University Locks

Hi, i've made this thread to ask anyone who has lived in this accomodation last year or just from recent experiences of it. Is it worth the price?

I was sure it was £130 per week at one point as I had seen it somewhere on the website or flyers, but now it's gone up to £150 per week. Coronavirus induced inflations?

Most definitely not. Better off getting a room in jennens court or the heights.

Actually Locks is the cheapest. Considering the other options dont offer 40 week contracts it actually works out cheaper

Hi I stayed in Locks last uni year (2019/2020) Its okay for the price and is about the same price per week compared to other accommodation. I paid £147 per week last year and its £150 this year.

also just to add to to what Lshort17 said, Yes uni locks is the cheapest overall being 6000£ for the 40 weeks. Most accommodation is 44+ weeks so your saving a good amount.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sadly I applied late and I can't get an ensuite room.

I've been offered a room at the two-bedroom flat and was wondering if anyone here has experienced staying in those? Is the two bedroom flat bigger for the individual students? Like is a bedroom from the two-bedroom flat bigger as compared to say, a bedroom in a shared flat with 5-7 other people who have an ensuite of their own too? Or is it still even worth the price? Any feedback is great and my apologies for the picky questions.

I mean if missing out an ensuite means I can have a much bigger kitchen and bedroom then in my books it's not a big deal, so long as the other flatmate is sound. This accomodation is very close to my lessons which is why i'm quite desperate and I wanted to live really close during my final year.

True, it's about £5850 for the year which appealed to me.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sadly I applied late and I can't get an ensuite room.

I've been offered a room at the two-bedroom flat and was wondering if anyone here has experienced staying in those? Is the two bedroom flat bigger for the individual students? Like is a bedroom from the two-bedroom flat bigger as compared to say, a bedroom in a shared flat with 5-7 other people who have an ensuite of their own too? Or is it still even worth the price? Any feedback is great and my apologies for the picky questions.

I mean if missing out an ensuite means I can have a much bigger kitchen and bedroom then in my books it's not a big deal, so long as the other flatmate is sound. This accomodation is very close to my lessons which is why i'm quite desperate and I wanted to live really close during my final year.

Are you on about the 2 bed rooms at Locks? One of my coursemates are in a 2 bed. He said there is a shared shower and he hasnt complained as he was in a 7 bed last year so im guessing it still lives up to his standards so that must mean its just as good! The only issue is that you are only with one person so if you come to not like them you are kinda alone as you arent allowed visitors at all this semester due to covid. So far from my experience this year locks is a great accommodation and is definitely worth the price. In fact if feels like it should cost more due to how modern and well it looks. If you have any questions do ask. Even tho i have only been here a week hahahaha

heya, i was looking at studying at BCU for 2021, ive looked at different accoms and university locks stood out for me personally from say the heights because of the bedroom, how's the hygiene and room space like? because i saw the videos and it looked really nice for the price as well, is it close to the city centre as well, because i saw the queens hospital accom being the cheapest for £122 and i really disliked it but what accom do you think is worth the money because i live in London but want to move out to brum to study for 4 years.

Definitely locks by far. Im here and its amazing. In fact locks is actually the cheapest as the rental period is shorter. Depends what your course length is as some of the ones at south are including placements. So check that first as theres no point renting when you dont need to. The room size is actually pretty decent. Enough that you need really. I love the fact it has a floor to ceiling window as most accoms dont offer that. They are very light and roomy. Very high ceilings to what im used to. Hygiene wise it is as clean as you make it. They have cleaners cleaning all the common spaces due to covid and i think they would anyway but you are responsible for cleaning your flats corridor, kitchen and own room. Ive been hoovering once a day as my flatmates dont clean up after themselves haha. But saying that theres only 2 of us here now as the rest have gone home and it is really clean 😂

I put heights second originally, never looked at it but i know people in there. I didnt like the look of it due to it looking like a bedroom in a caravan but other than that i think its alright but not really worth the money.

I love how close locks is to the University and the city centre is a 10 min walk if that. B

OMGGGG thank you so much, i decided to take a gap year and entry for sept 21 to study media and communication with a foundation year and i've applied for BCU,bristol,liverpool,portsmouth and york but the only uni i want to go to is BCU, plus i'm from london but i've spent a lot of time in those areas for motives, and i'm due to send off my ucas application off soon and i've just been debating the accom, apparently when you get the offer you have to select a selection of the accom's what order would you recommend and you have to pay a 150 in advance right? the accom is looking so expensive though compared to last year like from 130 to around 150 but it looks way better then the heights considering the heights is 146 and the room makes me want to die, when does the accom portal open up and what time should i apply in order to get the first choice, also is security strict in the locks, is there a smokers spot looooooooool, hows the flat people as well, is it easy to make friends cos moving from london to brum is going to be a big step for me but i love how close the city centre is as well. this is littttyyyyyyy, thanks x

Oh nice! Yes BCU is a great uni. Better of the cities too. I love Birmingham. Really has grown on me massively. Im so grateful to be studying in such an amazing city. Plus there are so many exciting developments happening in the city (im doing a Building Surveying degree so bit of a building nerd haha). One of my Flatmates are from London. He says its way different here but he likes it. Definitely smaller to what you are probably used to. Im from a rural part of England so for me it was a mahoosive step up but it was well worth it. Good luck with your application. This time last year for me was such an exciting time visiting all the unis and sending my application off. Such a shame you cant visit any of them in person. How are you finding the online open days?

So for the offer. You have to rank all 6 accoms in order of favourite to least. You have more of a chance at getting your first if its a) unpopular choice or has lots of rooms or b)if you are unconditional. I was conditional so i was really concerned that i would get Heights but thankfully i applied really early and got it. I would suggest doing it as soon as it opens as so many people do that so get it asap. For us it opened on 3rd March i think at like 9am. But it opened a few mins earlier. Yes you have to pay a deposit of £150 but this is better than others as some you have to pay a few months rent. Also this £150 gets deducted from your first installment so its very good. I know! Every year they seem to get more expensive, I’m looking at houses for 2nd year and they are so much cheaper but i recommend halls for first year as thats the best way to make friends. even though locks is £150 a year you have to look at the contract lengths as locks is 39 weeks whereas the so called cheaper ones are 44 which makes it more expensive considering most courses finish end or may-June. Security for this year has partially been stricter however people are trying to make friends with the night security in order to have parties and have people over which personally i think is wrong as others have had breach of contract letters where people are getting away with it. Because of Covid, we can only have our flatmates in our flat if that makes sense so no visitors however pre covid you can have one visitor at a time i think during the day. They are more strict with overnight stays and stuff but check the tenancy agreement on that. Yes theres plenty of places to smoke, lots of people tend to smoke outside reception and theres a canal literally opposite so you can smoke there just not inside the building or flat.

My flat mates are really nice, i was a bit skeptical at first as it was 4 girls and me and one other guy so thought that would be an issue but its not. Everyone gets a long. As long as you can make conversation its fine. To be honest even a hi when you go into the kitchen is enough to get things going. Also food is a big thing, cook for your flatmates or order food in. Thats easiest way to make friends is sharing food. My flatmate did a fajita night which was nice. You will definitely be fine, ive made friends with people on my course and my flatmates and thats with limited social contact. Not spoke to any in the neighbouring flats but i think if covid was not around it would be a lot different. Yes thats a good thing but can also be a distraction and an easy way to spend all your loan haha

Oh nice! Yes BCU is a great uni. Better of the cities too. I love Birmingham. Really has grown on me massively. Im so grateful to be studying in such an amazing city. Plus there are so many exciting developments happening in the city (im doing a Building Surveying degree so bit of a building nerd haha). One of my Flatmates are from London. He says its way different here but he likes it. Definitely smaller to what you are probably used to. Im from a rural part of England so for me it was a mahoosive step up but it was well worth it. Good luck with your application. This time last year for me was such an exciting time visiting all the unis and sending my application off. Such a shame you cant visit any of them in person. How are you finding the online open days?

So for the offer. You have to rank all 6 accoms in order of favourite to least. You have more of a chance at getting your first if its a) unpopular choice or has lots of rooms or b)if you are unconditional. I was conditional so i was really concerned that i would get Heights but thankfully i applied really early and got it. I would suggest doing it as soon as it opens as so many people do that so get it asap. For us it opened on 3rd March i think at like 9am. But it opened a few mins earlier. Yes you have to pay a deposit of £150 but this is better than others as some you have to pay a few months rent. Also this £150 gets deducted from your first installment so its very good. I know! Every year they seem to get more expensive, I’m looking at houses for 2nd year and they are so much cheaper but i recommend halls for first year as thats the best way to make friends. even though locks is £150 a year you have to look at the contract lengths as locks is 39 weeks whereas the so called cheaper ones are 44 which makes it more expensive considering most courses finish end or may-June. Security for this year has partially been stricter however people are trying to make friends with the night security in order to have parties and have people over which personally i think is wrong as others have had breach of contract letters where people are getting away with it. Because of Covid, we can only have our flatmates in our flat if that makes sense so no visitors however pre covid you can have one visitor at a time i think during the day. They are more strict with overnight stays and stuff but check the tenancy agreement on that. Yes theres plenty of places to smoke, lots of people tend to smoke outside reception and theres a canal literally opposite so you can smoke there just not inside the building or flat.

My flat mates are really nice, i was a bit skeptical at first as it was 4 girls and me and one other guy so thought that would be an issue but its not. Everyone gets a long. As long as you can make conversation its fine. To be honest even a hi when you go into the kitchen is enough to get things going. Also food is a big thing, cook for your flatmates or order food in. Thats easiest way to make friends is sharing food. My flatmate did a fajita night which was nice. You will definitely be fine, ive made friends with people on my course and my flatmates and thats with limited social contact. Not spoke to any in the neighbouring flats but i think if covid was not around it would be a lot different. Yes thats a good thing but can also be a distraction and an easy way to spend all your loan haha

I can put some pics of the room and kitchen sometime if you want some more inspiration. Any other questions. Feel free to ask anytime

omg yeah deffo, if you could that would be most appreciated, because the videos on the site could be a bit decieving so i'd rather see it in it's true form, plus because of covid-19 and no open days etc, oh question do you think i'll have to attend a interview because i'd actually hate that so much idm if its on the phone or on zoom, but i'd hate having to travel just for an interview but maybe with covid-19 interviews won't be taking place

omg this is amazing, i'm so happy i signed up for the student room, this is the most helpful website ever, it's so crazy how everyone comes together and helps eachother out, i appreciate this so much, i wish you the best with your degree x so much more relieved about it all now, i pray and hope bcu offers me a offer because i'd feel uncomfortable going york or like ports or bristol or like liverpool, just hope i don't bump into my ex because he's from coventry urghhhhh, that'll probably be the death of me if that happens, i just need to find about the contract, i have no clue how long my course is and omg what happens if my course is longer but the accom only lets me stay for shorter, because i can't move back to london in the holiday periods because they're moving out the country, so i have no clue what i'll do, i don't wanna end up homeless in brum LOOOOL i hope i can find a job there as well as it's in the city centre, appreciate this a lot, does the loan cover everything like expenses for food etc cos i'll fully be going in without anyh of my own money so i'm really trusting the gov to help me out as much as possible bc i'm currently on universal credit but i need to stop that before i apply for my maintenance loan bc app the loan will deduct all my universal credit money i've been on so that sounds insane, but yhhh that security sit sounds a bit mad i;m sure uni 2021 sept will be way better i hope so i get to live the proper uni life but i think it'll be a bit awkward bc i'll be on my foundation year instead of my first year but thank you soooooo mcuh this really helped

Yes, student room i found extremely helpful and definitely put me at ease. Thankyou!

Im sure they will offer you a place. Just remember you wont recieve an offer straight away. I had a few that i had in a few days after applying then BCU took several weeks. I applied 15th Nov and BCU responded on the 2nd Dec i think. Haha i dont think you will, its a big enough city to get lost in plus coventry is a 30 min train journey away. Well Uni locks only do up to 40 or 41 week contracts which takes it up to 12-19th June. If you are planning on staying in brum you might be able to find a house with your flatmates as some rent contracts for those start 1st July so that puts you out of somewhere for a few weeks. Other than that the other accoms do do 44 weeks as ive mentioned which takes it to 19th July. Therefore you should be okay if you find a place the year after but you dont need to worry about finding that till say the December-Jan of your first year. Plus if you are foundation year im sure you can stay in uni halls as my friend did that and he is in locks, has been the year before too.

Im sure when things ease with corona you may find a job. Personally i havent found anything but thats due to me not having retail or customer exp as i worked on a farm. Plus the job market is only just recovering with corona so hopefully there will be more providing the vaccine is sorted by September.

For your loan, that depends really as i nearly got the max maintenance loan which covered rent and left me with £1900 spare for food etc. But i working in the summer so doubled that £1900. Also look into the scholarships as im getting the meet or beat one which gives you £850 if you meet your grades however i dont know if this applies to foundation years. My loan on top of the £1900 work money is covering me well. I can live off £100 a week however i think without rona i wouldnt as going out drinking can be expensive. I dont know about how the U credit is factored in so i suggest talking to them or to SFE and they can help. You do get a rough figure as to what you get when you apply for the loan. Well i hope it is back to normal by september if not you can still have a fun time. I sure did. Pubs were open but limited, people were going to sit in night clubs. The SU pub do really nice pizzas and they have deals on Mondays.

Yeh i do think the pics on the website do give it justice however there werent enough pics i dont think. Erm that all depends on your course, i never had an interview. If yours is quite a arty course say Theatre, acting, child dev. And teaching they all have interviews. Yours is media didnt you say? I know theres a girl that has a youtube of her antics in first year so check that out might give you an incite to daily life. Hers is called Faustina. I think interviews are normally around Feb time if you applied on time so maybe will be on Teams if there is one needed.