Are we entering an era of students mainly picking a local uni and commuting?

[mids2019]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/sep/13/rise-of-student-commuters-costs-living-at-home-or-in-halls

With the expense of student loans and general cost of living pressures coupled with exponentially increasing IT impact are we now going into be in a position of students maybe by default choosing a local university.

My concern would be maybe more academic kids from poorer backgrounds maybe going for a local option rather than going for maybe a better HEI which is more distant. Obviously Oxbridge may offer cheap accommodation but the students going there are from predominantly middle class backgrounds with parents I would hazard a guess maybe would be able to support their children anyway.. I think the problem will be with other Russell group institutions including London unis, Durham, Bristol, Edinburgh etx. where there may be some distance to travel.

Is this commuting student model really a good thing?

I think there's room for both. Where I work we're still seeing the vast majority of first year students living in halls but for second and third year it's a bit more mixed with something like 3:1 living independently vs living with parents. Where I work is outside any major cities but with moderately good public transport to nearby large towns. Aberystwyth might be a bit stuck...

The London unis are a special case as they benefit from a massive public transport network specifically designed to get millions of people in and out every day. They'll be fine regardless.

There are very few universities outside of cities though, even if your town has one, it may not offer the course you want. You are very fortunate if you can commute to a local university offering the course you want. This mainly applies to city dwellers.

Just based on my dc and their freinds experiences it seems to be happening around here.
Infact when we had a talk in june on ucas (for dc3 y12) there was a whole section on local unis which apparently was added 3 years ago when they noticed a change.
I also think there may be a link between household income and uni. Dc2 has a few freinds going away to uni this month and they all come from affluent families. I know two of dc friends got 4 a stars and are staying local due to cost (which isn't the best uni they could attend- ex poly). That feels really sad that these descions have to be made on finance and not ability.

Oxbridge not only provide relatively cheap accommodation but many colleges provide extra financial help to students with lower family incomes. My relative eg got £3,000 pa from a Cambridge college 20 years ago. ( Must be a lot more I guess now.)

Yes, very common in Scotland, I believe it's now 48%.
Made sense for mine, we live in Edinburgh and he has a 15 minute commute, a lot of his friends doing the same.
Obviously their degrees are paid for, no student loan as mine has a part time job and savings so will leave uni with zero debt. No brainer really.

Poorer children will be more likely to have a full maintenance loan which should, depending on where you are, cover accommodation costs, as well as being eligible for bursaries, extra cash from Universities, no travel costs, reduced food bills etc. If the family lives in cramped accommodation then a child living out could be better for both. The problem with the loans is for people above the threshold who can't afford to just pay out £££ for uni, so again the 'squeezed middle' who will probably have to top up the student maintenance loan and can't afford to shell out for accommodation.

DD has the option of commute or don't go. We get the minimum maintenance loan and can't afford to make up the difference. We are an hour from London on the train and there are 2 unis within commutable distance in our own county so she has plenty to choose from.

It’s always been quite common in Scotland to commute. Having to move away for uni has I think always been more an English thing.

It's becoming more common.

I don't know what I would have done. Our most local uni only offered STEM courses. Next choice would have been a good hour on the train every day, each way. Two including bus to station or home.

DD doesn’t want to graduate with debt. Given the amount of debt seems to typically be over £50k for an undergraduate degree, this seems a reasonable concern. We’ve said ok, one way we could support to make that happen is if you live at home. We would get her a little car to commute in. She seems keen, but of course this depends on her getting a place on her course of choice at our nearest uni. It’s madly competitive so it’s still a long shot, even if she’d prefer it.

Yep. It's a consequence of the massive shrinkage that we're just the start of - for lots of students, the full loan doesn't even cover accommodation. This has huge implications for mobility - there's a strategic movement across the sector for HEIs to respond to 'local economic need', which means outwith the Russell Group in particular we're seeing cuts to purely academic courses (not just arts/languages which is a bit more public knowledge, but e.g. maths or physics as opposed to the applied versions of these subjects). This means that for intellectually able kids who don't have a local option, those routes are shut off. It's really shit.

I agree a lot of families are going to call at 50K debt maybe with good reason. My concern is that increasingly students are making HE decisions based on finance rather than aiming for the best course at the best institution.

the idea of independent living in halls now does seem a luxury not all can afford and certainly from the people I know staying within the same region of the UK is starting to become a given when it comes to university.

There are many parts of the UK where you still have no option other than to move away. At least many university towns have a choice such as Bath & Bath Spa, Southampton & Solent, Nottingham & NTU Etc.

My daughter is going to York. She will get minimum loan but I can top her up.

The halls go up to over £11k. Out of about 30 options only 3 are under 8k. It’s also a lottery - you put down 7 but no guarantee what you will get. That will therefore block a lot of people from applying who are on a budget.

My daughter is going local. We are comfortable financially and a maintenance loan would not cover the rent and for the two days a week that she has to be in for lectures it's just not
worth living there. It's a 45 min bus ride to uni.

She has a job her that she can carry on doing around her uni days so we've told her not to apply for maintenance loan as we will cover travel costs and lunch money.

It’s definitely increasing but I wouldn’t say we’re approaching “mainly” yet.

It used to be that the Polytechnics people tended to go to their local one and stay at home. Hence the issues when they first became universities (eg Preston Poly (now University of Central Lancashire - no it isn't central Lancashire, it's definitely south, so how they hit on that name is anyone's guess) had people living in Pontins Southport - that's 20 miles away) as they didn't have accommodation.

I suspect we're seeing a bit of a return to that. So people who want a specific university won't be effected, but those who just want to go to "a" university, will consider their local one as being a better choice financially. Obviously that does depend a bit on what your local one is and what it offers.
We've got a good one up the road from us, and I'd say in the last few years I've seen a mild increase in people applying for it with the thought that they can live at home - but not a major increase.

More students are also choosing distance learning. The Open University is seeing increasing numbers of 18-25 year olds signing up, for example.

I stayed at home many years ago when I went to Uni (1990). Does seem common in Scotland. Both my kids did/are doing the commute into Glasgow for uni

Hugely dependent on where you live. If you live in Penzance or the Isle of Wight, where can you go? We don’t have anything within an hour of us, and then it’s either Oxford or London - London commuting costs would be too high (may as well pay for halls) and Oxford obviously not suitable for the vast majority. This gets brought up again and again but unless you’re very lucky and you a) live near a university b) it offers a course you want to do and c) it’s at the right level (eg an A star student would likely not want to go to, for example, Northampton) then it’s a moot point

My youngest stayed at home and commutes to Uni by bus or train. The loan doesn't touch the sides of accommodation costs but is just about enough to cover travel, equipment and lunches. We earn too much (as below-average earners) for her to get any help.

Our local uni is one of the country’s top unis, and DC’s GCSE grades, although very good, are too low to meet the entry requirements for our local uni on their chosen course. So it’s a non-starter.

This is the crazy thing about local universities serving the local populace and economy. How many kids from the North East are going to Durham?

@mids2019 Our nearest uni is Bucks New. They have limited academic courses and obviously students wanting maths or MFLs are not going there. Next nearest - Oxford. Obviously hardly any go there. There’s Oxford Poly ranked around 50th I think but no RG around here other than Oxford. Station 4 miles away and no bus to get there. That goes into a station some distance from any uni - so quite a long tube journey. Nothing is under 90 mins door to door journey that’s RG. This is all about Newcastle dc choosing Newcastle, Bath, Sheffield, Southampton etc. it’s never possible for rural dc to have any meaningful choice at all.

Both my kids chose this route. We’re look to have several universities within east commuting distance. They’ve never regretted it and it meant they were able to keep the jobs they’ve had since 16.