Arabic version: ارتفاع خطط طلاب الجامعات في المملكة المتحدة للعيش في المنزل
According to BBC News, more new students are planning to live at home while attending university than at any point in the past nine years. More than 81,000 UK 18-year-olds said in their accepted university applications that they intended to remain at home this year, representing just over one in three in that group. In 2017, the proportion was closer to one in five.
The pattern varies across the UK, with 48% of applicants in Scotland intending to live at home, compared with 20% in Wales, though the trend is rising across all areas. The figures were recorded on results day and may increase as applicants accept places through clearing. A record number of UK 18-year-olds have been accepted into university this year.
Students said accommodation and wider living costs were major factors in their decisions. Beatrice, from St Helens, Merseyside, will study maths at the University of Manchester and expects to commute by train, a journey that can take about 50 minutes in total. She said accommodation would have cost “a few grand a year”. Her friend Amelia is set to attend Liverpool John Moores University, around 20 minutes away by train, after finding accommodation priced between £300 and £400 a week.
Another Liverpool John Moores University student, Jessica, said she would have liked to live on campus but described rental costs as “ridiculous” and “insane”. She said a part-time job was necessary because “everything is so expensive”, while commuting would reduce her free time. Earlier this year, BBC News followed a first-year student commuting 90 minutes each day into Manchester who said she was saving more than £7,000 on accommodation.
The Higher Education Policy Institute said last year that a student would need £61,000 across a three-year degree for a “minimum socially acceptable standard of living”, excluding tuition fees. Its 2024 report put university-owned accommodation rents between £108 a week in Northern Ireland and £338 a week for the shortest London contracts. The Department for Education said it was increasing maximum maintenance loans, reintroducing maintenance grants and working with universities and councils to improve access to student housing.
