Bath - Accomodation worries

Hi,
I really like Bath, but can't shake the worry about how expensive the accommodation is and also how hard it seems to be to find.
How early do first years need to find 2nd year places to live? Is there much available? Does the uni help support you? How much do you pay?

As I'm here asking questions...is there much on socially (I dont mean club nights)? I was looking at the union website and it didn't look like much was going on, maybe it is the wrong time of year!
Thank you!

Reply 1

University of Bath

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous #1

Hi,
I really like Bath, but can't shake the worry about how expensive the accommodation is and also how hard it seems to be to find.
How early do first years need to find 2nd year places to live? Is there much available? Does the uni help support you? How much do you pay?
As I'm here asking questions...is there much on socially (I dont mean club nights)? I was looking at the union website and it didn't look like much was going on, maybe it is the wrong time of year!
Thank you!

Hi,

I am glad to hear you really like Bath and I completely understand the worry of the financial cost at university.

In first year, Bath offers a range of accommodation both on campus and in the city, and the prices vary depending on what you are looking for. If you are looking to save money, I recommend a shared bathroom, uncatered accommodation. I was allocated Westwood in first-year and was really worried about sharing bathrooms, but it was honestly great and ended up saving me a good £2K overall for the year compared to the En-suite options. I also received the accommodation bursary from the University which I didn’t even have to apply for - the University contacted me letting me know I was eligible and took £1K off my accommodation expense. You can see all the accommodation options in a comparative table here: Undergraduate accommodation prices (bath.ac.uk).

In terms of second year housing, it is tricky as you would have only known people for a few months when starting to decide who to live with. Options for housing start coming out around late November/ December and these will keep rolling out throughout the year so there is honestly no rush! Personally, my group did some house viewings in December and ended up signing a contract in January, but we wanted to get this sorted early and knew we all wanted to live with each other. I know many others who sorted their accommodation later in the year and had no issues. My advice would be that if you finish viewing a house you like, make sure your group is reasonably quick to sort through the next stages as chances are, someone else will also be interested!

The University is very supportive, whether that’s finding a house itself via student pad Finding private sector accommodation (bath.ac.uk) or the SU which runs a finding housemates event Finding accommodation and housemates (thesubath.com) if you haven’t quite met a group you would like to live with yet (which is completely okay!!).

Bath is slightly more expensive in terms of rent compared to other cities but there are many ways in which you can budget and manage your money in other areas. You can expect to pay (on average) around £500-£600 pp pm (per person per month) for rent but this is dependent on location, number of rooms, En-suite etc. . You can get bills included or work out your utility bills yourself - which I recommend doing if youre looking to save money. In second year, we paid £495 pppm for rent and around £95 pppm for bills as we decided to do a package through Unihomes. Although our rent was on the cheaper side, we ended up spending more on bills than others who were doing it separately through providers such as Octopus energy or Fuse etc. For my final year, rent has increased (probably due to cost of living) to £570 pppm however we plan to arrange utility bills ourselves. Most of the second and third year students live in an area called Oldfield park which is great as your friends will likely be a 10-15 minute walk away. There is also a nice high street with a local Sainsburys and charity shops etc. and the Uni bus goes straight to campus from Oldfield Park ~20 minute bus journey. There are also options in Bearflat,Combe Down etc. Areas closer to the Royal Crescent I have found are more expensive.

The University provides a lot of financial advice and support for students such as short-term loans, bursaries and scholarships which you can find out more about here: Student Money Advice (bath.ac.uk). There are also many jobs within the SU and the university which are well paying. For example, I have worked as a student ambassador for the university which is very flexible, zero-hour contract and the money I get from this assist with my social and food costs. Although cost is a factor to consider, I hope that it dosen’t completely deter you from universities which may be right for you, as there are ways in which you can manage/ earn money.

Since Bath has 2 universities, there is a large population of students so there is lots going on in terms of student life! There are over 150 different societies ranging from sports, arts, culture, education, and some really niche ones too! I found this a great way to meet people who had similar interests to me. You can have a browse through the societies we have to offer here on our student unions website: https://www.thesubath.com/socs/. The SU website may not advertise all the events that the individual societies have running so if you are interested in any specific societies, I recommend checking if they have an Instagram page and looking at their engagement throughout the year in terms of social events (this will change as these are student run committees which changes every year).

Sorry for the long response but I hope this advice helps and please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sharon (3^rd year placement student – Biomedical sciences)

(edited 1 month ago)

University of Bath

Bath

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

It is expensive in comparison to some of my friends 2nd yrs. I’m about to pay £175 pw including bill’s package thru Unihomes. 4 bed 1 bathroom in Oldfield Park. Wasn’t hard to find Tbf. 1st year is hard as the supermarkets are in town so that’s a return bus trip and even then they’re metro supermarkets d as o more expensive that big ones. The one on campus is mega expensive. Yes Bath offer loans etc but that’s money you have to pay back obvs so I don’t see that as beneficial. Friends at Birm pay £125 pw and Southampton £135 pw 2nd yr.

Reply 3

Anonymous #3

A lot of first years get supermarket deliveries and some share deliveries to share the delivery cost so it’s cheaper than getting bus to supermarket, plus they deliver right to your hall door.

Reply 4

Anonymous #4

As long as you leave sufficient time and don’t wait till last minute there’s plenty of options. The market moves quick but it’s very manageable. In both my 1st and 2nd year I secured housing by end of Jan and Feb. I would recommend starting in late Nov - Dec as this is when the first lot of houses are released and you can have it out the way before January exams l. Staying outside Oldfield Park can be cheaper - I was in Walcot 2nd year and paid significantly less than those in oldfield

Second year - £520 inc. bills for double bedroom in walcot
Third year - £560+ bills for double bedroom in oldfield park

Bath uni has their own website called student pad for accommodation which is very useful.

There’s plenty on through the SU with loads of different societies so you don’t need to worry. And as the person above said, don’t bother going into town for the supermarket. Saver delivery slots are £1-2 which you can split between housemates.