Is anyone else’s DC opting for the most expensive “premium” halls?

[badboss2020]

We have submitted the application for DD to go into halls. For various reasons she has applied for the most expensive premium en suite type of halls. There are a lot of this type of room so I assume a lot of people do go for them, but now she’s paranoid that she’s going to be seen as rich/posh/tory (whatever that actually means!).
There is always a lot of talk about the cheapest options at various unis but the other end doesn’t get mentioned much.
We aren’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, it’s only for a year so we felt like she should have a chance in the nicest environment?!

@Johnogroats In Bristol the posh students go for the old catered halls! Not the new ones. The catered halls don’t attract the ones with unlimited money. Far more likely to be ex boarders and these halls are mostly at Stoke Bishop. Flash money goes for en suite near the city drinking areas.

@Elektra1 My DD1 never had her own bathroom in 4 years at university and never did at school either. Some people just see sharing as a way of life and many share bathrooms at home. Suddenly they all need this facility at university at vast expense. Odd in my view.

I just said it makes a difference if you can afford it. The shared bathroom in my halls (all girls) was horrible. In a different year I had a room with en suite shower and loo and it was really nice having my own bathroom that I could keep clean. It’s not a necessity but it’s nice to have.

At home, we’ve never lived in a house with more than one bathroom.

In my experience- with 2 at Uni and in the most expensive halls there are pros and cons.
Halls are a bit random I find. DC 1 did not have a good time. DC 2 is having a ball. Friendly hall but they are not his main friends.
They tend to have a bigger kitchen and more space. But equally with nicer rooms they also can spend more time in them.
Uni life is really what you make of it. Both mine pushed themselves just out of their comfort zone and are having a good time having taken the risk to talk to people, try new activities etc.

At my ds’s uni it’s mostly overseas students in the most expensive halls, and they tend to keep themselves to themselves. Ds was in the more basic halls and met some nice people, very much like him. This is Bath though so the expensive halls are bloody astronomical.

@Blueskiesnotgrey
What halls were these at Southampton? DS's preferred uni is Southampton (in fact we are going to the offer day today).

My dc both opted for en suite, most halls are now, weren’t posh though and covered by their loan plus dd1 had pip and dd2 had a bursary from the university and from her employer (sponsored student) so I paid nothing. You also don’t always get your first choice

@Treylime. DD’s en-suite at Southampton wasn’t expensive but I think they are older, not fancy like the rooms we saw in Birmingham.

But its like living in a 4 star hotel with fantastic views. Think there's even a butler employed 😀

When my dd went to university she went through clearing so was allocated hall, the most expensive ones. What she found was there were quite a lot of overseas students in them who left after semester one and new students came.

Information on halls quickly gets out of date - at my DC's London university the offer varies every year. There has been a lot of building and rebuilding of halls of residence. And there are cultural preferences: eg English middle class students embrace the boarding school model of shared bathrooms and catered hall for the social side whereas some other cultures prefer their own bathroom and to use Deliveroo. Best to ask students who have very recently been in halls and not rely on information that is 5 or 10 years old.

I opted for the nicest in halls when I went 20 years ago as I refused to share a bathroom (not envy!) we were a mix of people, but mostly working class, I guess easier to get with the maximum loans?!

Definitely weren’t seen as posh, nor were the people who went to the cheapest halls seen as ‘poor’ generally speaking they were the party halls, so where the more outgoing seemed to be. not an indication of class at all.

How much is the price difference? I went for the premium halls at my uni and no one cared but there was only about a £5 a week difference to the shared bathroom halls.

If it's a small difference you won't get any comments about it really. Tbh even the "premium" halls were pretty grotty so there was nothing to be envious of really.

judging by WIWIKAU you can drive yourself insane overthinking these things and there are no guarantees who you’ll end up with. You likely will get a concentration of international students in the higher cost halls because international students are almost always rich by definition if you consider the fee structures- ie these are all families who can afford 30k in tuition plus living costs with no access to loans.

As this thread shows, how UK students behave varies between unis and over time and depends on other factors like availability of genuine catered halls. Some people also don’t want en-suites because the communal bathrooms get cleaned and en-suites often get damp because don’t have windows and the fans are bad. You could also pay a lot for halls and have a gross kitchen due to the other flatmates.

I think it’s just a case of making a decision on whether they want a nicer room or more money in their pocket. Both mine would definitely choose to slum it and have more beer money 🤣

It will be completely random! In his first year DS's halls were very basic, tiny kitchen shared between 8, 2 toilets and 2 showers but it was absolutely fine. In his Masters year he went into private halls as no other accommodation could be found. He shared a flat with people that looked like they ought to be grown up and responsible (all Masters or PhD students) and whist his room was nice his flat mates were absolute pigs. He went back after one Christmas holiday to find no-one had emptied any kitchen bins in 3 weeks, excess rubbish had just been chucked in the corner of the kitchen. Honestly it was filthy

@DoAWheelie Have you looked at current prices? This is not now your era. The difference could be £6,000 pa. Not a few £ a week!

My DC really wants an en suite, as doesn’t want to share a bathroom with strangers.

Having visited and looked at pictures of the basic en-suite blocks versus the more modern “premium” blocks, we’re going to agree DH and I will cover the extra cost of choosing the premium.
It’s bigger, brighter, more spacious, just seems like a really attractive space, whereas the older ones are just a bit more cramped and gloomy.

DC has chosen a relatively low-cost location for university, so actually the premium halls aren’t hugely different to more standard offerings at some other places, and we have been putting a bit of money aside for several years now, so it should be manageable.

Everyone’s different, and there shouldn’t be some kind of moral superiority attached to which type of room you choose.

Having a grin at "Tory Towers" 😂

I understand your thinking. There is also the reasoning that when accommodation is less attractive the DC leave their rooms to socialize more.

Its great that she wouldn't mind international students, but the point is that international students tend to be quite insular and stick together, so may not want to hang out with her.

Also, if her flatmates are only there for a year, it might be hard for her to find a group to get accommodation with for second year. A lot of people buddy up with people from their halls.

I was in a 'posh' hall - I had applied for a mid range one but didn't get my choice. There were a lot of people from private schools, which was fine, we got on, but I definitely didn't make the 'friends for life' that my peers in the mid range halls made. But that could happen in any flat / hall.

Indeed. It’s mindboggling. When I was at uni, you didn’t have a choice of halls and were just happy to get a place. No such thing as ensuites (or double beds!). We shared 2 toilets, 2 sinks, 1 shower and 1 bath between 12 of us. And a shared kitchen although by ‘kitchen’ that meant 2 hotplates and 1 table with nothing else. A fridge was a carrier bag hanging out of your window (fine in winter but useless in summer).😂

Dd has en suite and is happy there. She’s met 5 others to share with next year, just normal, nice people. Some come from big houses, others flats. They don’t care about things like that. Having had to use cold bathrooms with broken doors as a student, I was all for the en suite. It’s cheaper than yours where she is.

Dd finds this. She’s in very expensive accommodation and her uni is quite “rah” and her course certainly is.

Dd was laughing the other week as her group of friends were having a conversation about crazy things their nannies had done when they were young. Dd had a childminder not a nanny and they all seemed a bit gobsmacked about that.

Yep-lots had credit cards that mum and dad just paid off each month, so going out for posh meals, shopping trips, nails, cabs and takeaways were just the norm. When you’re on super noodles and cheap cider. It’s difficult to socialise together!

Yes dd definitely has struggled with budgeting due to the friendship group. She doesn't drink alcohol and is going out clubbing but I think there's been a few meals out, etc more than I did as a student and the first term she was blowing £200 a week on food and going out! She spent her entire student loan by late Oct I think. So then of course we had to give her a £100 a week till the next loan payment so she could live....on top of the 1k plus a month rent.