Why do I have to rent a place at university?

Bear in mind unis usually have expected attendance requirements and the can withdraw you from the course for non-engagement if you aren't attending anything and just submitting assignments. Which is not something you want to happen in third year. If you lived at home you would realistically need to plan on commuting for every day that you have timetabled activities on - if said home is in the same city as the uni, then that's pretty reasonable. If you live on the other side of the country that's likely more expensive than just renting.

If you are unable or unwilling to do that, the OU does a credit transfer scheme so you can usually get many of your previous study counted towards completing your degree with the OU which is fully online.

Attendance is only recorded twice per module per semester. I definitely don't need to go every day, not even every week.

You will miss out on all the teamwork and team building activities, informal discussions after lectures, office hours, getting to know staff that might offer projects or summer placements, staff won't know who you are when it comes to writing references, assorted clubs and societies etc, etc.

Attendance is only recorded twice per module per semester. I definitely don't need to go every day, not even every week.

The course materials are all online. The lectures are recorded. Our work, apart from exams and class tests, are all uploaded online.

Why then am I expected to spend thousands of pounds on overpriced ccommodation? I don't live too far away from my university (4-5 hours away) so I could very easily travel up a day or two before an exam, stay the night, then travel back, which would probably total a few hundred pounds per semester.

I know social life would be different, but I'm in my final year and kinda want to focus more on my studies and I have friends round here anyway.

Even if it's not formally taken, it's quite likely lecturers will notice you aren't there and quite possible will flag you aren't attending - which may then have other consequences. Likewise unis often have attendance policies even if they don't require lecturers take attendance regularly. Hence if it is flagged you are not attending and not following the attendance policy, you can be withdrawn from the course.

Is the risk of being kicked out of your course in third year worth the trade off?

I'm telling you, they don't. Plenty of people didn't attend any classes apart from the compulsory class and nothing happened. The lecturer wouldn't even know who was there and who wasn't. We don't go around each lecture saying "I am called xyz".

Believe me, they notice when students don't show up regularly. I am speaking from personal experience. You also have to record your term time address with the uni so if your address is recorded on the other side of the country and your lecturers note you aren't showing up, they will put two and two together.

In any event, nobody is stopping you. It just seems a poorly judged gamble as the payoff relative to potential loss seems the latter is a bigger concern even if it's a lesser likelihood. I shall hope not to see another one of the "I've been withdrawn by my uni is there anything I can do?" threads later this year from you though. Best of luck.