Living out as UG

I will be joining DU as an UG in September and I am going to the next open day later this month before I finalise my college choices.
The question that I have is regarding living out.

I live locally to the University (15 mins by car) and would like to know if any of the colleges insist on UGs living in during their first year, or are they pretty relaxed in regards to this?

Reply 1

cksiu

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by jonny2773

I will be joining DU as an UG in September and I am going to the next open day later this month before I finalise my college choices.
The question that I have is regarding living out.
I live locally to the University (15 mins by car) and would like to know if any of the colleges insist on UGs living in during their first year, or are they pretty relaxed in regards to this?

Living in college is not a "must".

Durham is famous of its collegiate system. Maybe you could think seriously again.

Reply 2

Namakii

Hi, I was in a similar situation when I started my UG degree in Durham so I can share with you what I did as I also lived fairly locally (15-20 minutes by bus). I did start my UG degree in October of 2020 so there may be a few things from my experience that were a little more contextually dependent given the situation but ultimately it's your choice on what to do.

In first year I chose to live in college as I really wanted to get the 'student experience' and not have to worry about finding ways home or worrying about bus timetables after socialising at night. For me I felt like it would be easier to make friends and get slightly more independence and whatnot living in college. I really loved living in college and definitely found it very convenient but its certainly not required. Even if you choose to live out in first year you will still be associated with a college and have access to things like the college library and whatnot

After first year, I mostly chose to live at home and commute into Durham for classes and socialising from my hometown given I was so close to Durham. At first I lived at home with my parents but then later moved out into my own rented accommodation with a friend as I missed having my own space and freedom like I did in first year. Also commuting into Durham is pretty easy and much cheaper than living in the city in my experience - especially if you commute by bus as you can get a student day ticket for £1.50 or £2.50 depending on which area you commute from and pretty much included a good chunk of the North East.

Happy to answer any questions you may have though.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

jonny2773

Original post by cksiu

Living in college is not a "must".
Durham is famous of its collegiate system. Maybe you could think seriously again.

Thinking seriously is what has drawn me to the conclusion that living at home is the best option, especially from a financial standpoint. If it is not a must then I really think that avoiding paying £10k for the year for the sake of a few organised events, most of which I should still be able to participate in with living local.

I am fairly outgoing so I don't foresee any issues socially and will be able to make plenty of friends through my selected course and sporting activities. I not currently that fussed about the night time scene, I have been legally old enough to out now for 6 months and i'm still yet to go out for drinks, this may change over time but its not really a consideration at the present.

One thing i did notice when looking at the different colleges is that one of them, I forget which one, stated that they offer accommodation for freshers week for UGs that live out. Do you know if this is something that all of the colleges do, or is it just the odd one that do it?

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 4

Namakii

If this is the case, honestly I think you will be fine living at home/commuting in, if that's what you choose to do. I'm pretty similar in that I'm not the most social person in the planet and don't go out all that often, that being said I do still get involved in college events/sports etc. The only thing I find annoying about commuting in (and again is dependent on your course and how much you wish to engage with college) is that you may have awkward or long gaps in your timetabling or if you want to attend a formal it can be a bit annoying bringing everything in - I just asked a friend if I could drop my clothes for formal off in their room and change there too which they were fine with. Apart from that I will say commuting in does save you a lot of money at least in my experience.

Reply 5

cksiu

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by jonny2773

Thinking seriously is what has drawn me to the conclusion that living at home is the best option, especially from a financial standpoint. If it is not a must then I really think that avoiding paying £10k for the year for the sake of a few organised events, most of which I should still be able to participate in with living local.
I am fairly outgoing so I don't foresee any issues socially and will be able to make plenty of friends through my selected course and sporting activities. I not currently that fussed about the night time scene, I have been legally old enough to out now for 6 months and i'm still yet to go out for drinks, this may change over time but its not really a consideration at the present.
One thing i did notice when looking at the different colleges is that one of them, I forget which one, stated that they offer accommodation for freshers week for UGs that live out. Do you know if this is something that all of the colleges do, or is it just the odd one that do it?

I understand.

Even if you don't live in the colleges, you can still join ALL their functions, formal dinners in particular. The Bailey's tend to have more frequent formals than the Hills.