[Sophie_Diep]

Hi all,

Please kindly share with me your experience. My first impression is on-campus rental is more expensive as compared to that of off-campus. In addition, on-campus accommodation may limit our activities to some extent (not sure).

Cheers,

Sophie

[gumball]

I would think it would be better to live off campus. It'll be cheaper and you won't be surrounded by what are likely to be noisy first years.

[The_Lonely_Goatherd]

I live off-campus back in my parents' home. It's a long journey into uni but better than spending all that money on rent and food, etc

[Ghost6]

Many universities have on-campus graduate housing, so that you can be close to your department or working place if you TA and such, while avoiding undergraduates if that is what you wish.

[TBD]

Oxford or Salford?

TBD

[studentbeanz]

(Original post by Sophie_Diep)
Hi all,

Please kindly share with me your experience. My first impression is on-campus rental is more expensive as compared to that of off-campus. In addition, on-campus accommodation may limit our activities to some extent (not sure).

Cheers,

Sophie

I'd live off campus. Postgrad study is different, unless you want a repeat of undergrad life of course!

[hotaru]

I haven't started my postgrad yet, I'm going to the University of Kent in September to do MSc Forensic Psychology but I know I'm definetly living on campus. Not like I have much of a choice, considering I live in Liverpool atm!

Even if I lived closer, I'd still live on campus because I remember what it was like in my 3rd year of undergrad living at home. I needed to be at the library pretty much everyday for my dissertation but found the travelling a real burden. There was a couple of times I needed to do all nighters but the last train home was at half eleven so that wasn't possible. Even if I stayed at my friends house in the city it was still a 30 minute walk, not good for a young woman in the dark in the late hours!

I just think if you really want to get the most out of your degree then on campus would be better, just for convenience. I know it's going to cost more but having the library and computer access a few minutes away will give me piece of mind.

But that's just me, we all have individual differences

[Sophie_Diep]

Hi,

Since I come from Vietnam and overseas living costs are the burden to me. Thus i would like to save as much as I can.

[gumball]

(Original post by Sophie_Diep)
Hi,

Since I come from Vietnam and overseas living costs are the burden to me. Thus i would like to save as much as I can.

I'd look off campus for a student house-share. That's the cheapest way you can do it.

[Sophie_Diep]

Yeah, I am waiting for school offers while doing some research on housing and cost of living in UK.

[Cirsium]

(Original post by Sophie_Diep)
Hi,

Since I come from Vietnam and overseas living costs are the burden to me. Thus i would like to save as much as I can.

Depending on the university and whether you think you could take it, you may be able to apply to be a 'Senior Resident' 'Resident Tutor' or 'Warden' (different names but all more or less the same job) in an undergrad hall. I lived in one for 2 years when I first came to Bristol, and in return for being there in the evenings I only paid one third of the usual rent (i.e. my whole year's rent was about £1500). Totally worth it imo.

[Raiden10]

(Original post by Cirsium)
Depending on the university and whether you think you could take it, you may be able to apply to be a 'Senior Resident' 'Resident Tutor' or 'Warden' (different names but all more or less the same job) in an undergrad hall. I lived in one for 2 years when I first came to Bristol, and in return for being there in the evenings I only paid one third of the usual rent (i.e. my whole year's rent was about £1500). Totally worth it imo.

Doesn't that mean you have to either socialize with first years or have no friends?

Forgive me if I misunderstand you.

[Cirsium]

(Original post by Raiden10)
Doesn't that mean you have to either socialize with first years or have no friends?

Forgive me if I misunderstand you.

Well firstly there are lots of other people in the same situation: even now some of my closest friends in Bristol are the 15 or so people I was a SR with when I first moved here. Generally unis with this kind of provision work on the basis of one person per 50-100 first year students. Bristol has something like 80 senior residents at any one time, and halls are generally near one another. And secondly, no, I have work friends, and I have friends who I sing or play in orchestras with, and I have friends who I do sport with... Are your only friends in the whole wide world the people that you share a flat with?!

Unless you mean about the whole being there in the evenings thing, in which case I should probably have clarified that because there are several of you doing it you only have to be there e.g. one night per week.

[Raiden10]

(Original post by Cirsium)
Well firstly there are lots of other people in the same situation: even now some of my closest friends in Bristol are the 15 or so people I was a SR with when I first moved here. Generally unis with this kind of provision work on the basis of one person per 50-100 first year students. Bristol has something like 80 senior residents at any one time, and halls are generally near one another. And secondly, no, I have work friends, and I have friends who I sing or play in orchestras with, and I have friends who I do sport with... Are your only friends in the whole wide world the people that you share a flat with?!

Well, yeah. At least in the beginning if you move to a new location and all your friends "in the whole wide world" are somewhere else.

OK if you share the duty with other postgrads that sounds a little better.

[Sophie_Diep]

(Original post by Cirsium)
Depending on the university and whether you think you could take it, you may be able to apply to be a 'Senior Resident' 'Resident Tutor' or 'Warden' (different names but all more or less the same job) in an undergrad hall. I lived in one for 2 years when I first came to Bristol, and in return for being there in the evenings I only paid one third of the usual rent (i.e. my whole year's rent was about £1500). Totally worth it imo.

Hi,

I will study more about "senior Resident" or the like you mentioned. However, i am not clear about what you meant. Please correct me if i am wrong. You lived on campus for 2 years and only lived in the evenings?

[poohat]

Its personal taste. I wouldnt stay in halls, but I do prefer living close to the university because a) I like feeling in the thick of things, and b) I'm lazy and dont want to have to walk more than 10-15 minutes to get in, or I wont bother most days.

If youre a PhD student the sub-Warden thing might be worth looking into since you save so much money, which is invaluable if youre trying to make your meagre stipend stretch as far as possible. It comes with its own time commitments though.

[Cirsium]

(Original post by Raiden10)
Well, yeah. At least in the beginning if you move to a new location and all your friends "in the whole wide world" are somewhere else.

OK if you share the duty with other postgrads that sounds a little better.

But how would that be different to moving into a shared house or something? You'd still only have maybe two or three other people there, and there's no guarantee that they'll be the same age as you (there's a fresher in my current shared house; my previous one had a guy in his 40s) or that you'll have anything in common.

(Original post by Sophie_Diep)
Hi,

I will study more about "senior Resident" or the like you mentioned. However, i am not clear about what you meant. Please correct me if i am wrong. You lived on campus for 2 years and only lived in the evenings?

Ummm I'm not sure if you don't understand, or if I'm just mis-reading your English, so I'll clarify:

First year undergrads live in halls of residence (aka halls). These may or may not be on a campus. In Bristol, they're forty minutes walk from the actual university where the lectures take place.

Senior residents are usually postgrads, but sometimes fourth year undergrads, who act as a 'responsible adult' for the block that they are in. Not all universities have them, but many do. Their role also varies widely by university but e.g. in Bristol the expectation is that as an SR:
- For one weekday evening each week you will be in hall, with a mobile phone and a set of master keys to let in any locked out students (and let them into the snooker room / music room etc) and to lock up the buildings at about 11pm
- For four weekend days each term you will be in hall, with a mobile phone etc etc
- That you will be present for a weekly SR meeting
- That you will not be absent from the hall overnight without prior warning (so you only have to be there in the evening one night per week, but you'll be sleeping there)
- That you will be there for various events like the Hall Ball and formal dinners.

So essentially, four nights in five you can go do whatever you want, as long as you're back to sleep

[Blazara]

(Original post by hotaru)
I haven't started my postgrad yet, I'm going to the University of Kent in September to do MSc Forensic Psychology but I know I'm definetly living on campus. Not like I have much of a choice, considering I live in Liverpool atm!

Even if I lived closer, I'd still live on campus because I remember what it was like in my 3rd year of undergrad living at home. I needed to be at the library pretty much everyday for my dissertation but found the travelling a real burden. There was a couple of times I needed to do all nighters but the last train home was at half eleven so that wasn't possible. Even if I stayed at my friends house in the city it was still a 30 minute walk, not good for a young woman in the dark in the late hours!

I just think if you really want to get the most out of your degree then on campus would be better, just for convenience. I know it's going to cost more but having the library and computer access a few minutes away will give me piece of mind.

But that's just me, we all have individual differences

Woolf College (The post-grad one) is sexy, well away from first years and about 3 minutes from the library!

[Sophie_Diep]

Thanks Cirsium!