Would you like to roll out of bed and walk 30 seconds to your lecture and 30 seconds to the bar at the end of the day? Or would you prefer to be in the throng of your local town or city, mixing with locals? Do you really get a cleaner in halls, and would you swap that service for the independence of a shared house?
There’s a lot of choice in student accommodation these days. Halls of residence are provided by the universities themselves, or in partnership with private providers. They vary in quality, but some of the newer ones offer almost hotel-like facilities, with huge cinema screens and free bars – albeit at a price.
But you can also rent privately via a landlord or lettings agency – an option many students take up for their second and third years, once they’ve identified people they would like to live with.
Here’s what some current students had to say about the pros and cons of living on and off-campus.
Liam Hough, 19, York St John University
I was about to go to Northumbria via Clearing, but the only accommodation left was really shabby. I managed to swap to York at the last minute and found there was still space in the Student Castle. They’re really fancy halls – a bit like a hotel, run by an outside company. I shared a flat with six people and had an en-suite bathroom and double bed. It was £139 a week, but there were lots of benefits, including parties with free drink and a free bus pass. We were close to both the city centre and classes. I loved that it was so social, with nice touches like hidden roses on Valentine’s Day, and a massive cinema screen and games area.
Jed Mills, 20 , Norwich University of the Arts
I had a good time in halls with the people I met. We left our doors open and everyone was really friendly. But I wasn’t a big fan of the halls – they were a 35-minute walk from uni and expensive for what they were.
I had a really small room for £130 a week. There were 10 people sharing kitchens and lots of stuff was broken – you had to hold the oven physically shut for it to work!
We also had older student wardens in some of the halls, and I found that favouritism was shown to some students. I’m looking forward to our house share next year. It’s cheaper, bigger and nearer to uni.
Becca Porter, 20, University of Manchester
There were eight people in my flat at halls. It was pretty messy and we were a bit like a dysfunctional family - we even had a makeshift Christmas dinner. Sometimes there were clashes, as you might expect. I struggled towards the end with cooking because my physical disability worsened (joint hypermobility syndrome). I’m quite introverted and can struggle socially, but we enjoyed movie nights in together. We lived pretty central, about 15 minutes by bus. I’d heard the halls closer to town and uni weren’t great, but now I wish I’d chosen them, because they were quieter.
Luke Peterson, 24, University of Bedfordshire
I did two degrees and lived in state-of-the-art halls called Student Village, run by a private company – 10 minutes walk from the uni, very modern and serene with a mix of shared and studio flats. The main bonus was meeting so many new people; we were very ethnically diverse. I started off in my first year in a flat of five and we all got on straight away. We had a football pitch onsite and would congregate down there or around the pool table with other flats. There was also a free gym.
Zoe Sadler, 20 University of Bristol
Until Christmas of my first year I was in halls in the city centre sharing with five others, but I didn’t get on too well with one of the guys, so I moved to bigger halls in Stoke Bishop, where there are lots of students. The Bristol halls are dotted around the city, with one being more on site among uni buildings. In my new hall we had several bars and more of a social life. It was a bit difficult because everyone had already made friends, but I met one girl at a society who lived in the halls next door and ended up spending lots of time with her and her flatmates in halls, rather than going out in town.
Prince Ansah, 25, University of Brighton
My first year in halls was cheaper than private accommodation and great for meeting people, but I much preferred living in a shared house for my final two years. There were plenty of student houses in our area. We ended up being the meeting place for everyone from our course. We were closer to uni too. Our landlady was brilliant and was vetted by the uni. We bought her chocolates at the end.
Tara Alade, 22, University of Bedford (president of students’ union)
In my first year my parents advised me to live in halls to get the true campus feel and make friends, so I decided to stay on campus to mix and mingle.
In my second and third year, I’d become more confident and had friends on and off my course, so we decided to rent a house together to experience independence. It was cheaper and we had the freedom to do as we please, within reason. I sometimes worried I was missing out on the spontaneous social life of halls, but the uni made sure there were activities for everyone.
Joseph Everett, 21, Swansea University
I loved halls and was surprised at the amount of freedom we got; we had two really friendly security guards and a cleaner. There was a bar and a basketball court which we all made the most of. But it was an hour to walk into town and nightlife and half an hour to uni, so we were quite segregated. In the second year we had a house right between uni and town in a place called Brynmill. It wasn’t in great condition, but we had a really big social living room for seven of us and bigger bedrooms. Some of us got part-time jobs locally thanks to the location.
Justine Jones, 19 Swansea University
As a Clearing student I was virtually heartbroken when I found out I wouldn’t be living on campus for my first year. However, I went on a Facebook group set up for students in the same situation and managed to find enough people to put together a house share. Our nine-bedroom townhouse worked out much cheaper than living in halls and was still walking distance from campus.
I’m glad I lived in a larger house because we were able to create the campus feel – plus our friends liked coming to the house before a night out because it was closer to town.
Kelsey Frewin, 24, University of Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth is very small so everything is kind of in one place. Some of the halls, including mine, were on campus, so I was literally a minute’s walk from all my lectures, and we had great regular nights at our union there. There was also a shop, a chippy and a post office. But, in Aber, it’s without a doubt better to live in town. My shared flat was right on the seafront, about 20 mins walk up a hill to uni or £1 on the bus. There are so many great pubs and the locals are much friendlier than in other university towns. It was very gay-friendly in town, so I felt totally welcome and there were some great LGBT events.
