If you’re thinking about the different types of student accommodation while you’re at university, you’ll want to understand the range of options available and what the most popular choices are. The type of student accommodation available to you may vary throughout your studies, so it’s a good idea to get familiar with the various options – and their pros and cons – as early as possible.
We’re going to take a look at the most common types of accommodation for students, including:
Private accommodation is the most popular type of accommodation for students, and many students opt for private renting in their second and subsequent years.
Although you won’t have the convenience of living on campus in this type of student accommodation, you may be closer to town and feel more part of the local community. For first-year undergraduate and post-graduate students, it can be difficult to meet students to share with, but your university’s accommodation office can usually help to find other students and match you up.
You could rent a property to live in alone, you could share a house or flat with friends, or you could rent a room in a property in which your landlord also lives. However, if you do this, bear in mind that your landlord will have greater ability to end your tenancy because the law recognises that landlords are more vulnerable in their own home if the tenant-landlord relationship breaks down.
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Cons:
Halls of residence are owned and operated by the university and are often the preferred option for freshers and study abroad students.
Since they are usually located on campus, they are convenient (near the library and other university facilities, for example) and therefore are in high demand. Living in halls in first year can be useful because if you choose to go into shared accommodation in your second year, you’ll probably have to decide who you want to live with before Christmas. Halls offer top socialising opportunities for you to find next year’s housemates!
The downside is that you might not get your first choice of room in this type of student accommodation (with en-suite rooms almost always oversubscribed). The rooms available are often unremarkable but usually comfortable.
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Catered or self-catered?
Whether you choose to be in a catered or non-catered type of accommodation for students will impact the standard of kitchen facilities you’ll have access to in halls. Catered accommodation is less popular than in the past but is still an option at some unis. You pay additional rent to cover your food but save time on shopping, cooking and, of course, washing up.
Remember, though, that shared kitchens are a great space in which to meet people and make friends. Also, cooking for yourself is a valuable life skill and will mean you’re not tied to the schedule of the canteen.
Private halls are similar to university halls – you have your own room and some communal areas, such as a kitchen, lounge and laundry room – but they are owned by commercial companies.
Although some of these types of student accommodation work in partnership with unis, they are generally not located on campus and may instead be in the city centre, close to shops, eateries and nightclubs. Compared to uni halls, there may be a greater choice of rooms, often including studio apartments (with your own kitchen and bathroom).
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For most students, the university experience would not be the same without living away from home. However, some choose to live at home while studying – either through personal choice or for financial reasons.
Living with parents or guardians is a particularly popular option for students who can commute into London due to the potentially high cost of any type of accommodation for students in the capital.
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Another type of student accommodation that has grown in popularity in recent years is for parents to purchase a house or flat and act as landlords to a group of students that includes their child. While this can make a lot of sense financially, take time to consider the implications.
If one of your friends is the landlord’s child, some kind of dispute with their parents has the potential to spoil your friendship. And if your parent or guardian is the landlord, you could be in the awkward situation in which your parents are chasing late rent payments.
In this kind of buy-to-let situation, parents may prefer to hand the property management over to a local letting agent.
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With so many housing options open to you, it’s worth taking the time to consider your needs carefully so that you pick the type of student accommodation that will make your time at uni as enjoyable as possible.
According to HESA data, the most common type of accommodation for students in the last academic year was privately-rented properties (‘other rented accommodation’)*, which are not purpose-built. It’s worth keeping in mind, though, that this data was collected over 2020-2021, with the pandemic affecting many students’ living situations.
The next most popular choice was living at home, followed closely by living in their own residence. However, if we narrow the field to just first-year students, just under a quarter (24%) lived in provider-maintained property.
Full-time and sandwich students by term-time accommodation
Type of Accommodation | Number of students | Percentage of total |
Other rented accommodation* | 576,620 | 27% |
Parental/guardian home | 456,870 | 22% |
Provider-maintained property | 335,300 | 16% |
Own residence | 391,150 | 19% |
Private-sector halls | 171,280 | 8% |
Other | 79,690 | 4% |
Not in attendance at the provider | 17,870 | 1% |
Not known | 74,510 | 3% |
*Other rented accommodation; privately-rented properties which are not purpose-built.
Finding the best type of student accommodation for you will depend on a lot of different factors and where you’re willing to make compromises. For example, maybe you can’t see yourself sharing a bathroom with four other people, but you don’t mind getting a bus to uni every day. The good news is, there are so many different types of student accommodation out there that you’re bound to find something that suits your lifestyle.
If you need any more guidance on choosing your accommodation, or on student life in general, check out our blog, which has useful student accommodation advice like how students pay for accommodation and whether or not you need to pay council tax as a student.