Hi everyone! As I’m sure you all know, once you reach your 2nd year of uni you have a choice to make: to stay in halls, or to move into off campus private accommodation. I lived on campus in Stenton Hall in my first year, but personally chose to stay off campus in my second year, and have been there ever since! In this blog I will share some of my experiences living off campus, and why it may or may not be right for you.
I chose to move off campus into privately rented accommodation because I wanted to move closer to the town centre, and take the next step into more independent living by moving into a house.
My living situation
I live in a 4-person house with 3 other lovely students. I lived in a flat with one of the people in first year, one of the others is on my course, and we have always found the fourth person using Facebook groups. Some people have asked if we have had issues with living with someone we didn’t know beforehand, but we have always had very positive experiences with meeting housemates on Facebook!
We moved into this house in September 2022 and have stayed since then! The house is near the town centre, which means it is super easy to pop into town for an afternoon of shopping, but the trade-off of this is that it is slightly further from the uni.
Best things about living off-campus
Some of my absolute favourite things about living in a house include the fact that you can choose who you live with, and how many people you share your house with too. It is also much more affordable than living in halls typically. Something which I didn’t realise the importance of was having a good study-life balance. This was something I didn’t have in my first year, and I think part of that was because I was living so close to where I was studying! However, living away from the uni allows me to switch off from studying when I get home, something which has been really beneficial for my mental health.
Concerns
Of course, there are drawbacks about living off campus, which is why some people choose to stay in halls throughout their whole time at uni. Some common concerns people have are that bills are not always included so can be expensive, the accommodation is further from the uni so is not as convenient, and that it can be a risk as there are not as many precautions in place as there are with halls.
Thank you so much for reading this blog, I hope it has helped to highlight that there are both pros and cons to living off campus. It is really important to do some research of your own, and to really think about which option is right for you before making decisions about accommodation.
Find out more about how the university can support you when living off campus