Placement year accomodation

How does placement year accommodation work? How late do you find out if you got the placement or not, and should you look and put down a deposit for accommodation beforehand? Also, if it is a placement in an area where there is also a Uni, would you recommend student accommodation like halls or a separate apartment?

Hi!

I have just finished my placement year and thought I would share my experience.

In terms of how late you find out, this depends on the application process of the placements you apply for. I would say most people have placements sorted by Easter but there are still placements being advertised well into June.

I moved from Lancaster to Cardiff for my placement year. As Cardiff has multiple unis I went for student accommodation. I looked for accommodation quite late (June for a placement starting in August) and looked on Spare Room and Facebook for student houses with a spare room. I went for this as I didn't know anyone in Cardiff so wanted to live with and meet other people. Cardiff uni has quite a large Facebook presence so for me this was much better for housing than Spare Room. If you look for accommodation earlier in the year you will likely be able to get a room in private halls. Spare room did have lots of good options for shared houses with young professionals so this may be worth looking into if you are moving to an area without a uni.

Hope this helps!
Florence (Lancaster University Student Ambassador)

Thank you, that was really informative. When you say private halls, do you mean the ones owned by companies not the University, such as IQ student? Also, the student house you were in, was that for students across all year groups or specifically for placement year students? And was it privately owned by a landlord or company owned?