My daughter facebook status

rev_henry

jeanmd wrote: »

Well done rev_henry, you sound very much like my daughter.

My daughter has a forty minute travel to uni which is a lot less time then it use to take her to get to college and as you can see from the figures I posted above she's saved a fortune by living away from the student area. This means they can afford to keep the place on rather then having to move all their belongings twice a year.

Thank you. I'm certainly not even as far out as that. Difficult to explain to someone unfamiliar with the student areas of Manchester, but now I'm 2 miles from uni, next year I'll be 2.3 or something, hardly a trek.

There is an advantage here in using specific 'student' accommodation round here, in that the Universities (all 4 of them!) run an accommodation bureau type thing that approves student landlords and makes them stick to a code of conduct. Having said that there's nothing stopping non students from renting the houses on the list.

amiehall

Some universities give very competitive rates on student accommodation. I think it would be wrong to state that anyone having to pay more for private housing than a student room is getting ripped off! My room now is a bargain especially considering the part of the country and the fact that bills are all included. There's no way I could find an equivalent flat privately for that price with bills.

Person_one

I enjoyed living in halls. You only get the chance once and I made friends for life from all over the world.

That was worth a lot more than a few hundred quid!

savemoney

She seems very sensible to me.

I have two girls one 20 (21 in 4 days time) and another 19. Youngest she left home in Feb got a flat with b/f and both independent. They got student fees to pay and get money from student finance but both also work some evenings and weekends, her b/f has two jobs. They share a car and pay quite a bit to run it on insurance

She has never asked a penny from us we helped out occasionally mainly food. Other daughter she is at home she is totally different to youngest cant imagine her leaving for a long time, but she does have a disability and although we try to get her involved with being more independent she would rather rely on us

They both go to uni in same town we live in

rev_henry

Person_one wrote: »

I enjoyed living in halls. You only get the chance once and I made friends for life from all over the world.

That was worth a lot more than a few hundred quid!

Yeah that is very true. I was fortunate enough to be on quite a friendly course/year group so have a good group of mates all on the same course.

jeanmd

amiehall wrote: »

Some universities give very competitive rates on student accommodation. I think it would be wrong to state that anyone having to pay more for private housing than a student room is getting ripped off! My room now is a bargain especially considering the part of the country and the fact that bills are all included. There's no way I could find an equivalent flat privately for that price with bills.

Hi, I didn't say it was a rip off just to also consider private rent.

Person_one wrote: »

I enjoyed living in halls. You only get the chance once and I made friends for life from all over the world.

That was worth a lot more than a few hundred quid!

Hi, I'm sure you did enjoy halls and as I said I did try talk her into going into halls. She too has a wonderful year group and has made some fantastic friends at uni with quite a few sleepovers there after having a little too much to drink. I suppose it depends how confident a person you are in both cases.

limsk63

so living outside can be cheaper than staying in halls? what about transportation? im going to start my first year in imperial college @ south kensington this fall. yes, the halls are very expensive but flats around south ken are like few times more exp. any recommendations?

SmallL

quest_5692 wrote: »

so living outside can be cheaper than staying in halls? what about transportation? im going to start my first year in imperial college @ south kensington this fall. yes, the halls are very expensive but flats around south ken are like few times more exp. any recommendations?

Sorry i have no idea about london and its probably an exception due to the high price of everything. Here in sheffield its much cheaper to use private housing.

jeanmd

quest_5692 wrote: »

so living outside can be cheaper than staying in halls? what about transportation? im going to start my first year in imperial college @ south kensington this fall. yes, the halls are very expensive but flats around south ken are like few times more exp. any recommendations?

Hi, I'm not saying you should find private rental in your first year as I truly believe halls have a lot going for them and unless you are a very outgoing person or wanting one base to last you throughout uni then I would say halls are worth the expense.

My daughter's uni is quite close to the Imperial college being just off Kensington high street. The plus for her is that the district line goes from Wimbledon to Kensington so it's easy for her to get to uni. The flats around Ken. are sooooo expensive and are literally a bed and wardrobe in the tiniest of rooms.
She had the added bonus of moving in with her boyfriend which is why I was talking about the second years as most people will have made friends who they could share with by then.

Transport - do get a student oyster card even if you stay in halls, if you are going to be going home a lot then also get a rail or coach card as these pay for themselves in no time. If you are going for a place outside Ken. then look for places near tube stations that go to Ken. I think South Ken. is your nearest tube station which opens up a massive area for you as it's served by the circle, Piccadilly and district lines. Go onto http://www.tfl.gov.uk and check them out.

You also have to factor in getting to work if you decide that's what you want to do. My daughter chose to work near home to cut down on costs after first trying to work near uni.

Do you homework and check out any area you are looking at carefully. We used http://www.stuckinlondon.com/londonareaguide/ which was really helpful.
Hope this helps, but if there's anything else you need to know please ask. J x

Please remember, my working out is for two people. Do compare it to the total cost of halls at the Imperial and what they include. https://workspace.imperial.ac.uk/accommodation/Public/Accommodation%20fees%20and%20payment%20Sheet1.pdf

rev_henry

SmallL wrote: »

Sorry i have no idea about london and its probably an exception due to the high price of everything. Here in sheffield its much cheaper to use private housing.

I imagine that's very true of London. Halls are probably best because they're in superb central locations but are actually affordable.