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What to do if there are no available places in university accommodation?

I was late because of personal reasons and they told me that there is no room available for me. They also said that they placed me on a waiting list and that I'm on the top. My friend said that it guarantees me a place but I want to be sure. If anyone is familiar with this kind of situation please tell me, will I get a room or not?

Reply 1

Juno

Original post by rinakinaran

You're not guaranteed a room. For you to get a room, someone else needs to drop out of their accommodation offer. This might happen on results day so you'll just have to wait and see.

Reply 2

Petulia

Nothing wrong with finding private accommodation (a house share) - there will be plenty of first year students in private accommodation, especially those who end up at the university via Clearing and have to find a place at the last minute. You still get to socialise with other students and will probably be closer to them than you would be to students in halls. Don't rule it out completely :smile:

Reply 3

rinakinaran

Original post by Juno

You're not guaranteed a room. For you to get a room, someone else needs to drop out of their accommodation offer. This might happen on results day so you'll just have to wait and see.

My friend meant that according to statistics there are usually at least one or two students who drop out. But we're both freshmen so we can't know for sure, that's why I decided to ask more experienced students online

Reply 4

Juno

Original post by rinakinaran

According to statistics, if I have 5 pieces of cake and you have 7, we have an average of 6 pieces each. But neither of us has actually had 6 pieces of cake.

That's what statistics do. They can tell you it's possible - but they can't tell you it will definitely happen. An average of 2 might drop out, but it could be 4 over there and none over here.

You'll just have to wait and see, and try to be a bit nicer about it.

Reply 5

rinakinaran

Original post by Juno

What does "nicer" mean?

Reply 6

Rabbit2

Original post by rinakinaran

I can't tell you for a Uk Uni, because all my education was in the states. Here, in most Uni towns, many ppl rent spare rooms to students. I had difficulty passing my courses in my early career, because i didn't know how to be a student effectively. Additionally, i'm an only child, so i'm not used to working/studying in a boiler factory. On my first two attempts, i tried living in school dorms [what i believe you lot refer to as "halls"]. I flunked out both times. On my third attempt, i rented a room from a retired couple. They were very quiet. The result was that i was on the dean's honours list for 3 quarters - the entire year. Later, i successfully got into graduate school, and earned a master's degree in engineering. My purpose in going to Uni was to get a professional degree that i could support myself with. I was much less interested in "party, party, party", or being the life of the party. Good luck. If you are female, you may have a problem with some landlords, particularly if they are single males. I am male, so i never had that problem. Cheers.

Reply 7

Rosasalsa

I was late getting on the list which was my own fault as my application for the room did not go through properly for which reason I don't know. They took Payment for the deposit back in February when I thought I'd applied, to fin out months down the road that I was not on the list so I had to go on waiting list.im a third year student and will now have to look for a rented room privately. I'm still on the list and have made several calls to Brunel and they say there is no such list and they can't even tell me where I am on the list, If you ask me if say it's a bit of a sham.

Reply 8

Minty

Every uni is different and no one can give you an answer with 100% confidence. The uni I worked at had approx. 3,000 rooms and a few hundred drop out in the first term.

Normally the best thing to do would be to speak to the accommodation office and explain that you dont want them to commit to anything, but want to better understand the length of the waiting list and the normal room churn. But if they really arent helping then thats probably out of the window.

You might have the option to make a complaint as you could argue your deposit was given in good faith that it would secure a room, not sure what the paperwork says, SU advice centre may be able to advise.

Reply 9

returnmigrant

Look at commercial student halls as well - ie. beyond just the stuff provided by the Uni itself. They will also have drop-outs/spare rooms. Often their accom is more modern and in a better location than some Uni stuff. One website to use is https://www.studenttenant.com, or just google 'Student Accomodation' and your Uni town/city name.

And try this website for rooms in existing student flatshares : https://student.spareroom.co.uk/

Reply 10

Rabbit2

Original post by rinakinaran

In my undergraduate years, i found myself in this situation. I looked around the small town that the Uni was located in, and found that a fair number of retired people rented spare bedrooms to Uni students. I found a nice couple a short walk from campus, and rented their spare bedroom [their son had graduated a few years before, and was working in a distant city]. I could have purchased a 'meal plan' and used the Uni cafeteria, but i compared costs, considered the fact that my basement bedroom had a small kitchen attached, and decided to eat in town at one of several small 'transport caffe's'. This worked out well, and i had a REALLY quiet place to study, when i went home at night. I decided that i would keep my location confidential, because i didn't want 'random visitors' dropping in on me, and disrupting my study time. It worked out, because i was on the 'honours list' each of the three academic quarters i was enrolled there. I'm an only child, and i never learned to study in a 'boiler factory'. Good luck!!!

Reply 11

EmmaRebecca1997

Most university towns have a lot of private owned halls which are basically like uni halls just not owned by the uni. They are usually a tad more expensive but in return are usually a lot more luxurious. A lot of people, especially international students and mature students, go for these so I would look into them. I'm debating moving into some myself for third year. My city has the companies 'Fresh Student Living' and 'IQ' owning private halls so I would look for these first. They're also slightly better for first years than having a private rented place because as a halls company they are held to certain standards so you're not going to get a situation where you have a bad landlord or poor quality of housinf (my situation right now)