Hostels
Increasingly, privately run hostels are turning up around the country and offering something very similar to life in a hall of residence only, usually, a bit smaller. Hostels tend to house no more than a couple of hundred students and often as few as a couple of dozen.
You lose some of the advantages of living out, because there’s still that big brother element of having to do what you’re told. But in this case it’s not the university playing the role, which could actually be a bad thing. (At least it really is in your university’s interests not only that you pay the rent, but that you’re also happy and successful). It could also be a good thing if you want to get away from the university a bit.
These hostels work best at universities where their own accommodation is limited and there are students who want to live in, but can’t. Often students find they’re not the only ones in the hostels and that they’re sharing with local public sector workers — like nurses or young teachers.
Last updated on: 21 May 2008