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 only lived in for the first year and had to move home 2nd and 3rd because my parents were classed as high earners so I didn’t get the bursary but they couldn’t afford to pay for me in reality due to their own bills.

I agree. The 2000 intake was also lied to as they were told by the Unis that it would be "blended learning", i.e. a mix of face to face and online but in reality most was online only, and the Uni (certainly our son's) knew it was all going to be online because they told their staff that, so most of the staff had no intention of attending the Uni at all for the 20/21 academic year and planned for everything to be online, but students were fed a different tale. Obviously except for a small number of courses that needed face to face, such as some lab/workshop work and other "hands on" things, but certainly not for those whose courses were mostly lecture based. Funny how the Unis changed their websites the day after applications were finalised/confirmed to change it from "blended learning" to "mostly online" - it's as if they were worried that students would decide not to attend and they'd lose their campus accommodation monies and have lots of empty places on courses when students deferred! The fees should definitely be waived for 20/21 at the very least.

Very common where I grew up, even 40 years ago. I think a third of my year group commuted.

Going away for university just wasn't considered in my family. My husband and his siblings also went locally.

I think some universities did handle 2020/21 poorly (which is I assume what people on here mean when they refer to 2000 intake?). I would note that where in-person teaching was offered, attendance was appalling, though, and students started asking (and have not stopped asking) for everything to be available online for if and when they didn’t feel like coming in - it’s been a damaging and depressing cycle

@Walses DD is zone 1. Doesn’t seem unfashionable to me.

It’s very understandable given accommodation costs. If you are on min English loan it won’t touch accommodation costs at most universities.
The whole model of paying for accommodation for when they aren’t there.
Yr 1 we paid 40 weeks. Private halls often want 51 weeks. When I went to uni you only paid term time only and moved out in holidays. Yr2 in private I paid full year rent. She was off 4 months over summer, £2800 just on unnecessary accommodation.
Plus low contact hours and ability to watch lectures online often means people question what are they paying accommodation for.
Different demographics going to uni now. More students who are ND and may prefer to stay home for support.
Some cultures prefer female students especially to live at home or are anti loans and only affordable way no loan is to stay home.
ULAN - Preston has lots of accommodation now. One of its marketing tools is how affordable its accommodation is.

Its very normal and works well here (Australia). Living in halls is the exception not the norm.

Assuming you live in commutable distance to a reasonable size city you should not be disadvantaged.