commuting vs living in Kingston as a student

I am in the break between finishing first year and starting second year at Kingston University! I have been able to see the difference between commuting and living in Kingston as a student among my friends so thought I could weigh the pros and cons up for people wondering what to do if they are starting Uni this year or have already joined.

I would definitely recommend living in student accommodation at Kingston for your first year. I gained many of my friends through my accommodation which you wouldn’t be able to do if you commuted. It is also nice to have some independence away from your family, to live close to Uni and maximise your sleep instead of travelling in!! If you are going out with friends in London or in Kingston either on the weekends or after Uni then you might not want to go home alone or have a longer journey home.

However, it is more expensive to live away from family and to have to rely on yourself to provide for your lifestyle. For some, student finance does cover this but for others it may not and may persuade you to stay at home. From experience with friends during first year, a lot of them are happy that they stayed in accommodation. Others stayed in accommodation and realised they didn’t like it and were able to terminate their contract early and move home. If you are worried about living away from home I would recommend trying it and if it isn’t for you then you do have the option to move back home and stop your contract with the Uni’s student accommodation.

There is so much to do in Kingston and London so it is a perfect base to live and has many direct trains to other areas of the UK if you did want to visit home often but still live away. I still wanted to live in Kingston even though my family home is only a 40 min drive away. I haven’t regretted it at all, even with the costs- I love living with my friends and not having to worry about travelling home after a night out or the burden of having to get the train to and from Uni especially with the often train strikes!!! It’s great to be able to just make plans with my friends whenever we feel like it which I wouldn’t get the luxury of doing if I lived at home.

Kingston is also an amazing location to get a job. Two of my friends decided to stay living in Kingston over summer to get jobs as where their family live do not have as much job opportunities as Kingston does. The area has so many shops and restaurants and is so close to other cities, especially London for more jobs.

I hope this helps if you are struggling to decide whether to live in Kingston or commute. There is no harm in trying out living here and seeing how it goes!!

If you have any questions then please feel free to leave them below and I or others can get back to you!

Yasmin (BA Design Marketing)