Why is there so much negativity about commuting to university?

Like I said if your local uni is good for your subject your lucky. I'm willing to bet you could've gone to a much better one though if you had chosen to move out.

I'm getting £11249 a year across maintenance loans, grants and bursaries. Only £3800 of that is to be paid back. My accommodation is £100pw for 38 weeks. 11249 - 3800 = 7449. 7449/38 = £196 a week. That's before I take it account my savings which amount to well over 5 figures I made from working for 2 years before uni. Mummy can't give me anything, everything I own I've bought and paid for myself. I admit it is ridiculous I am getting this much "help" because I would've been able to support myself but the way student finance works is incredibly flawed.


Well seeing as I'm budgeting to spend around £25 on food a week in the local sainsburys/waitrose it's going to be hard not eat nice food tbh. How is DEPENDING on your parents for shelter, food, washing being independent? Your much more dependent than people who moved out. They are on their own. If your ill you can't get mummy to ring the doctors, no ones gonna get you out of bed for that early lecture, you have to do your own washing. You become more of an adult. As someone has said commuting/moving out depends on the circumstances of the individual.

You'll regret not moving out and there's a strong chance in 2nd and 3rd year you'll move out with friends. Just saying.

Secondly my Uni doesn't provide me with bursaries to the extent of yours, I suppose that's the only down side.

so I live in Scotland so Education at the institutions is free, I also live at home with my family so accommodation is free. So unlike the rest of you who who they will have debt to pay i know I will have £0 debt, i calculated that if I were to pay for my uni education it would cost just under £40k, just let that sink in.

The university I'm going to has the best graduate employment (96%) for my type of degree in the UK. I'm about 20 minute walk from campus and 5 minute drive the same for city centre and night life, i actually live closer than some of the halls. So if someone could please explain to me why it would be better for me to move out and have debt and no savings, go ahead because in my head it's incomparable.

When I leave uni which will be in 4/5 years time I plan to have enough for a house deposit so I can move out and start my fully independent life debt free unlike the majority, so when I settle down I will only have mortgage payments and not countless university loans to repay. Lets also not forget that we go to university to get education.

What uni doesn't provide decent bursaries?! Most of them will double your SF income if you're from the lower bands, think mine used to times the grant by 1.5 and give them that.

You go to university to get an education, some of us went for that plus a lot more.

My uni wouldn't let you commute, but even if they had and I lived nearby I wouldn't dream of it. I knew my degree meant SL will be paid off quickly, and I wanted to get fully involved in uni life as well, so it was a no brainer.

I wish they did, and I'm going to ask in person but their site says otherwise. Unless you do something healthcare or NHS related you don't get bursary. Unless you have A's and A*'s in A levels you get no scholarships money either. That's what I read anyway, but we'll see on registration day.

But why would I move so that I can get debt and go to a worse university just so that I can have some house mates?

Assuming you're referring to the no-commuting rule, trust me you will not have been going to a worse uni if you went to mine (as its only competitor has the exact same rule)...

Uni life is way more than just housemates, it's the extra curriculars you can get involved in.

Depends what you base the best university on, I base it on graduate prospects as that's what matters to me, then again some think the best is the one with the highest entry requirements.

So basically they don't do bursaries at all (NHS ones come from the government)? Most older unis have accumulated some serious wealth over the years, your SU should get them to pull their finger out and invest it in the students.

Saying that, scholarships for As/A*s is pretty good, lots of students have them so it could get expensive.

If I lived in Derby I'd be doing anything I could to leave even if it was the easiest option.

I'll be commuting to university and reading the posts on here about commuting is making me worried.. Surely commuting can't be that bad? If you make an effort, I don't see why your social life would be different to anyone else's?

These types of post sadden me. The choices are not only about "doing the course" or drinking. The big choices are around establishing your independence, participating in a community by living among your fellows and contributing something to that academic institution. No one says you can not commute but it simply misses half the point of university. You may as well sit in your bedroom doing the Open Uni, save some money and work part time. But that is not the point is it ?

Thanks but if contributing to halls meant bothering me every single night with loud music, I'm glad I'm no longer a part of halls tbh.

I go halfway - I commute to uni by train but I live in a shared flat with five other people. Best of both worlds - I'm independent, I'm near my parents just in case they need me and someone always cooks for us (so none of that "Yo bruv, I'm living on pot noodles for all my uni life! YOLO!").

Actually, in my old uni, my classmates increasingly tried halls but moved out within months. That wouldn't be the case if halls was the be all and end all, right?

I think the issue will be more to do with the ECs, which generally take place at 7-9ish at night, and the socials for them which most people can't commute from, though with London you have night buses.

In terms of social I knew commuters (at home, we weren't allowed to commute to my uni) who had good social lives, but inevitably you won't be as good friends as people who live together as a) You don't spend 10 hours or more together every day and b) your primary support network is still elsewhere, whereas for people living in halls their mates are the first ones they have to turn to, not their family any more.

If you get on with your family and aren't that fussed about either ECs or the whole 'friends for life' aspect then commuting's fine, it certainly doesn't have to ruin your uni experience, even if it would ruin some others'.

I had a bad halls experience, but I am SO glad that I didn't live at home.People are saying that they 'save money', but I would pay double just for the experience and the kick up the arse i needed to move away from home.
Independence and fending for yourself is invaluable. I barely got drunk in halls and I never went to parties. It's not about that, it's just about immersing yourself in university culture and life.