Getting to Work Exp in Manchester

I live in a small town next to Birmingham, and am interested in getting work experience with a big finance firm. However, the remaining dates I am available for the work experience are the dates during which it occurs in its Manchester office.

I checked train tickets, and the cheapest trains that arrive before 9am were around £50 - and I'm booking three months in advance.

I then checked hotels, for which I didn't want to spend too much on, and found hostels for around £11-£12 a night, which makes a 5 night stay (for a week long work experience) a similar price to a return train ticket for a day. HOWEVER, you have to be 18 to stay at the hostel, which I'm not.

Is there anyway to avoid spending HUGE amounts of money for work experience? The company has said they would reimburse any "sensible" expenses, but I don't think £250 worth of train tickets is a sensible reimbursement. The most I've spent on train tickets was a £10 return ticket to London.

What should I do? And does anyone in Manchester know any good places to stay?