Started in Halls but considering a commute

Hi, new here and hope this is in the right place. Thought i'd see what other students would think, as well as my parents so I can get a good idea of whether or not I'm thinking this through properly.

My home town is Stroud, and my Uni is just off junction 1 of the m32 in Bristol (UWE) - so its about 25 miles, 40/45 mins by car. Or I can do a 15 minute drive to my local commuter station (I say this because Stroud station has no direct link to Bristol - the other station I can go from is Cam and Dursley - its in the middle of nowhere but has free all day parking) then hop on the train from there which takes 20 minutes and drops me about a 15 min walk from campus. So that sets my options as far commuting goes..as far as I'm concerned its nothing outrageous. people commute much further distances each day!

Anyway my question.. I moved into halls about 4 weeks ago and while it seems like an alright experience, i'm not quite seeing it as the major life changing fun experience people make it out to be. I have worked full time for the past year and have been relatively independent while at home, so the whole looking after yourself thing is nothing new to me and I don't really feel as though I need to prove to myself and others that I can be independent because I know full well that I can be. I moved to halls because I thought its what people all did and didn't want to be the odd one out, but now I think about it is the pseudo independence and 5,600 charge for the 40 week privilege really worth it? When I can commute by car or If I fancied by train for a lot less, taking into account fuel for the week works out at 30 quid.

sorry..a bit more context, I also work part time still in my old Job who let me come back on saturdays, so I go home friday, work a 10 hour day saturday then head back sunday morning, so If I lived at home I would be able to pick up a few more hours, have money to spare and all the comforts of home as opposed to living on basically nothing, and having to work these weekends in order to be able to live in these halls. My maintenance pays for my rent and covers my 110 p/m overheads (car insurance, phone, gadget insurance, music streaming, netflix etc) but leaves little to spare.

With this in mind does it seem logical to try and leave halls and commute instead? I don't want to hear lots of people saying my social life will suffer as thats not what I'm interested in knowing, Im more concerned with the practicalities and if anyone here does commute, whats it like and does it harm your studies? Apologies for slightly miserable tone at times, just really unsure of what to do and can't help but think moving into halls was a bit of a mistake.

Sadly even for students Bristol is becoming quite expensive when it comes to rent.

If you don't mind the drive then commuting sounds like the best choice, as I'm sure you know though traffic in Bristol is generally appalling, and especially near French whilst they build the roads for the new metrobus route it's even worse, so you ought to take that into consideration.


What degree are you studying? Is it something at requires you to be on campus a lot or is it more flexible? Re; train, do you know how much it'll cost you roughly over the year for commuting this way + any car parking costs that there may be.

Also don't forget if you are living with your parents during your degree the money you get from SFE will be reduced as well

I have a part time job and commute too.
I lived in halls for the first part of my first year and found it difficult because I had to come home every weekend. I guess for you, I would commute in because there's no point paying rent for accommodation if you're going to come home quite often and plus, you'd be saving a lot of money.
In terms of studying, mine actually improved when I commuted. I take the train so I did most of my work there where I wasn't distracted whereas in my halls, there was always something going on to distract me.
It really depends on your commute though. On some days, it can get quite tiring, depending on your timetable and your course. I only go in for three days a week so I'm okay

Thats what I'm starting to think re. paying for accommodation when in reality I'm here for 4 full days as I leave Friday afternoon as I have nothing on and come back Sunday, usually towards the afternoon. I could come back Saturday evening but in reality after an 8:30 - 6:30 shift I don't really feel driving to the station, leaving my car getting the train then having to walk back to my flat, lol! I must admit the ease of being so close to lectures and everything is pretty good.. also my flat are pretty cool, so no issues there. Guess ill have to see what my parents think too, and what the get out clause with the halls are swell before rushing into anything

Early termination clauses are normally finding a replacement plus and admin fee.

you would have to do the above to leave ^^^

whether it's worth it is really down to you, personally I wouldn't want that significant commute and would prefer to get a job closer to uni so I didn't go home at the weekend but it's personal preference/priorities... I would hate sitting on trains/buses and waiting but if that's not so bad and you hate being in halls then commute