arriva student bus pass £370 for the year?!

You guys just want this one:

http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/__80256E4D002F7E0E.nsf/vWeb/wpSRVM75TGA6?Open&region=Midlands&town=Leicester

This will do you fine! It gets you to uni and into Leicester itself Unless you live in Nottingham/Conventry etc. then I wouldn't bother with the other one.

Walking isnt too bad, i used to manage it in half an hour however if all your mates get the bus its not much fun
Also here is some advice about buses that you will thank me for later:

1) GET THE 31 NOT THE 80! The 31 passes through Oadby every 5-6 mins compared to the 80 which can be anywhere from every 10 mins to every half hour. The buses are nicer on the 31 route, less packed and if you dont have a bus pass its free return so £1.20 rather than the £3 you would pay on the 80. It doesnt stop exactly at uni but stops about 5 mins walk away on London Road.

2)The queue for the 80 in the morning can go on forever and if your not early you will probably have to wait for another bus. If you do have to get the 80 in the morning get it from the John Foster Bus stop regardless of what halls you are in. This is because the bus stops at JF first, fills up with people and then by the time it gets to the other halls it wont let anyone else on and you'll be left waiting for the next bus with only 5 mins to get to your seminar where you've got to give a presentation thats worth 20% of your module mark (or something like that )

3) The 80 takes longer than you think in the morning cause of traffic. If you've got to be in by 9 get to the bus stop at 8:15 to be on the safe side. Its a bit stupid really and I just found i could spend an extra 15mins in bed and then walk in and easily get there in time.

I live in Nottingham but will be living in halls at Leicester Uni. I was planning on getting a Student Rail Card so I can catch the train back home every so often, but would you reccommend not getting a rail card and the £370 card instead?

Depends how often you plan on going home!

Returns to Nottingham on the train only cost £8 (without a student rail card) so I'd probably say just get an ordinary bus pass and pay for the train each time you go home. Plus the train's quicker

Ok, thanks. The extra money needed for the bus card doesn't seem worth it now. I wasn't really planning on going home that much. Just the odd weekend or something.

would anyone recomend goign by bike then?
And where would you normaly leave your bike at uni and oady (beaumont)

and howmuch would it cost to buy a decent used one? and where would you go for that?