Uni accommodation deposits

isualive

Hopefully he will look after his room and get his deposit back next year. I'm sure he will. It's just a shame that more notice regarding the deposit wasn't given.

talksr

I can sympathise with you on this.
While it is normal procedure to have it thrown at you, there appear to be no systems in place to help those who cannot afford the deposits until their student loan comes through.

When I got my results through, I was really happy to have got such good ones, and got straight on to my UCAS page to see if I was accepted. I was, and so rang up the accommodation office to get myself a room, they told me I would need to make a three figure deposit before i started uni. I couldn't believe it.
I said that I only live with my mum and we didn't have that sort of money, and that the only thing I could do, is take it out of my student loan when I received it, but I wouldn't get that until I was actually at the uni and enrolled. They said that there was nothing they could do unless I had the money before hand.

Because of this and the fact we knew no one who I could borrow the money from, I ended up having to go to a local uni insted, not half as high on the league tables. Not saying that league tables count, but I have just done my first year, and have stayed at home and travelled in on the train, its not really the same, I don't get the same experience. They really should sort this out, the people that really need the help and consideration are not given it.
£300 to me at the time was a hell of a lot. :mad:
I can understand the universities wanting to protect their property but there should be some sort of funding from the government for this maybe a loan for obtaining a deposit or something. Or if there already is one then it really should be publicised more as we were left with nowhere to turn. Not a situation any new university student should be left in, I am sure you agree, especially a non-well off one! :rotfl:
I hope your son does well, I just got through with 1st for my first year on Computer Science.

Rob:money:

isualive wrote: »

My son had his uni accommodation confirmed today. The big surprise was the £300 deposit that they had to receive within 10 days of the letter date. If not the accommodation offer is withdrawn. I've been with him to all the talks and meetings and this is the first time this was mentioned.

It's not mentioned in any literature.

We are not well off and have managed to borrow the money. Is it usual to have this thrown at you?

It's a worry for the students who can't raise the deposit? They could miss out.:mad:

isualive

Well done Rob, your first year is done!

The reason i posted this thread was for many reasons!

1. We really struggled to raise the £300.

2. The universities are having a lot of deposits in the bank, gaining interest, whilst none of the students have their results yet.

3. If you don't get the grades to get in, do you get it immediately back plus interest?

talksr

Thanks, it is, and I can now have a nice rest - although I really want to start learning for nxt year and get it all out of the way! [geek lol]

In response to the points

1) Yes I know what you mean:mad: - when they asked me for £300 I had never worked in a full time job before due to all of my studying, so £300 was just absurd, and we would be lucky if my mum had spent that in a month. A suitable suggestion, would be for a portion of the student loan to maybe be made available earlier in the year for potential students so those that are not able to pay off the deposit can at least get it on a loan.:cool: Something like this, I would hate to have others have the same experience as me all over £300 (Because, when you think about it, £300 out of your student loan is not very much!) But the point is, you don't get the loan until you are staying and enrolled at the university.

2) I think the reason for asking for the deposits so early is so that they can secure rooms and have some sort of idea of what is left over for other students who apply late.:p
If there was no deposit, students may feel its not a problem to decide to come out of accommodation at the university or move back in again. So the deposit not only comes in useful as a deterrent for wannabe vandal students, but also as a way of securing rooms so that each year they can see roughly which rooms have been taken and what ones are left. (At most unis, towards the last few weeks, the rooms all get taken and there are a lot of people out to try and get them so its a good thing if the university know which ones are actually left!:rolleyes:

And finally 3) If you don't get the grades, don't worry too much, most universities are flexible and if you give them a ring and talk to a course leader or someone, you can usually get in. If however you get completely lower than expected results and the uni no longer wants you, then yes, they will pay you the deposit back without a fuss.:T - Or at least this was what I was told at mine. But you don't get the interest. Because there is not much you can do if your results are not as expected.
From my experience, most accommodation is dealt with by the accommodations department, department, department - everything is in departments! Which is sometimes for the better and sometimes not :rolleyes:
I think the university accommodation department, sets the deposit fees on how desirable the rooms are (en-suite, modern building, 1970's slum, shared bathroom etc, coupled with things like, location to university, whether the rooms are owned by the university or a private company and then the biggest decider, is how much abuse the rooms have had. If they are likely to be trashed, and have been in the past, then the deposit is likely to be a little higher.

Hope this helps, sorry its a bit long! (and sorry if some of it doesn't make sense - I have not been up for long!)

Rob:money:

isualive wrote: »

Well done Rob, your first year is done!

The reason i posted this thread was for many reasons!

1. We really struggled to raise the £300.

2. The universities are having a lot of deposits in the bank, gaining interest, whilst none of the students have their results yet.

3. If you don't get the grades to get in, do you get it immediately back plus interest?

isualive

Perfect sense, many thanks, enjoy your summer break form uni and make the most of the rest. I hope more than anything he gets in, he really has his heart set on it, and the waiting for the results is so terrible for me, and obviously a million times worse for him.

All i can do is be there for him!

jrrowleyws

So... you were intending to go to uni with no money saved up front? Thats crazy, you'll struggle to live on your student loan and then will eat into your overdraft. Not a good idea, and ive seen so many people in trouble at uni as they had £0 apart from their loan.

Work your butt off before hand as it makes life a heck of a lot easier when you get there!

Gingernutmeg

Policies seem to vary a lot from place to place - I know a few people at my uni who struggled to afford the deposit and the uni let them pay it as soon as their loan came through - they were also fairly flexible about rent payments too, they too postdated cheques at the beginning of the year but they would always wait until the loans came through to cash them. That seems a sensible way of doing it to me ... At the end of the day the uni isn't really 'loosing' anything by doing that, maybe a bit of interest but if someone decides not to take the room halls are always oversubscribed anyway, so they'll fill any space up. I can't believe the attitude of your uni, talksr, that's awful.

talksr

Thanks again
I hope that your son does get everything he wants, its not that long until the results come out now is it.

In response to 'jrrowleyws' comment, unfortunately some people do intend to go to university with nothing, that is what the loans are for. I can't vouch for students who stay at the uni halls, but I am a home student, and I have managed on the student loan. I get the maximum possible and I still have a large amount left at the moment. It may be because I am careful with my money. Its a good idea to obviously get a part-time job.
But your suggestion of getting a job 'work your butt off first' is a sensible suggestion to anyone considering going to university who does not have very much money. In the end, I took a year out and worked in London at an IT company. I also re-took some a-levels to to try and push up my grades, then at the end of the year, I went off to university with a good few thousand saved up - Gave me extra financial security. And was well worth it. My lovely little car broke down at Christmas time, I was half way through my uni course, and if I had not been working the year previously, I would never have afforded to get a new one (yes it was that bad the car was no good!:mad:).

But I think the issue is that some people don't want to waste a year of their life. Without risking starting a debate on the pros and cons of a gap year:D I did find taking a year out a good thing to do, it gave me time to think things over for my self and decide what to do next, and also gave me financial stability.

Gingernutmeg, that is interesting where you said

I know a few people at my uni who struggled to afford the deposit and the uni let them pay it as soon as their loan came through

Clearly my uni was a little on the mean side. Don't get me wrong they were all very friendly and nice, when I went and saw the accommodation people and when I phoned them. But they were quite strict about how and when you needed to pay. No leighway and full payment (no installments).
Maybe they have changed their policies now, I don't really know as I live at home and have not looked into their systems.

For me, the most important thing was that I got there eventually and I am 1 third of the way there! I get on very well with the staff and am enjoying the learning experience. Hopefully anyone else embarking on a degree will find it just as worthwhile.

I do apologise if my replies are long - being a CS student, a keyboard is used more than a pen lol so typing happens very quickly :rotfl:

isualive wrote: »

Perfect sense, many thanks, enjoy your summer break form uni and make the most of the rest. I hope more than anything he gets in, he really has his heart set on it, and the waiting for the results is so terrible for me, and obviously a million times worse for him.

All i can do is be there for him!

isualive

jrrowleyws wrote: »

So... you were intending to go to uni with no money saved up front? Thats crazy, you'll struggle to live on your student loan and then will eat into your overdraft. Not a good idea, and ive seen so many people in trouble at uni as they had £0 apart from their loan.

Work your butt off before hand as it makes life a heck of a lot easier when you get there!

Are you talking from hindsight?

My son has worked. He is 18 and has spent alot of his earnings on books, materials, driving lessons etc. We are not all in a posistion to save. Some of us are! We are not all in a posistion to work our butts off. Some of us are! You have to do what you can do and that is that.

isualive

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

Policies seem to vary a lot from place to place - I know a few people at my uni who struggled to afford the deposit and the uni let them pay it as soon as their loan came through - they were also fairly flexible about rent payments too, they too postdated cheques at the beginning of the year but they would always wait until the loans came through to cash them. That seems a sensible way of doing it to me ... At the end of the day the uni isn't really 'loosing' anything by doing that, maybe a bit of interest but if someone decides not to take the room halls are always oversubscribed anyway, so they'll fill any space up. I can't believe the attitude of your uni, talksr, that's awful.

Thanks for your reply. My sons uni gave us no option. Pay up in 10 days or your accomodation place is given to someone else. At 18 he was devestated, but nevertheless we raised the cash.