Halls with shared bathrooms

[MissFlynn]

When bedrooms in halls on campus come with shared bathrooms, are the bathrooms shared by male and female students?

Looked at halls at Uni open day that were flats of 8 students with 2 bathrooms between them. A flat that is mixed m/f sounds great but dd was wondering about the bathrooms - we don’t think to ask on the day!

DD shares with men and women. So did I at university.

Edited to add I did NOT mean to quote.

It will likely be shared bathrooms in private student housing as well. It’s really not that bad.

They're generally mixed.

Many years ago I had a shared bathroom, but it was just females. Males had their own. Can’t think of any halls that were mixed.

The ones Ds has been in/ is currently in are mixed. Some universities give you the option of requesting single sex.

My DD had shared bathroom (1 between 2) in 1st year, all bathrooms shared by same sex but flat was mixed.

They are usually mixed but it may be that the sharers determine among themselves one to be used by each. Sometimes it is possibly to request single sex flats.

It varies between unis.
My ds's first choice has separate floors for males and females, with males rooms and facilities on the ground floor and females on the first, I think for girls' safety. There will be the inevitable floor hopping, and apparently girls come down to use the boys facilities, depending on how busy there's is. It's all quite informal.
My dd's halls were very pot luck, she could quite easily have ended up in a flat share with all males, but she was in ensuite accommodation.

My dc were both in mixed flats. Both had two bathrooms which the students allocated as a male and a female bathroom. Shower room actually.

Dd had a washbasin in her room which was a big plus - a lot cheaper than an en suite but a nice thing that means you can brush teeth, wash face, get a drink in your room, quite valuable.

DS 1st year house (on campus) was a mixed group of 12/13 with I think only 4 girls. No issues with it being mixed sex.
They all had sinks in their rooms but had to share 2 showers & 2 toilets between them! Unbelievably he never had to wait for a shower as all their timetables / sports training times varied.

Shared

Self-contained bathrooms and loos on each corridor were shared with no sex segregation when I was at university in halls the 90s - just like they would be in privately rented student housing. There were no single sex corridors.

There were also two shower rooms on the ground floor with rows of cubicles which were single sex. Hardly anyone used them though, because they were less private than the mixed sex bathrooms.

DD was girls only. Catered hall at Bristol. Units were rooms with kitchenette and bathroom. Each unit was single sex I believe. I think dc can ask for single sex.

Yes. My DD’s shared bathrooms were mixed. They looked like regular bathrooms you might have in your house (albeit quite outdated - the buildings were listed). There were three on her floor: one shower didn’t really work and one other had a bath with shower over. Worked out fine, though having a sink in her room was a real bonus.

Depends on the type of halls. My DD is at Warwick, first place she was allocated was shared loos/showers - males and females for the toilets (they were like old school toilets, 4 in the room with lockable doors) and the same for the showers (but lockable room). She hated it there, lots of 'messy' boys, and as soon as allowed she put in to be moved, which luckily she was after 6 weeks. This was again shared, but only with 1 other, and same sex allocated (so shared with another girl).

For the past 2 Uni years she lives in a shared house with the flatmates she met after she'd moved halls. They have 3 ensuites, and 2 shared bathrooms (boys use one, the girls the other), and a small downstairs loo as well. So, it doesn't necessarily mean that your DD has to end up just sharing anyway in 2nd and 3rd years, so might as well 'get used to it' - there are lots of housing options out there.

Be aware that some "woke" universities (my own included, I'm afraid) will count trans-identified men as "women." It's against the law now, but some universities are disproprtionately scared of the minority of trans-activist students

I went for a hall with en-suites. My friend was in a hall with shared bathrooms and I remember going to the loo and there was a bath in the cubicle next door. Imagine someone coming in and doing a crap while you’re in the bath!

My DC in a large 1960s purpose built hall of residence had shared shower rooms that were single sex. More recent halls of residence are more likely to have either en suite or one shower shared between two people of the same sex OR to be flats which are mixed sex including 2 bathrooms. Up to flat shares to decide whether they prefer to allocate bathrooms by sex or not. Personally I think that girls should never be expected to share bathrooms with boys who are strangers but I know that my position is far from universal in our gender defying world.

@Ceramiq Well yes but some women are self defining men!

Fortunately in my DCs large 1960s hall of residence that didn't wash (pun intended). The hall was built for a bygone era and the students seemed pretty happy to behave as if they lived in that (rather spartan but disciplined) era!

Years ago when I had to share a bathroom on a mixed floor at uni I hated it and it really ruined the Halls experience for me. I couldn't wait to move into a student house with a mixed group of friends.
Years later, when my ds was looking at Halls he said the whole sharing thing made him very uncomfortable.He echoed my sentiment that there is a forced intimacy with people you haven't chosen to be that close to - Like strangers turning up unpredictably to use your family bathroom.
He went for an en- suite room in Halls but again, couldn't wait to get a student house in Year 2 onwards with people he actually chose to live with.

@CurlyKoalie I agree that the forced intimacy of student halls of residence can be highly problematic. With hindsight (as all our DC have now been through the first year hall of residence era of their lives), I think that DC find it hardest when boundaries are weakest and that is usually large student flats with both shared mixed sex bathrooms and a shared kitchen. Certainly I thought that more old fashioned catered alls of residence, conceived in another era, were more respectful of boundaries even if living conditions were spartan. On a floor of dozens you don't have forced kitchen interaction and bathrooms if shared are more likely to be separated by sex. My DD used to have shower rendezvous with her girlfriends in a three stall shower room which obviously meant more privacy.

My dd was in a mixed halls flat of 12 yr 1 with 3 shared bathrooms. The toilets and showers were separate in cubicles with locked doors so no issues. Included weekly cleaning of bathrooms and kitchen.
Yr 2 private flat 4 sharing one bathroom mixed sexes.

My DD is in a mixed flat with shared toilets, shower rooms and kitchen. There are 4 girls, 2 boys and tbh, any problems have been caused by the 2 boys not flushing/cleaning the toilets after using them. The communal areas are supposed to be cleaned by cleaners but DD says she's never seen any so far.

But she's still glad she shares because it is so much cheaper than having an ensuite.

The 4 girls are sharing a house next year and whilst they all love one of the boys (can't stand the other one) they are glad to not be living with either of them in Y2.

I agree with Clary, have a room with a washbasin if you can, DD says that is a godsend.

My child’s (and mine!) were shared but both showers and loos had full length locking doors so were like their own mini bathrooms.