The Student Room Group

Do I commute to University or live there?

Please help, I don’t know what to do with regards to university, do I stay and commute or do I go. I’ve had an offer from Durham and Newcastle so I’m definitely going to one of them two. I live near these unis, 20 miles Durham university and 35 miles from Newcastle university. I have a sturdy part time job at the moment earning around 400 pm which I would continue with those hours throughout uni as it isn’t too much for me.

On student loan I would get £7200 if I move away. My parents do well but have 5 kids so can’t afford to give me much if anything so if I moved I’d have to get transferred from my job to the new area and support my self as most of my loan would go on accommodation.

OR. If I stay at home I can still get £5700 a year that I wouldn’t need to spend at all as my parents say they would never dream of charging me rent. Plus I’d still be getting 400 pm from my job. I have a car and commute to college every day and the distance to uni isn’t much different 20 miles sounds a lot but it’s on the motorway so I’m there in 25 minutes, not worried about the distance to uni at all.

Over the 3 year course if I save that money I’ll have over £17000 that I could travel with, or put towards a mortgage in the future which seems more sensible to me. However a lot of people go on about the ‘uni experience’ especially for first year and I don’t want to miss out. Is living at uni worth it, I know it will be from the people you meet but a lot of people I know don’t even go to uni and went straight into work so technically they are missing out to but in my opinion they are just experiencing life in a different way.

I have three options really
1.stay and commute
2.Go, just for 1st year, commute 2nd and 3rd
3.leave completely
What shall I do.

PS I know I pay this money back anyway but that’s only when I earn over a certain amount and it’s in small instalments at low interest. It will be the best loan anyone will ever get I never plan on taking out any other loan in my life except for a house so I for one am not going to pass it up.
Original post by Amy hull 123
Please help, I don’t know what to do with regards to university, do I stay and commute or do I go. I’ve had an offer from Durham and Newcastle so I’m definitely going to one of them two. I live near these unis, 20 miles Durham university and 35 miles from Newcastle university. I have a sturdy part time job at the moment earning around 400 pm which I would continue with those hours throughout uni as it isn’t too much for me.

On student loan I would get £7200 if I move away. My parents do well but have 5 kids so can’t afford to give me much if anything so if I moved I’d have to get transferred from my job to the new area and support my self as most of my loan would go on accommodation.

OR. If I stay at home I can still get £5700 a year that I wouldn’t need to spend at all as my parents say they would never dream of charging me rent. Plus I’d still be getting 400 pm from my job. I have a car and commute to college every day and the distance to uni isn’t much different 20 miles sounds a lot but it’s on the motorway so I’m there in 25 minutes, not worried about the distance to uni at all.

Over the 3 year course if I save that money I’ll have over £17000 that I could travel with, or put towards a mortgage in the future which seems more sensible to me. However a lot of people go on about the ‘uni experience’ especially for first year and I don’t want to miss out. Is living at uni worth it, I know it will be from the people you meet but a lot of people I know don’t even go to uni and went straight into work so technically they are missing out to but in my opinion they are just experiencing life in a different way.

I have three options really
1.stay and commute
2.Go, just for 1st year, commute 2nd and 3rd
3.leave completely
What shall I do.

PS I know I pay this money back anyway but that’s only when I earn over a certain amount and it’s in small instalments at low interest. It will be the best loan anyone will ever get I never plan on taking out any other loan in my life except for a house so I for one am not going to pass it up.

I would move into Halls for first year as that makes it easier to make friends and settle in but plan to commute in years 2 an 3 to save money on rent
Reply 2
Original post by Amy hull 123
Please help, I don’t know what to do with regards to university, do I stay and commute or do I go. I’ve had an offer from Durham and Newcastle so I’m definitely going to one of them two. I live near these unis, 20 miles Durham university and 35 miles from Newcastle university. I have a sturdy part time job at the moment earning around 400 pm which I would continue with those hours throughout uni as it isn’t too much for me.

On student loan I would get £7200 if I move away. My parents do well but have 5 kids so can’t afford to give me much if anything so if I moved I’d have to get transferred from my job to the new area and support my self as most of my loan would go on accommodation.

OR. If I stay at home I can still get £5700 a year that I wouldn’t need to spend at all as my parents say they would never dream of charging me rent. Plus I’d still be getting 400 pm from my job. I have a car and commute to college every day and the distance to uni isn’t much different 20 miles sounds a lot but it’s on the motorway so I’m there in 25 minutes, not worried about the distance to uni at all.

Over the 3 year course if I save that money I’ll have over £17000 that I could travel with, or put towards a mortgage in the future which seems more sensible to me. However a lot of people go on about the ‘uni experience’ especially for first year and I don’t want to miss out. Is living at uni worth it, I know it will be from the people you meet but a lot of people I know don’t even go to uni and went straight into work so technically they are missing out to but in my opinion they are just experiencing life in a different way.

I have three options really
1.stay and commute
2.Go, just for 1st year, commute 2nd and 3rd
3.leave completely
What shall I do.

PS I know I pay this money back anyway but that’s only when I earn over a certain amount and it’s in small instalments at low interest. It will be the best loan anyone will ever get I never plan on taking out any other loan in my life except for a house so I for one am not going to pass it up.


I think for now option 2, but I think even in year 2&3 you will miss the uni environment as people tend to move out into flats with their 1styear friends but that’s something to think about at a later stage. For 1st year definetly stay at uni ! And I know you said you know that you don’t pay it back now but really think about it because you won’t be paying it back for ages and you will have the best time at uni !
How often would you need to travel? Would it be five days a week or say three? I studied from home (London so admittedly different). Your job seems an added reason to remain at home.
Reply 4
Issues with commuting by car (off the top of my head):

1.

Cost of running the car (e.g. keeping it taxed and insured, MOT'd, serviced, petrol/diesel, etc)

2.

Time taken to get there/return -- this can very depending on time of day and traffic levels.

3.

Availability of parking -- how close to the university, is it available at the time you arrive. Factor in time to get between the parking location and where your lectures are.

4.

Cost of parking -- is it affordable? Bear in mind that lectures etc may well be spread across the day, so you might need to be at uni all day and not just for a few hours.

5.

Do you need to be in every day?

Original post by martin7
Issues with commuting by car (off the top of my head):

1.

Cost of running the car (e.g. keeping it taxed and insured, MOT'd, serviced, petrol/diesel, etc)

2.

Time taken to get there/return -- this can very depending on time of day and traffic levels.

3.

Availability of parking -- how close to the university, is it available at the time you arrive. Factor in time to get between the parking location and where your lectures are.

4.

Cost of parking -- is it affordable? Bear in mind that lectures etc may well be spread across the day, so you might need to be at uni all day and not just for a few hours.

5.

Do you need to be in every day?



I pay to run a car now anyway so I know what’s involved. It’s a good electric car that goes 250 miles between charges. This also means it’s cheaper to have serviced and I do not have to pay for fuel. It’s a 19 plate so won’t need an mot for another 2 years.

The parking is right on campus and you pay for it monthly which isn’t that much, they also have charging points at no extra cost. Not sure how many days I’ll be in university, haven’t got that info yet
Commute if you can, you save a lot of money that away. I do the same.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Abz-k14
Commute if you can, you save a lot of money that away. I do the same.


Do you feel like you miss out on making new friends and uni life ?
Ed
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 9
I would move in to halls for first year. 20 miles is too much IMO. You can still make friends if commuting, but you'd need to put in some extra effort. Idk how much the student accommodation costs but you might have to do a different part-time job if you moved out.
Original post by Amy hull 123
Do you feel like you miss out on making new friends and uni life ?

Nope.
Most of my friends at university do the same as me.
We kinda tend to talk after the lecture, discuss the content and then build up that up to other things

With regards to uni life, yes you may miss out on that such as like events that uni holds, I mean I've never attended one so idk how it works.
I just don't have time to attend.
But you can always make friends when you're commuting
You have to weigh up whats important to you in regards to uni. The experience is nice to make new friends in first year.
Just as an optional thought:
You get £7200 for the year student loan. So, if your looking for accommodation, say for arguments sake you chose somewhere thats £5600, that gives you £1600 to live off.
Your living at uni excluding holidays (since you will be at home) is around 31-32 weeks, so divide the £1600 by 32 and that would work out to £50.00 per week to live on to start with.
Secondly your parents wouldnt be buying you food whilst your there, so (if they didnt mind) thats at least £25 per week saved; so if you added that on to the £50, that £75.00 per week.
Thirdly Take your part time job and out of that £400 per month, use £100 of it to contribute and thats another £25 per week added to make it £100 per week to live off, for food, phone, laundry, printing and going out. Thats should be plenty to live off.

Plus you have £300 left from your job as disposable income to still save up.

Then year 2, you can assess if you want to still live out, or live back at home, but by then, you should have made some good mates.


Re your first post:
Is option 2 the £5700 from student loan? if it is, either way your option 1 or option 2 you would have to pay it back in the end, so that monetary difference between the two isnt going to make a huge deal on the repayments, since you pay a percentage over a threshold of your wages once graduated.
(edited 3 years ago)
Due to covid I wouldn't want to risk arranging accommodation only for most of the lectures/seminars to be online. We don't know what the situation will be like at the end of next year so keep that in mind.
Consider how many hours you're expected to be in. Social sciences tend to have less than 10 maybe (so financially, it would be a waste of money to pay rent for 2 or 3 days lessons) whereas STEM, you'd probably need to be in almost everyday, full days sometimes (so having a room on campus might make things easier in first year as you get adjusted to your routine).
It also depends on how much you want to have that uni experience. I know people that commuted that still joined societies and attended events. They usually would just leave a little early to catch the train but if you're driving you could probably be a bit more flexible. But having said that, living on campus in your first year can make it easier to navigate your way around uni, not feel rushed to get home, go back to your room in between lessons etc.
Durham expects you to live in college for your first year - and you would miss out on a lot by not being in college - many societies are college based and you get the opportunity to try out a variety of different things that you would find difficult if commuting.
Original post by Sinnoh
I would move in to halls for first year. 20 miles is too much IMO. You can still make friends if commuting, but you'd need to put in some extra effort. Idk how much the student accommodation costs but you might have to do a different part-time job if you moved out.


I drive that now anyway to sixthform, isn’t that far
Original post by Amy hull 123
Please help, I don’t know what to do with regards to university, do I stay and commute or do I go. I’ve had an offer from Durham and Newcastle so I’m definitely going to one of them two. I live near these unis, 20 miles Durham university and 35 miles from Newcastle university. I have a sturdy part time job at the moment earning around 400 pm which I would continue with those hours throughout uni as it isn’t too much for me.

On student loan I would get £7200 if I move away. My parents do well but have 5 kids so can’t afford to give me much if anything so if I moved I’d have to get transferred from my job to the new area and support my self as most of my loan would go on accommodation.

OR. If I stay at home I can still get £5700 a year that I wouldn’t need to spend at all as my parents say they would never dream of charging me rent. Plus I’d still be getting 400 pm from my job. I have a car and commute to college every day and the distance to uni isn’t much different 20 miles sounds a lot but it’s on the motorway so I’m there in 25 minutes, not worried about the distance to uni at all.

Over the 3 year course if I save that money I’ll have over £17000 that I could travel with, or put towards a mortgage in the future which seems more sensible to me. However a lot of people go on about the ‘uni experience’ especially for first year and I don’t want to miss out. Is living at uni worth it, I know it will be from the people you meet but a lot of people I know don’t even go to uni and went straight into work so technically they are missing out to but in my opinion they are just experiencing life in a different way.

I have three options really
1.stay and commute
2.Go, just for 1st year, commute 2nd and 3rd
3.leave completely
What shall I do.

PS I know I pay this money back anyway but that’s only when I earn over a certain amount and it’s in small instalments at low interest. It will be the best loan anyone will ever get I never plan on taking out any other loan in my life except for a house so I for one am not going to pass it up.


I have heard that the first year is really crucial for making friends but it is really up to you so long as you turn up to events and stuff im sure you can manage. Me personally i would go with option 2 just because i have heard making friends is hard at uni and i think i might regret it if i didnt. I dont think you should leave completely bc it would be a waste of money and that is a pretty smart decision to save it. It is completely up to you though.
Original post by Amy hull 123
Please help, I don’t know what to do with regards to university, do I stay and commute or do I go. I’ve had an offer from Durham and Newcastle so I’m definitely going to one of them two. I live near these unis, 20 miles Durham university and 35 miles from Newcastle university. I have a sturdy part time job at the moment earning around 400 pm which I would continue with those hours throughout uni as it isn’t too much for me.

On student loan I would get £7200 if I move away. My parents do well but have 5 kids so can’t afford to give me much if anything so if I moved I’d have to get transferred from my job to the new area and support my self as most of my loan would go on accommodation.

OR. If I stay at home I can still get £5700 a year that I wouldn’t need to spend at all as my parents say they would never dream of charging me rent. Plus I’d still be getting 400 pm from my job. I have a car and commute to college every day and the distance to uni isn’t much different 20 miles sounds a lot but it’s on the motorway so I’m there in 25 minutes, not worried about the distance to uni at all.

Over the 3 year course if I save that money I’ll have over £17000 that I could travel with, or put towards a mortgage in the future which seems more sensible to me. However a lot of people go on about the ‘uni experience’ especially for first year and I don’t want to miss out. Is living at uni worth it, I know it will be from the people you meet but a lot of people I know don’t even go to uni and went straight into work so technically they are missing out to but in my opinion they are just experiencing life in a different way.

I have three options really
1.stay and commute
2.Go, just for 1st year, commute 2nd and 3rd
3.leave completely
What shall I do.

PS I know I pay this money back anyway but that’s only when I earn over a certain amount and it’s in small instalments at low interest. It will be the best loan anyone will ever get I never plan on taking out any other loan in my life except for a house so I for one am not going to pass it up.

Look in the mirror and scream as loud as you can, If you can't do this at home with your parents just move to uni maan move.
Reply 17
Original post by Amy hull 123
Please help, I don’t know what to do with regards to university, do I stay and commute or do I go. I’ve had an offer from Durham and Newcastle so I’m definitely going to one of them two. I live near these unis, 20 miles Durham university and 35 miles from Newcastle university. I have a sturdy part time job at the moment earning around 400 pm which I would continue with those hours throughout uni as it isn’t too much for me.

On student loan I would get £7200 if I move away. My parents do well but have 5 kids so can’t afford to give me much if anything so if I moved I’d have to get transferred from my job to the new area and support my self as most of my loan would go on accommodation.

OR. If I stay at home I can still get £5700 a year that I wouldn’t need to spend at all as my parents say they would never dream of charging me rent. Plus I’d still be getting 400 pm from my job. I have a car and commute to college every day and the distance to uni isn’t much different 20 miles sounds a lot but it’s on the motorway so I’m there in 25 minutes, not worried about the distance to uni at all.

Over the 3 year course if I save that money I’ll have over £17000 that I could travel with, or put towards a mortgage in the future which seems more sensible to me. However a lot of people go on about the ‘uni experience’ especially for first year and I don’t want to miss out. Is living at uni worth it, I know it will be from the people you meet but a lot of people I know don’t even go to uni and went straight into work so technically they are missing out to but in my opinion they are just experiencing life in a different way.

I have three options really
1.stay and commute
2.Go, just for 1st year, commute 2nd and 3rd
3.leave completely
What shall I do.

PS I know I pay this money back anyway but that’s only when I earn over a certain amount and it’s in small instalments at low interest. It will be the best loan anyone will ever get I never plan on taking out any other loan in my life except for a house so I for one am not going to pass it up.

The mileage is nothing, 40 miles a day sitting in your own bubble kicking it up and down the A1 is easy. I'd stay at home bank that cash and save your money. Your future self will thank you a lot trust me, I lived at home for my BA and MA, I made plenty of friends and had enough of a social life whilst studying, saving and working.

Stay Home. Save Money. Protect your finances.

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