First of all - serious thread.

I'm at the UEA in halls, paying £95 a week for my room. My student loan will pay for the cost of the room, but as this room is so expensive i still need to get a job or something to pay for food etc.

Originally I was going to go back at the weekends to see the GF / work, but then I got my timetable through - i'm here for 2 hours on Monday and then Thursday and Friday, so I thought maybe I might go home then as well - then it hit me what the hell am I paying £95pw for?

I live 35 miles away, or about an hour by car - so why don't I just live at home and save £60pw (cost of the room - (fuel + parking)).

Yes I know I would have a more active social life if I lived here - but is that really worth missing out on my other friends and girlfriend for?

My original idea of staying here and coming back at the weekends seems the worst of both worlds.

Logically the answer is obviously "stay at home and be rich-er", but I feel like if I do that i'm taking the easy way out...

I dont know :S

I have 7 days from today (monday) to move out without having to pay for any accomodation. after that I am liable for the full £3.5k for this room. I live 35 miles away, so petrol there and back the times i'd need it would be £21. My car is already insured for a year in full and at home anyway...

An Hero

/jk

If i where you i´d try to find something like a middle thing. I mean driving Home just every two days or so. Sure it would be easy to completely stay at home, but as you said where would be the social life with others + i wouldn´t drive to school and back every single day.

Staying at halls is a good life lesson. Teaches you self-reliance and budgeting skills. After all, I pay about 4 times that in rent now But it does seem a little pointless when it's only a stones throw from your actual house. I doubt I'd bother staying somewhere (and paying out for it) if I had the option.

Nothing wrong with taking the easy way out if everyone wins that way. But offer your folks some money (even though it won't cover anything like the cost of having you there), it's the least you can do.

You can't find a £60-65pw shared apt/house in the area? £95pw is steep got to say, I'd avoid work during uni if I could. I'm a lazy bastard though

Personally, living in the dorms was one of the best times of my life, I don't think its something you should pass up. I also wouldn't go home EVERY weekend because if you're in the dorms, then you're going to make friends there and want to hang out with them on weekends as well as people from home. Why not stay in the dorms and go home every 2 or 3 weeks? Also, can't you make your girlfriend come visit you some weekends? Like you said, the dorms are the more expensive option, but its a good experience being out on your own for the first time, so I'd say it worth it.

My advice would be to stay in halls. Yes, you'll be a bit worse off, but you'll also benefit from that experience of being in halls. And you'll have somewhere 'private' to study away from home pressures and activities.

A lot of people I know who stayed at home whilst going to university ended up regretting it. Only a few, the most stubborn ones I guess, claim that saving money was the bigger success.

At the very minimum I'd recommend being hard-up for the year at least, just so you can get to know some new people. And if you still fancy the cheaper home option, stay at home for years 2, 3, 4 etc. I've just moved into my halls (well, a block of student flats across the river from halls) as well, and have met quite a few people, whose company I enjoy; which is a rarity for me because I hate everyone.

£95 a week!!!?, jesus, I paid less than that for a room in a 4 bed executive house when I lived in Norwich with everything apart from food chucked in (Sky, broadband, electric, gas etc etc).

My suggestion, dump halls and rent a room close by, you'll get something much cheaper

Ignoring the readily abundant drugs supply in halls, going to uni has nothing to do with an education and absolutely everything to do with growing up. Living with your parents you will never grow up.

Uni's dont give you an education, well they do give you that OK poor choice of words, but what is an "education" ?

Given the choice, an applicant with 4 years of theory versus one with 4 years of apprenticeship i'd take the apprentise, and many employers would too.

The purpose of going to uni is to grow up because the normal education system throws people out onto the street just at the wrong moment in their life.

So make your choice, do you grow up? Or do you have your mum do your washing for you?

It's your decision, but if you want to leave uni a well rounded individual with qualifications, and some life experience - then you are far more likely to achieve it having experienced more of life than if you tidy your room before bed time.

thats a hell of a price, I pay 230€ a month for a room with small kitchen, water, gas, tv and broadband and its right on the campus

In your case I would think daily commuting is an option. Staying there won't guarantee a stronger social live, thats what I experience here in my dorm. And if you still have your friends at home
or get a cheaper room in a flat share or somethin. But it depends a bit on the uni, the one I'm on is a so called "Heimfahreruni" meaning people drive home at leas at the weekends with only the chinese students staying here; Clausthal is a ghost town on the weekends

Sod that, real life SUCKS, stay at home aslong as you can!!!!

I'll stay at the dorm I were you, you can go between places, visit people you know occasionally etc, but driving an hour everytime you came back from class is kinda tiring. Plus you might spend a lot of time near the campus even when you don't have class, doing researches and what not, so living nearby provides that sort of flexibility.

actually can you rent a place near the uni with some friends? Most of the hall in UK are absolutely horrid.

Halls every time. Ideally try and get a shared house though as even halls are still something of a cozy womb.

Quote from JJ72 :

actually can you rent a place near the uni with some friends?

That's generally the way forward for the 2nd year onwards, but you can't do that until you know some people, which is what the first year is all about.

Quote from JJ72 :

Most of the hall in UK are absolutely horrid.

No doubt the quality varies, but two things are certain: small rooms and expensive rent. Don't forget that halls provide many services that you don't normally get with private accomodation, such as meals, cleaning, security, lack of utility bills, etc. So they're not necessarily as bad value as they first appear.

I know a few people who stayed at home and I don't think any of them have grown up and matured quite as much as those who went away. This is part of the reason my parents wanted me to avoid my local Universities and I ended up 370 miles from home. It is a bit of shake up when you realise that going home just isn't possible (even for a weekend - too much travelling!), and you have to do everything yourself. It forces you to become independent.

Jack, it may be the more expensive option but your life can't be ruled by your wallet when there's good reason otherwise. You might rather save the money now but you may well regret it later in life if you don't try the fresh start at Uni. In fact, one of my Uni mates stayed at home, and is seriously considering starting a second degree in Scotland just so he can get from Uni all the bits he missed out on.

The largest downside to halls is the people. You might get stuck with a bunch of all-nighty partying immature lunatics. In fact that's quite likely. But dealing with those bastards, although seems like hell, is all part of the point of Uni, IMO. In fact, it's you kicking their heads in that helps them grow up (with any luck - may take repeated kickings).

£95 per week for a room is day light robbery. Go speak to the housing officer at the Uni they will have lists of Landlords who rent in the area. or just look yourself. Try to find people that are in your situation so you can club together & save a bundle.

You can rent an entire house for £600 per month so split that 3 ways & you have affordable digs. No need to miss out on all the uni social scene. (which is a lot more fun if you are single)

Quote from jakg :

yes i know i would have a more active social life if i lived here - but is that really worth missing out on my other friends and girlfriend for?

yes.

Stay in Halls for your first year, then find a nearby house to rent with friends for the following years.

I was pleasantly suprised how easy it was to make new friends and become much more independant through Halls.

And get a Erasmus scholarship - or whatever they are called now - and go to Sweden or Denmark for a year ASAP.

My experience form UNI is that you do not have time for family and you old friends the first part(*), and after that you have follow a schedule of how you spend your free time 0% study, 100% study, 50% study (in loop).

The price is very steep but if it includes meals it OK.
Beckys comment about growing up is 100% true, but you miss some of that if you live at a "all-inclusive-hotel".

*Depending on the type of education this is a few months to double digit months. It's more about having less distractions than about having no time though.

My education (it engineering) was in sweden 15 years ago YMMV.


EDIT: My main argument:
With the amount of study you need to do in the beginning there is no time for two hours of commute a day. Especially when you can't use those hours for study/sleep.

Quote from MAGGOT :

yes.

+1

Bros before hos man. Especially in this case, do not miss out on making new friends at college just because you want to go home and spend time with your girlfriend every weekend. I don't hate being out in the real world as much as some people, but some of the best times of my life were definitely spent with my friends in college.

Move out to halls immediatly and never return home!

Quote from rich uk :

Move out to halls immediatly and never return home!

That's what I did!

Although having to spend £115 in fuel and spend 13 hours in a car everytime somebody back home has a birthday does suck a bit. No wonder I can't save any money.

Living in the dorms can be really, really fun. It helps you grow up, you meet new people, and it sounds like you're close enough to home that you'll still be able to see your girl & friends more often than not. My advice would be to stay in the "halls" for your first year, then move into a place of your own.

It was 11 years ago I moved into my college dorm room, and I now live on the other side of the country from where I went to school, but the guys in the 3 rooms surrounding mine are still my closest friends.

Quote :

Bros before hos man.

There comes a time where you have to drop this mantra, when you are ready for a serious relationship. From my recollection of LFS forums' most public individual (hell, most people around here could even name what brand of pen drive he uses) is that Jack has been dating his girlfriend for quite some time, and takes his relationship and commitment to her quite seriously.

As that bit of advise makes you sound like, well, something of a shallow man with little experience of deep emotional connections to anyone bar yourself, i'd suggest hiding that expression back in the gutter where it belongs.

Or is this just me being all girly (for once) and out of place in a room full of men?

Quote from Becky Rose :

There comes a time where you have to drop this mantra, when you are ready for a serious relationship. From my recollection of LFS forums' most public individual (hell, most people around here could even name what brand of pen drive he uses) is that Jack has been dating his girlfriend for quite some time, and takes his relationship and commitment to her quite seriously.

As that bit of advise makes you sound like, well, something of a shallow man with little experience of deep emotional connections to anyone bar yourself, i'd suggest hiding that expression back in the gutter where it belongs.

Or is this just me being all girly (for once) and out of place in a room full of men?

Not out of place at all. I can only agree with your post.

However, you once called me a "mug", so i don't know if my vote counts...