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?

It won't be a red flag, all it will show is how dedicated and resilient your son is being a carer while also taking his studies seriously and getting results. Ignore the ignorant comments on here .

Thank you, those are certainly my thoughts too! Some people have some damagingly strange views.

Commutable to by public transport? As students living at home to save money are not going to be running a car, and many universities don't have places for students to park.

My closest Russell Group university is Oxford at 40 miles away. It takes 2.5 hours to get there by public transport starting from my house.

The closest Russell Group university in terms of time to get there is close to 2 hours . The closest any university is about 1 hour 35 on a good day.

This. And how much would a season ticket to Oxford (or anywhere 20-60 miles away) cost? £££

It's 25 miles from our city to uni city DD1 wants to do master in and between £22 to £31 a week for DD1 to commute to a nearby city for masters - depending on concessions and if she takes bus or train so about so £88/110 to £124/155 a month.

She can cover that with p/t working hours she has - though would leave her little else but we cover most of her costs still.

DD2 was thinking 50 miles to her prefered uni was commutable - but it would be around £280 a month for train part and £40/50 for bus part from station to our house if current concession continue that could be more in future. It's not our preferred option for her TBH even if she does go there though would be cheaper than living there mainly as the amount of time it would just consume a day is huge and unhelpful if trying to work round that as well as study.

Does she know what the undergrad teaching hours are at her preferred university?

At my institution they are 09:00 to 19:00. A late finish followed by a long commute is not ideal, although it probably wouldn’t be every day.

She has no idea yet - it would be a high contact hour course and lots of lab work - so I don't think it would work for her.

She does really want to live away but was suggesting commuting if she needs a foundation year in reponse to us worrying about additional costs of that and suggesting other options- hence us looking at costs.

Everyone looks at the train journey time and thinks oh that's doable - and ignores the 40-50 minute walk or bus journey plus fare either side of train from campus to uni and from station to our house and the connections and delays that can happen there.

@CatkinToadflax Some people on here are employers and with so
many grads wanting jobs, there’s choice. Most employers want real
work experience not enforced caring duties with no relevance to work. Well not in most fields unless it’s a caring profession. Other dc are just as resilient!

It seems a hard life , day full of lectures and an excessive commute. Do you think this would effect degree outcome or the ability to have a satisfactory social life?

You’ve made some strange assumptions there.

You know most young carers also work while at uni and college. Your ideas blow my mind with your utter ignorance

@mids2019- I think the effect on students will really vary. For my nearest uni, ia student could have a fairly easy life at home if they live fairly close. Public transport is good so they would be able to access the library, social activities etc. & they may also benefit from parents taking care of cooking, washing etc.

If they live say 7 or more miles away in a direction where the bus service isn’t good, then at that distance the commuting becomes much harder & may start to have an impact particularly on evening social activities. At least with studying, you can read on the bus & access library books remotely.

That said, staying at home may help some students if they struggle with mental or physical health and for some students it may be their only chance of studying.

I think you will always have some students whose personal circumstances warrant living at home. My thoughts are that there will be a few bright students who are limited purely by finance and I get concerned about having something akin to a two tier university system.

The problem imho is that our whole uni system is based on ancient Oxbridge where it is the absolute norm to live in college and students come from all over the world. It was a maybe a presumption that the model could be extended at least to RG universities but that was when there were no tuition fees and generous loans.

And you need to weigh it up with needing to work on top of a degree to sustain moving away or handling disabilities alone. My daughter is doing what should be half an hours commute but in reality with our beyond shite bus service is 45 mins to an hour. Her longest day is 8.30- 5.30 ( some days are less)but as you say she can read or listen to notes on the bus. She is used to coping with a lot and pushing through. Commuting is far preferable to working a job on top of her degree or handling disabilities.

Who says many commuting from home haven’t got that too. Grads from unis with very little real life experience are two a penny. Those who have overcome real adversity to get their degree with additional relevant self study, projects, relevant work experience (which is increasingly hard to get ) but in many sectors with increased WFH you can gain from home, volunteering etc will be hugely desirable. Managing a caring role or overcoming clear adversity on top are hugely attractive. The days of a direct route from private school to Russel group uni being a guaranteed gateway are thankfully being challenged. Creativity, a less linear route, genuine interest in degrees and roles alongside resilience do seem to be coming more common and valued because they have to be. Many young people had their education hugely disrupted under Covid and the world is changing. Those who can Code and adapt to AI will have big advantages. We’re also hopefully going to see more and more degree apprenticeships which are often home based and preferable- degree, work experience and no debt!

Up until 1962 students had to pay their own tuition fees and living costs.

A lucky few might win a scholarship or be awarded a discretionary grant that covered all or part of the cost.

I'm not sure that's right... University fees were typically paid by local authorities before 1962 as far as I know.

It was purely discretionary. They could if they wanted to, but they didn’t have to. After 1962 they had to.

Despite being offered a place, my father could not attend university simply because neither he, nor his father, could afford to fund it.

My uni course had at least a third travelling there from home and it was in the days of free tuition, grants and travel expenses.
9am lectures most days - however it was central London where the transport system is much better than most places