Halls of Residence Dilemma

pimento

My son has had an offer of halls of residence at Portsmouth University but they're not his first choice (in fact, they were not any of his choices) and I don't know what to do.

His offer is for a single ensuite room part catered and the accommodation is a bus ride (there's a free bus between 0730 and midnight Mon-Fri) away from the uni.

It's the part catered bit that's putting him off as the kitchenettes provided are only equipped with microwaves, mini oven and hob and fridge freezer and in the words of the uni are 'suitable for cooking snacks only'. There is a canteen where he will be given five vouchers a week for meals. Presumably, the rest of the time it will be chicken ding in the microwave or take aways.

My son is keen to cook his own food and thinks that the canteen will be like school meals and he wants to be able to cook low fat/low carb high protein stuff (yes, I know...)

According to the offer letter, this will be his only offer and there's no chance of being offered anything else. The £200 deposit has to be paid by July 26.

My son says he'd rather go into private rented, but I'm not so keen on this because the halls is £86 a week inclusive of electric and broadband, whereas he'll have to find this money as extras in private rented.

Should I pay the £200 and try to talk him into the halls? Maybe offer to drive down there again (we're in Essex) to see the location and perhaps the canteen menu?

Or should I let him go private rented and if so, what should I be looking out for?

HELP!

Fang_3

Convince him to go into halls. In fairness, if it's got a hob and a minioven, he's going to be able to make most of the things that he would want to anyway. Maybe buy him a fridge to go in his room in case the kitchen one isn't big enough, and this also makes a handy bribery device.

pimento

He's now saying it's too far from the uni and he doesn't want to get a bus. I despair really...

I need to get to the bottom of what the problem really is and I don't have long to do it. He's saying he wants to wait until he gets his results before thinking about it, but I know there's a waiting list for halls as the uni said that demand outstrips supply, so if I don't cough up the deposit by July 26, that's it, it's definitely private rented.

Aaargh!

Fang_3

Do it. Is it refundable? You can always pull out if necessary. It sounds like he's just getting cold feet to me, and that's stopping him from making a decision. Are you paying for it? That could hold some weight. You need to play up to the positive aspects of these halls. The people that he lives with in first year are probably going to be his closest friends for the period of his degree, and they'll be all in the same boat. If he lives in private, he could end up with anyone and they might not want an 18 year old fresher joining their group, or they'll be hunkering down for the most important year and won't be going out as much.

rev_henry

The uni accomodation sounds a bit poor to me! I'm going to uni this September, I'm not going into halls, but if I were I am guaranteed a place up to 26th August! Have you investigated private halls of residence? The likes of UNITE - there are others. I'm not sure they exist in Portsmouth but imagine they probably will; most reasonably uni-ish cities/towns have them. AFAIK they work pretty much the same as uni halls, just run by private companies, so your bills are inclusive etc.

pimento

I will pay the deposit but he will be paying the rent from his student loan. The deposit isn't refundable and once I've paid the deposit, we're liable for the full year's rent regardless. (Unless he doesn't get the results and doesn't get a place).

I'll look into the private halls, I never knew they existed.

To be honest, the halls we saw at the open day looked fine, but they had a full kitchen. Who would ever want part catered?

jollyanna

Phone the accomodation office and find out precisely what will be in the room. My son went to Cardiff and had a tiny en-suite room but it had a mini frig which meant he could keep his food away from hungry late-nighters!
Ask for sample menus, they are like schools and do a rotation of menu.
Be prepared to write off a proportion of the deposit/bond. Damage was done by a visitor to my son's halls flat kitchen and they all had to share the costs.

pimento

I'm working on him. The virtual tour online looks great, it's a tower block right on the seafront, so the views are great. The mini oven/hob looks small but OK. There doesn't seem to be a communal area for each flat though.

I think if I give him a couple of days to think it through, he'll know I'm right.

Now all he has to do is get the results!

The_One_Who

Surely this should be his decision? Let him do what he wants to do, and make his own mistakes.

fridge_raider

Obviously, I don't know your son, but he sounds like he could be like me when I started uni.

I wanted to be independent and cook my own meals (I am a keen cook) and eat them when I wanted, not at a time prescribed to me by a school-type canteen.

The kitchen will be very ill equipped (I speak from experience as I have had friends who lived in catered halls) and he won't be able to keep any food or alcohol (especially!) in the fridge in there as it will definitely go missing.

I'd look into private halls. I stayed with UNITE in my first year of university and, whilst the price was a little steep, I found the atmosphere was great, the flat was decently equipped, and there was a greater sense of a new start and the student experience, so to speak.

Obviously his decision should be based on personal preference, but catered halls always sounded like a terrible idea for me. I don't know if your son has discerning food tastes, but I do, and I would have been absolutely gutted if I moved into catered halls and the food wasn't up to scratch.

[Deleted User]

Avoid Unite as suggested above, they are expensive, unreliable and usually situated in a less desirable part of town (with little or no security measures).

I think the benifits of going into halls outweigh the bad. So I would put his name down and pay the £200. Also, ensure that his name's on a waiting list for the halls he wants so that he can transfer. Lots of people change their mind about which Uni to go to last minute and cancel or don't turn up - likewise they don't get the grades, or their Uni place and don't turn up etc. So there's usually some movement there, especially last minute before he goes, and during the first few weeks.