hefty hall charges?

Prudent

My dd has been working for a few years and is thinking of taking a year out to do a course. As its an unusual course there is no student funding. Additionally its in London and all the high costs that brings. My first thought was that it would actually be cheaper to go the uni for 3/4 years as we have free tution in Scotland and she would be eligible for some additional funding.

Out of curiosity I decided to do a costing exercise. It wasn't what I expected :rotfl: The halls came in at a hefty £89 a week (cheapest option on the campus). I put this into a historical inflation calculator as they were £17 a week when I first went. The inflation adusted price was £40.53. This means that hall costs have over doubled in real terms. The rooms looked exactly the same (no major refurbishment), but on watching the video I saw that the cleaner now only came in once a week instead of five times. This must outweigh higher electricity & gas costs. I wonder how the increase is justified?

jacques_chirac

Inflation is not really a valid means of comparison here - you would need to take into account the cost of property (and associated business finance), the cost of utilities, supply and demand for the student rentals sector etc.

brendon

Well, property prices in London have far outgrown inflation. Where abouts in London is it? To me it seems fairly cheap -- I go to uni in central London and cheapest double room is about £100 pw. £130 for a single. I'm pretty sure tuition isn't free at English universities, however.

GwylimT

£89 is incredibly cheap for student halls, my son spent his first year in the cheapest halls which were £120 a week also not in London and not in an expensive area of the UK.

brendon

Also, for private halls you can usually get a hefty discount by leaving it to last minute. My brother's halls for last year were charged at £6,900 per year. He left it until the day before to apply. The price was reduced to £6,100 and he got a free iPad and free travelcard. He got the travelcard immediately refunded (as he didn't need all the zones) -- that netted about £1,000. The iPad was sold for about £200 I think. So he effectively paid £4,900 instead of £6,900.

You obviously run the risk of not getting somewhere to stay, though. (Although he says his halls was maybe 70% occupied -- obviously had trouble filling the rooms.)

duchy

They don't need to justify it. Students don't have to use halls - they can rent privately or commute if the family home is an hour or so away.

It's supply and demand.

(Halls here in Kent are £100 pw so I'd agree with the other poster it's not such a bad deal - What do private rentals go for around the uni- that's the best comparison really?)

Prudent

Sorry I wasn't clear in my first post. Out of interest, I was comparing costs now and then at my old uni which is in Scotland.

Prudent

Thank you everyone for contributing . I felt there were a lot of good points made. I am now going to see how rents for outwith campus compare now and then. I spent 1st and 3rd year on campus and was off campus year 2 and 4. I can remeber what I paid in rent, so will do some comparisons. Year 2 I paid £22 a week. In walking distance of the uni, but small room. Year 4 I paid £25 much further from uni.

What strikes me is how much costs must have gone up relatively for students. My more expensive rents were subsidised by housing benefit which kicked in to cover everything over £18 a week. My fees were paid and my grant gave me just over £1000 a semester. Each semester was 15 weeks, so 15 x £17 = £255, so 75% of my grant was still remaining after rent and bills. Off campus the charges were highly as bills were not included.

I was also referring to Scotland only in the free tution comment and it is definately free here for Scottish students. A strange anonomly is that it is also free for E.U. students, but not for English students, but that is an aside.

Nat1990

Even the student houses in the area of my uni are getting nearly expensive as halls. My rent for halls in first year was £100 a week (incl bills), for a house in 2nd year was £75 a week (not incl bills), for a house in 3rd year was £83 a week (not incl bills), for a house in masters year £85 a week (not incl bills). It is extortionate (my student loan did not cover my accommodation meaning I had to work almost full time hours to survive), but supply and demand and all. In our city there's a shortage of student housing meaning that landlords and uni halls can charge want they want - annoying but I would do the same in their position!

Dunroamin

Prudent wrote: »

Thank you everyone for contributing . I felt there were a lot of good points made. I am now going to see how rents for outwith campus compare now and then. I spent 1st and 3rd year on campus and was off campus year 2 and 4. I can remeber what I paid in rent, so will do some comparisons. Year 2 I paid £22 a week. In walking distance of the uni, but small room. Year 4 I paid £25 much further from uni.

What strikes me is how much costs must have gone up relatively for students. My more expensive rents were subsidised by housing benefit which kicked in to cover everything over £18 a week. My fees were paid and my grant gave me just over £1000 a semester. Each semester was 15 weeks, so 15 x £17 = £255, so 75% of my grant was still remaining after rent and bills. Off campus the charges were highly as bills were not included.

I was also referring to Scotland only in the free tution comment and it is definately free here for Scottish students. A strange anonomly is that it is also free for E.U. students, but not for English students, but that is an aside.

It must be different in Scotland, I don't think students have ever been able to claim HB in England.

Mummy_Moo

Halls and private shared houses are expensive because students are risky tenants and only stay for part of the year. If you are prepared to act as a guarantor it may be more cost effective for you daughter to rent a property privately (either a 1 bed flat or 2 bed house shared with someone you know & trust). I currently live in the same privately rented house that I moved into in my second year of uni, for a two-bed terrace it only costs me slightly more than a room in a shared house and I don't have to share my kitchen & bathroom.