Don't expect a balcony, a butler and en suite bathroom... (Accommodation in general)

Name: violentviolet

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Product:	Accommodation in general
Date:	05/07/00 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some colleges allow you to live onsite for three years - convienent

Disadvantages: Set to become extremely expensive in the next few years, quality varies hugely

The quality and price of accomodation vary hugely depending on the college you are at. Many colleges have recently decided to impliment massive rent rise of up to 65% (eg. Kings) to make up for the recent cut in government funding. Such an increase would push up the price of a room to £70-75+ a week. This will hit students from middle income families particularly hard as they will be unable to claim additional help from rent bursaries and hardship funds. I should stress that not all colleges will be resorting to such extreme measures although most will be forced to increase rents by a considerable proportion. For example, my own college, Newnham, is carrying out increases of 5% per year on top of inflation for the next three years. This will push the cost of having a room in college to £70+ a week.

I should also add that it is extremely difficult to find low priced accomodation outside college unless it is through the university. The price of a privately rented room varies between £50-£70 per week. In order to graduate you must spend a certain amount of nights per term living within a three mile radius of a church in the city centre. This certainly complicates matters, as it means you cannot choose to live in on of the surrounding towns and thus take advantage of lower property prices.

Quality, as I said, can vary. Most colleges operate a ballot system where you are allocated a place on the ballot at random and get to choose your room depending on what is left available by the time it is your turn. Most of the actual rooms in my college are excellent especially compared to student accommodation at other universities. However, there is a distinct shortage of facilities such as shower, toilets and kitchens. One kitchen is usually shared by around 10+ people: there is usually around one shower per 20!!! It is really irritating to have to queue up just to get clean! There are huge pluses though - the grounds of most colleges are beauti
ful (I feel Iike I'm living in a stately home sometimes!) and the security is excellent. There is someone on duty at the door 24 hours a day and it is basically impossible to get in after midnight unless you're a member of college.

Just be warned - it's not all chaise longues and balconies!

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