The Student Room Group
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Inside University of Bristol
University of Bristol
Bristol

Hundreds of Bristol students told to live in Bath

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/anger-hundreds-bristol-students-could-5793668
"The University of Bristol has come under fire after revealing up to 300 students could be given accommodation in Bath.

"One of its students, Anna Lart Greene, told Bristol Live: "It looks to me like the profit-chasing expansion that’s helped to break down relationships between students and local residents in Bristol, and it’s staggering that they’re going to do the same in Bath now where there are already two universities.""

Scroll to see replies

Oh dear. That’s not great. I hope they’re putting in place dedicated free transport for the displaced students

still better than the portacabin rooms in a car park that UWE tried a couple of years ago
(edited 2 years ago)
Inside University of Bristol
University of Bristol
Bristol
These will be late applicants who were told that they were not guaranteed University accommodation as they have Insurance places or they applied through Clearing. They do not have to accept this temporary accommodation and are not being 'forced' to do anything. If they dont like that idea they can just find private accom in Bristol instead.
Original post by McGinger
These will be late applicants who were told that they were not guaranteed University accommodation as they have Insurance places or they applied through Clearing. They do not have to accept this temporary accommodation and are not being 'forced' to do anything. If they dont like that idea they can just find private accom in Bristol instead.

Guaranteed:
"We have particularly high demand for places in student residences this year so your accommodation offer may be for a residence that wasn't one of your choices, or for a shared room."
(http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/undergraduate/offers/)

Non- guaranteed:
"For all non-guaranteed applicants, we cannot guarantee to make you a University-allocated accommodation offer. If we do have a room available to offer, it is likely to be a shared room or accommodation in a neighbouring town or suburb, such as Bath."
"You can look for accommodation in the private sector, but we must make you aware that there is already very limited remaining availability, with all large providers within the city reporting that they are fully-booked."
"There is limited availability further out of the city in neighbouring towns and suburbs with train stations providing easy access into Bristol. Such areas include Bath, Keynsham, Shirehampton, Yate, Avonmouth and even Chippenham."
(http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/undergraduate/non-guaranteed/)
Original post by heccyeah
Non- guaranteed:
"For all non-guaranteed applicants, we cannot guarantee to make you a University-allocated accommodation offer. If we do have a room available to offer, it is likely to be a shared room or accommodation in a neighbouring town or suburb, such as Bath."

So, please can everyone please calm down now.
Original post by PQ
I hope they’re putting in place dedicated free transport for the displaced students

"If we can offer you a room in accommodation but it is outside of Bristol, you will still have the support of our Residential Life service, as well as a travel expenses bursary of £500 per term."
(http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/undergraduate/non-guaranteed/)
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by McGinger
These will be late applicants who were told that they were not guaranteed University accommodation as they have Insurance places or they applied through Clearing. They do not have to accept this temporary accommodation and are not being 'forced' to do anything. If they dont like that idea they can just find private accom in Bristol instead.

I take your point that these students will not have been guaranteed accommodation, and are not forced to do anything.

HOWEVER

"Just find private accommodation in Bristol" - having been in the position where I needed to do this for my PGCE a while back (and I had a decent bursary so was not short of cash) it's not that easy to do this in May/June, let alone in late August. I'm sure there's some still available, but it will likely be expensive and not within the budget of every student.

Bristol themselves are admitting that there is limited availability within the city.

Now, I do accept that maybe students should have researched this for themselves, before committing to a uni, but I don't think anyone goes to uni expecting to have to commute from a neighbouring town and it's not like this is a cheap thing to do either.

I do think Bristol need to acknowledge that by doing this, they're effectively pricing some students out of attending their university this year. (But maybe that's the intention).
Original post by SarcAndSpark
xxx

Sorry to burst your indignation - but all Universities do this.
Original post by heccyeah
"If we can offer you a room in accommodation but it is outside of Bristol, you will still have the support of our Residential Life service, as well as a travel expenses bursary of £500 per term."
(http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/undergraduate/non-guaranteed/)

A bursary of £500 sounds generous on the face of it, but I'm not sure it will cover all additional costs, actually- a day return from Bristol to Bath is about £10, and the station is a fair distance from the uni, so some students might need to get a bus across town.

They ought to at least cover all additional expenses.
And btw, this is a temporary arrangement - as numbers settle down, rooms will become available in Bristol possibly within days of the start of term, as they do al ALL Universities.
You'd have to be an idiot not to opt for private accommodation, a 55 minute train journey topped of with a 30 minute walk from BTM to the main university campus.
Original post by McGinger
Sorry to burst your indignation - but all Universities do this.

All universities don't offer people accommodation in neighbouring towns.

I accept all unis don't house everyone in uni owned accommodation, but the rental market in Bristol is specifically awful, and I do think the uni should make some attempt to mitigate this for its students.
Original post by glassalice
You'd have to be an idiot not to opt for private accommodation, a 55 minute train journey topped of with a 30 minute walk from BTM to the main university campus.

If you can find any, and pay for it, I agree. A lot of private accommodation will now be full.
Original post by SarcAndSpark
I do think the uni should make some attempt to mitigate this for its students.

Like what?
Original post by McGinger
These will be late applicants who were told that they were not guaranteed University accommodation as they have Insurance places or they applied through Clearing. They do not have to accept this temporary accommodation and are not being 'forced' to do anything. If they dont like that idea they can just find private accom in Bristol instead.

Also, presumably they didn't apply through clearing, as Bristol didn't enter clearing this year?
Original post by SarcAndSpark
A bursary of £500 sounds generous on the face of it, but I'm not sure it will cover all additional costs, actually- a day return from Bristol to Bath is about £10, and the station is a fair distance from the uni, so some students might need to get a bus across town.

They ought to at least cover all additional expenses.

Yeah no I agree - even if they get a season ticket between bath spa and temple meads or whatever (clifton down station is quite a bit closer to the uni but no direct services from bath spa I think?), it would still be extremely expensive, and that's not including any buses they might get as well [insert rant about Bristol & Bath's **** bus services here].
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 16
Avatar for Muttley79
Muttley79
OP
20
Original post by McGinger
These will be late applicants who were told that they were not guaranteed University accommodation as they have Insurance places or they applied through Clearing. They do not have to accept this temporary accommodation and are not being 'forced' to do anything. If they dont like that idea they can just find private accom in Bristol instead.


Read the whole article - this is not new

"It comes after the university attracted controversy in 2019 for offering some students accommodation across the Welsh border, in Newport.

And last year overcrowding in libraries and a shortage of desks led to students being offered places to study at the SS Great Britain."

Clearly they are over-offering ....
St Andrews also expects "a community of over 100 St Andrews students" to be living in Dundee this year. I would be pretty annoyed if I ended up living in Dundee if I expected to be in St Andrews.
Original post by McGinger
Like what?

If there's truly spaces available in private halls for all these students, then by taking up those spaces for them, and subsidising them if they're excessively expensive?

Original post by heccyeah
Yeah no I agree - even if they get a season ticket between bath spa and temple meads or whatever (clifton down station is quite a bit closer to the uni but no direct services from bath spa I think?), it would still be extremely expensive, and that's not including any buses they might get as well [insert rant about bristols **** bus services here].


3 month season ticket is £512, apparently. I think you'd have to change at BTM to get the train to Clifton down?
Original post by SarcAndSpark
3 month season ticket is £512, apparently. I think you'd have to change at BTM to get the train to Clifton down?

Yep - and if you want to get any bus tickets as well, you can get monthly ones for around 60 quid for all of Bath / Bristol and surrounding areas or around 50 quid a month for just Bristol, so that's another £150-£180 for 3 months on top of the £512. Or you can get one for £400 that lasts from September to June for all of Bristol / Bath. Of course there are buses that go straight from Bristol to Bath, which would be a lot cheaper, though also take much longer.
(edited 2 years ago)

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you