Not all students, even first year students, live in University halls of residence. Halls of residence is just one of many types of student accommodation available. For the more cautious young adult, or worried parent, halls of residence might be the perfect solution for a new student looking for somewhere easy to stay during their first year of their studies.
For students returning to study, or students that don’t find any appeal in staying with a flat full of another 5 – 11 students, you might be looking for an alternative form of student accommodation. There are plenty of other options, including private rent and student accommodation outside of your chosen University’s halls of residence.
There are, of course, benefits to deciding to stay within the halls of residence on your University’s campus: Student social life, making new friends, sharing experiences with people on similar courses to you, and being close to University facilities like on-campus shops and the classrooms you’ll be using. Halls of residence is also great if you’re worried about being away from home for the first time, and it’s easy to access support while you’re living on the campus.
The downside to living on campus is that you don’t usually get to choose who you’re housed with and you might not get the accommodation type that you prefer. You’ll also have to quickly get used to the rowdiness that is “student life”, which includes partying flatmates, people leaving the flat at 3am to go study in the library, and a minimum of five other people going through last minute deadline stress.
If you’re desperate to get into student halls, there is a possibility of accommodation a little further afield than your University’s campus. Private student halls exist; and in areas largely populated by students, you’re likely to find at least one or two accepting new housing applications. You can usually find flats in these private student halls on the websites for letting agents, or on the halls’ own website.
Your other option for student-specific accommodation is private accommodation run through private landlords and lettings agents. These are different to private student halls, in that they are usually houses or flats that house 2 – 6 people. You’ll more than often find houses with 4 rooms, and the rooms will be let individually on separate contracts to each student.
With the smaller private student housing, you’ll find that you can still get a similar experience that you would get if you lived on the University’s campus, but with the added bonus of less people living with you. Houses are usually rented out by groups of people, but you’ll still be able to find singular rooms looking for an occupant closer to the start of the academic year.
Barring student accommodation, if you’re a more private person, you can always rent entirely privately. Unlike typical student accommodation, bills won’t be inclusive, but you’ll be able to live alone or with your significant other with no other students around.
