The pros and cons of living at home
Heading to university brings big decisions for you to make. One of the biggest is whether to live at home while studying or move into halls or private accommodation.
There’s no wrong answer. It all comes down to what's right for you.
The advantages of living at home
💰 It's cheaper: Even if your parents or carers ask for a contribution towards bills and other costs, living at home will likely be cheaper than moving into student accommodation.
🍲 You can enjoy home comforts: Living at home brings a degree of comfort. You're in familiar surroundings and might even get the odd home-cooked meal and freshly washed clothes.
🤗 You'll have access to family support: Your parents, carers, and/or siblings will be close at hand if you choose to stay at home. University can be a big adjustment, and their support can help you settle in.
The drawbacks of living at home
🏡 You're less independent: Even though it may push you out of your comfort zone, you'll be more independent if you move out. You'll have to look after yourself, and this is an important step towards adulthood for many people.
🥳 It could be harder to make friends: Living on campus means making friends is much easier. That's not to say living at home guarantees you won't meet anyone. You might just have to make a bit of extra effort.
🚌 Your commute might be longer: The advantage of living on campus is: when you wake up in the morning, you're already there. Living at home could mean spending time getting to and from campus most days.
Are you/will you be living at home or in accommodation?
Becky
There’s no wrong answer. It all comes down to what's right for you.
The advantages of living at home
💰 It's cheaper: Even if your parents or carers ask for a contribution towards bills and other costs, living at home will likely be cheaper than moving into student accommodation.
🍲 You can enjoy home comforts: Living at home brings a degree of comfort. You're in familiar surroundings and might even get the odd home-cooked meal and freshly washed clothes.
🤗 You'll have access to family support: Your parents, carers, and/or siblings will be close at hand if you choose to stay at home. University can be a big adjustment, and their support can help you settle in.
The drawbacks of living at home
🏡 You're less independent: Even though it may push you out of your comfort zone, you'll be more independent if you move out. You'll have to look after yourself, and this is an important step towards adulthood for many people.
🥳 It could be harder to make friends: Living on campus means making friends is much easier. That's not to say living at home guarantees you won't meet anyone. You might just have to make a bit of extra effort.
🚌 Your commute might be longer: The advantage of living on campus is: when you wake up in the morning, you're already there. Living at home could mean spending time getting to and from campus most days.
Are you/will you be living at home or in accommodation?
Becky
Original post by University of Bradford
Heading to university brings big decisions for you to make. One of the biggest is whether to live at home while studying or move into halls or private accommodation.
There’s no wrong answer. It all comes down to what's right for you.
The advantages of living at home
💰 It's cheaper: Even if your parents or carers ask for a contribution towards bills and other costs, living at home will likely be cheaper than moving into student accommodation.
🍲 You can enjoy home comforts: Living at home brings a degree of comfort. You're in familiar surroundings and might even get the odd home-cooked meal and freshly washed clothes.
🤗 You'll have access to family support: Your parents, carers, and/or siblings will be close at hand if you choose to stay at home. University can be a big adjustment, and their support can help you settle in.
The drawbacks of living at home
🏡 You're less independent: Even though it may push you out of your comfort zone, you'll be more independent if you move out. You'll have to look after yourself, and this is an important step towards adulthood for many people.
🥳 It could be harder to make friends: Living on campus means making friends is much easier. That's not to say living at home guarantees you won't meet anyone. You might just have to make a bit of extra effort.
🚌 Your commute might be longer: The advantage of living on campus is: when you wake up in the morning, you're already there. Living at home could mean spending time getting to and from campus most days.
Are you/will you be living at home or in accommodation?
Becky
There’s no wrong answer. It all comes down to what's right for you.
The advantages of living at home
💰 It's cheaper: Even if your parents or carers ask for a contribution towards bills and other costs, living at home will likely be cheaper than moving into student accommodation.
🍲 You can enjoy home comforts: Living at home brings a degree of comfort. You're in familiar surroundings and might even get the odd home-cooked meal and freshly washed clothes.
🤗 You'll have access to family support: Your parents, carers, and/or siblings will be close at hand if you choose to stay at home. University can be a big adjustment, and their support can help you settle in.
The drawbacks of living at home
🏡 You're less independent: Even though it may push you out of your comfort zone, you'll be more independent if you move out. You'll have to look after yourself, and this is an important step towards adulthood for many people.
🥳 It could be harder to make friends: Living on campus means making friends is much easier. That's not to say living at home guarantees you won't meet anyone. You might just have to make a bit of extra effort.
🚌 Your commute might be longer: The advantage of living on campus is: when you wake up in the morning, you're already there. Living at home could mean spending time getting to and from campus most days.
Are you/will you be living at home or in accommodation?
Becky
Hi 🙂
I was a commuter when I was at University and I definitely experienced these types of pros and cons but it was a decision I didn't take lightly!
However, I live in a city with three local Universities and so this made my decision slightly easier, which compares to someone who may have no other choice than to move away for University.
I will say that I did not feel as though I missed out on the 'University Experience' which is one of the main worries or concerns for a commuter student. One of the ideal things about being at uni is that you are meeting people who you more than likely will share common interests with i.e. the course you are on, and so things tend to unfold from there and you become part of the uni environment!
Therefore, if you are going to be a commuter then my top tip is to get involved, where possible. Even something as small as a little conversation before or after classes goes a long way!
I hope this helps!
Estelle
Course Enquiries Assistant 🙂
Reply 2
I’m going to play devils advocate with those advantages
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here with those advantages.
You might save money but it’s not definite particularly if you have a lot of contact hours the loan might not cover those costs you also get less loan if you live at home. Halls can be cheaper.
You of course would enjoy home comforts but leaving that comfort zone is a good thing learning how to adult is a viral skill and uni is the perfect place to get the hang of it also it’s not a prison if you miss something from home you can always visit for a weekend or whatever
You do have the family support which is nice but they could also impose restrictions like you must be home by a certain time or you can’t go out on such and such a night or if they are changing you rent it could be more than halls will cost.
It’s also worth remembering that hall usually includes all bills and internet.
Original post by University of Bradford
Heading to university brings big decisions for you to make. One of the biggest is whether to live at home while studying or move into halls or private accommodation.
There’s no wrong answer. It all comes down to what's right for you.
The advantages of living at home
💰 It's cheaper: Even if your parents or carers ask for a contribution towards bills and other costs, living at home will likely be cheaper than moving into student accommodation.
🍲 You can enjoy home comforts: Living at home brings a degree of comfort. You're in familiar surroundings and might even get the odd home-cooked meal and freshly washed clothes.
🤗 You'll have access to family support: Your parents, carers, and/or siblings will be close at hand if you choose to stay at home. University can be a big adjustment, and their support can help you settle in.
The drawbacks of living at home
🏡 You're less independent: Even though it may push you out of your comfort zone, you'll be more independent if you move out. You'll have to look after yourself, and this is an important step towards adulthood for many people.
🥳 It could be harder to make friends: Living on campus means making friends is much easier. That's not to say living at home guarantees you won't meet anyone. You might just have to make a bit of extra effort.
🚌 Your commute might be longer: The advantage of living on campus is: when you wake up in the morning, you're already there. Living at home could mean spending time getting to and from campus most days.
Are you/will you be living at home or in accommodation?
Becky
There’s no wrong answer. It all comes down to what's right for you.
The advantages of living at home
💰 It's cheaper: Even if your parents or carers ask for a contribution towards bills and other costs, living at home will likely be cheaper than moving into student accommodation.
🍲 You can enjoy home comforts: Living at home brings a degree of comfort. You're in familiar surroundings and might even get the odd home-cooked meal and freshly washed clothes.
🤗 You'll have access to family support: Your parents, carers, and/or siblings will be close at hand if you choose to stay at home. University can be a big adjustment, and their support can help you settle in.
The drawbacks of living at home
🏡 You're less independent: Even though it may push you out of your comfort zone, you'll be more independent if you move out. You'll have to look after yourself, and this is an important step towards adulthood for many people.
🥳 It could be harder to make friends: Living on campus means making friends is much easier. That's not to say living at home guarantees you won't meet anyone. You might just have to make a bit of extra effort.
🚌 Your commute might be longer: The advantage of living on campus is: when you wake up in the morning, you're already there. Living at home could mean spending time getting to and from campus most days.
Are you/will you be living at home or in accommodation?
Becky
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here with those advantages.
You might save money but it’s not definite particularly if you have a lot of contact hours the loan might not cover those costs you also get less loan if you live at home. Halls can be cheaper.
You of course would enjoy home comforts but leaving that comfort zone is a good thing learning how to adult is a viral skill and uni is the perfect place to get the hang of it also it’s not a prison if you miss something from home you can always visit for a weekend or whatever
You do have the family support which is nice but they could also impose restrictions like you must be home by a certain time or you can’t go out on such and such a night or if they are changing you rent it could be more than halls will cost.
It’s also worth remembering that hall usually includes all bills and internet.
Reply 3
Hiya everyone,
Great discussion, interesting to hear everyone's points of view.
I lived in halls in first year, then commuted from there on in so have a bit of experience of being in both worlds.
The best thing for me about living in halls was the memories I made with living so closely to flatmates for the first time ever. I 100% do not regret living in halls - I was lucky that my flatmates were nice and we got on and had some really good times, plus it was really useful to learn how to manage my own time and have everything so accessible on campus.
I think with commuting you absolutely do not have to miss out on fun stuff and making friends - you just have to be prepared to make the extra effort to go to campus regularly and put yourself out there. I think the best things about commuting for me was that living at home provided a helpful separation between uni/work life and home life/free time, which I found helped me manage my stress. I'd do my work on campus, going in most days, then keep my evenings at home free (unless there was a society meet up or SU night I wanted to go to).
TLDR - I'd encourage everyone if they are able, to try living in halls in their first year because of how unique the experience is, but I would never be against commuting after that as long as the commute is under 1.5 hours.
I hope this helps! Best of luck with navigating this everyone!
Holly
University of Bath
Great discussion, interesting to hear everyone's points of view.
I lived in halls in first year, then commuted from there on in so have a bit of experience of being in both worlds.
The best thing for me about living in halls was the memories I made with living so closely to flatmates for the first time ever. I 100% do not regret living in halls - I was lucky that my flatmates were nice and we got on and had some really good times, plus it was really useful to learn how to manage my own time and have everything so accessible on campus.
I think with commuting you absolutely do not have to miss out on fun stuff and making friends - you just have to be prepared to make the extra effort to go to campus regularly and put yourself out there. I think the best things about commuting for me was that living at home provided a helpful separation between uni/work life and home life/free time, which I found helped me manage my stress. I'd do my work on campus, going in most days, then keep my evenings at home free (unless there was a society meet up or SU night I wanted to go to).
TLDR - I'd encourage everyone if they are able, to try living in halls in their first year because of how unique the experience is, but I would never be against commuting after that as long as the commute is under 1.5 hours.
I hope this helps! Best of luck with navigating this everyone!
Holly
University of Bath
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Going to uni and living at home
- Live at uni or stay home?
- Where to live on placement
- Manchester Vs Sheffield Vs Edinburgh for Medicine
- Staying home for uni
- Living at Home vs Living Away
- Nottingham Trent vs Surrey?!
- Pros and cons about Manchester met uni
- bristol vs loughborough university bsc geography
- Nottingham Trent vs Surrey?!
- Salford or kingston uni for film?
- Ljmu accommodation - En-suite and Lively
- Choosing Accommodation for University: A Guide to Finding Your Home Away from Home
- Which Uni?
- Cardiff or Liverpool??
- Commuting to university
- University Edinburgh, Bristol, York, Leeds and Cardiff
- Edinburgh University for Medicine
- Choosing Between Nottingham and Sheffield - Architecture
- newcastle or bath for biology?
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 day ago
Commuter Student, No friends & Burnt Out - Feeling Stuck and Alone at UniLast reply 6 days ago
I might be loosing my honours degree over a 10 minute presentationLast reply 3 weeks ago
1st Years: what's been the biggest surprise about university life so far?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Does anyone else feel they're constantly making the wrong decision/FOMO?Last reply 3 weeks ago
Can i use AI NOT to write but to assist with essay writing? Reasons are....
