Why is it that going to University Costs so much.

atypical

iamana1ias wrote: »

Apparently not in the public sector.

You don't happen to be talking about Fast Stream do you? If so I'd be amazed if anyone can come out of such a rigorous selection process and be as you describe.

bc3000

olly300 wrote: »

That's the thing I never understood.

When students where fully funded by the government they were happy to live in poorer living conditions, with no new clothes and get around by cheap transport methods, yet now they have to pay they expect to live in the lap of luxury, new clothes all the time and have their own car.

Where do you get the idea that all students expect to live in luxury? Yes, a lot of them live in en suite rooms and a few have cars, but that's often due to their parents' support. No one I know expects to have a car or new clothes all the time, and most of us walk the half hour to uni so we don't have to pay for the bus.

The_One_Who

bc3000 wrote: »

Where do you get the idea that all students expect to live in luxury? Yes, a lot of them live in en suite rooms and a few have cars, but that's often due to their parents' support. No one I know expects to have a car or new clothes all the time, and most of us walk the half hour to uni so we don't have to pay for the bus.

Obviously not all students, but a lot do. I know of a lot of students who 'need' en suite rooms. The idea of sharing a bathroom seems to repulse them. They also want flats as close to the university as possible, no matter what the premium. Yes, of course some of these students are getting a lot parental support, but most are not.

bc3000

The_One_Who wrote: »

Obviously not all students, but a lot do. I know of a lot of students who 'need' en suite rooms. The idea of sharing a bathroom seems to repulse them. They also want flats as close to the university as possible, no matter what the premium. Yes, of course some of these students are getting a lot parental support, but most are not.

I guess, but that's only some students, I don't have an en suite and I don't care, I picked the cheapest accommodation on purpose. A lot of students get help from their parents, some are paying for their accommodation, but for some it's more of a loan-type agreement. If your parents earn too much for you to get a grant the government just presumes your parents will help you out. Other parents will go for a big food shop with them, and send them up with stuff, or send them money. Most students do get some help from their parents in some way. But anyway this is kinda off topic..

iamana1ias

atypical wrote: »

You don't happen to be talking about Fast Stream do you? If so I'd be amazed if anyone can come out of such a rigorous selection process and be as you describe.

I've known quite a few faststream failures, but no, that's not what I was referring to.

Oldernotwiser

The_One_Who wrote: »

Obviously not all students, but a lot do. I know of a lot of students who 'need' en suite rooms. The idea of sharing a bathroom seems to repulse them. They also want flats as close to the university as possible, no matter what the premium. Yes, of course some of these students are getting a lot parental support, but most are not.

You're absolutely right about this; it's normally the most expensive accommodation that's let first.

It's not that long ago that sharing a room was common in many halls of residence; I don't see that going down very well these days!

Indie_Kid

The_One_Who wrote: »

Obviously not all students, but a lot do. I know of a lot of students who 'need' en suite rooms. The idea of sharing a bathroom seems to repulse them. They also want flats as close to the university as possible, no matter what the premium. Yes, of course some of these students are getting a lot parental support, but most are not.

Some of us have no choice where we stay. I need to be close to the uni and I need an en suite bathroom.

Sharing a bathroom doesn't repulse me; but I have no say in the matter.

The cut-off salary has been increased a lot in recent years so that more students are getting more money.

It went down this year because of overpayments in grants.

melancholly

sh1305 wrote: »

Some of us have no choice where we stay. I need to be close to the uni and I need an en suite bathroom.

Sharing a bathroom doesn't repulse me; but I have no say in the matter.

it would seem from your other posts that you aren't necessarily representative of the majority of students!

students could cope with sky and broadband at home (i know the library isn't popular), without expensive computers (again the library has many options), without en suite, without take aways, without gym memberships, without cars..... the list is quite long. (it's 10 years since i started an undergrad degree and i never had a computer, internet, en suite etc etc - it has been a massive shift towards this new lifestyle in the last decade!)

there are plenty of students, like bc3000, who have a concept of budgeting and 'wants versus needs', but there are plenty who just spend, spend, spend. sadly, those who throw money around without thinking about the consequences are the ones that people notice!

MarzipanFish

While it's true that lots of students live in fancy accommodation it's not always just down to them. I remember some new students complaining in the summer that they didn't want and would struggle to afford ensuite/ new accomodation but had been put there because the university's knocked down the cheaper accommodation to try & make more profit. So now there's a huge surplus of £105 a week ensuite rooms (the cheaper and even shared rooms have already been filled up).

I get the impression from parents that 30 years ago it was common to live in university accommodation for the duration of a degree, which many students seem to want the security of now. The difference now is than universities & companies have cottoned onto the fact that students often now get more loan money and want to take as large a share as students will let them and in my experience very cheap accomodation just doesn't exist anymore. I think there's plenty of students who would happily live in rundown bedsits if they were cheap. I'm not trying to say that there aren't very fussy students wanting to live somewhere fancy, but i think there's many more who just don't feel like they have much choice, certainly at this university.

I wish the grant/loans system was more consistent, or involved some adaptations for existing students when income thresholds change dramatically. I got a much worse deal than people a the year before (half the fees but yes i know it was upfront payments) and a year or 2 after (grant threshold doubled). My younger brother gets around £1500 a year more than i do, with much more of his money being a grant rather than loan.
Having said that, if the grant thresholds had been higher when i was going into university accomodation, the rent would probably have been higher and absorbed the extra money- the place i stayed went up from £75pw to £90pw when the grant threshold went to £60,000.


Whoops, quite an essay.

Indie_Kid

melancholly wrote: »

but there are plenty who just spend, spend, spend. sadly, those who throw money around without thinking about the consequences are the ones that people notice!

Most of my hallmates are like this. One spent around £4k on clothes and is now whinging because he has no money left.:rolleyes: As a result, he has a habit of pinching other peoples' pots & pans and hasn't replaced the 2 glasses (not mine) that he smashed.

I will only spend if I have to. I have a budget of £80 per week - I usually have over half of that left. And that's after things such as food and clothes. (I don't buy clothes every week)