovely park in under a few minutes. Landlords are taking way above market rent from students but it sounds as though it could have been a lot worse.

Add Bath to the expensive list. 10.4k next year for a 10 month contract. DC1 is fortunately at Leicester where it's under 6k. I guess it evens out. I'm feeling very poor at the moment.

https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Student-accommodation-costs-across-10-cities-in-the-UK.pdf

I don’t know if the Beeb figs came from this? @clary or possibly a slightly earlier iteration. This HEPI reports seems to go up to 23/24 academic year but focuses on costs in 10 cities.

as you suggest accommodations costs beyond year 1 are an important consideration and really positive starting a thread on this.

https://www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/priced-out-the-accommodation-costs-survey-2024-london-edition/ Slightly more recent HEPI report though purely focused on London.

This is quite a useful read for people with students applying now, or in the next few years

With a Cost of Living Calculator which gives some interesting questions for students to think about, even if they probably won't be able to answer them all before going.

Big difference between when I went and now is contracts are longer.
Halls we were on term time only (ordinary uni not Oxbridge) so only paid around 30 weeks. Uni halls are now often 40 weeks or more and private halls and private houses 51 or 52 weeks.

I'm not sure when you went, but I think that is University specific, not specific to the year.
People I know / knew always had their rooms in hall from September to June and 2nd and 3rd year houses all year round.

Over 30 years ago and Leicester. I think they used rooms for conferences in summer. Girls from school at other universities were in similar set up.
In contrast DD’s uni halls contract extended a month after her last exam and was payable over Christmas and Easter.

What’s worse I think is it’s a lottery system so you can put the cheaper halls down but no guarantee you will get them.

Plus every Uni seems to have a different allocation system. From what I can remember, at Lancaster DD could book her accommodation in April provided she'd put it as her firm choice. She got exactly what she wanted though I vaguely recall that she had to pay a deposit which would be returned if she didn't get the grades.

Other Unis won't allocate until after results day even if students firm them and anecdotally, getting a place via clearing can make accommodation a nightmare to sort.

And some of the higher ranking Unis seem to be recruiting more students without thinking about where they will live.

Yep. We’re a bit better at almost £860. Finishes in June thank God! We had two at uni at one point, I think it was about £1400 a month for them both that year!

IIRC when DD looked at Warwick in about 2018 some of the halls were a 32 or maybe 35 week let so you had to clear out at the end of term. Cheaper tho. Not sure if that’s still the case.

DD actually went to Leicester through clearing and was guaranteed a halls place (no choice tho). It is a minefield. Ds at Loughborough (firm and got the grades) had a right PITA scramble post results with accommodation and he messed it up too, tho we sorted it in the end. I think that may have changed tho.

This was a major factor for us.

DD was undecided about Leeds or Manchester. We found that housing in Manchester was scarce and expensive, whereas in Leeds it was cheaper and plentiful. So she went to Leeds.

First year halls were £128pw (£5,376pa). Second year house was £450pm incl bills (£5,400pa). This year (final year) she's in a nicer house and pays £585pm incl bills (£7,020pa).

She gets maximum loan which covers rent, bills, food and all other essentials. She also has a part-time job which pays for everything else (social life etc).

If her rent was £9k pa she would have to work many more hours to make ends meet, which would be very stressful especially in final year.

So definitely worth bearing in mind housing cost when choosing uni.

I was able to at Birmingham University 40 years ago. I doubt it is possible now.

It depends on the uni and who is providing the Halls. DS is at Portsmouth and the uni has a mixture of their own halls and newer, more modern ones provided by private providers (mostly Unite). The university itself will only provide guaranteed accommodation for first years but Unite rooms can be booked elsewhere and are often offered to students in later years.

that being said, there is absolutely no shortage of accommodation in the city for all budgets. Prices range from about £100 to £160 for a room in a shared house (halls vary from about £110-£190).

DS has just signed up for a self-contained studio in a small privately-owned student block for £185 a week

My son is at Leeds. The rent was so much more than I expected. Then again, he wasn't planning on going at all until results day & wouldn't do any visits so I was flying blind & didn't really get to think about the various factors of living away as I stayed at home!! It's quite shocking considering he is on minimal student loan & I'm a single parent and it's hard. I really didn't do my homework on this but certainly will for boy no2 😤