Choosing the right place to stay when you’re studying at university can be a challenge. Most people won’t have made a choice like this at this point in their lives, and it isn’t always easy to know what you will want from your place until you’ve had the chance to experience it. Price is often the biggest factor for many people, though it can often be worth spending a little more money to make sure that you can make the best of your time as a student. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the key areas that will be influenced by the choice you make when picking your home away from home.
Socialisation
Being social and making new friends is a massive part of the university experience for many people. You will have the chance to find your feet with new people, slowly settling into the personality that you will carry throughout your life. Of course, though, if you live far off of campus and away from town, it’s going to be hard to get out and about with your newfound peers. This makes it worth looking for accommodation that is close to the things you’re interested in. Some universities make it possible to live with your classmates for the first year, and this is well worth it.
Comfort
The cheapest student accommodation that comes with a university will usually be small, poorly maintained, and may not have had a fresh coat of paint for a long time. While this won’t be a problem for some, it’s always worth making sure that you will feel comfortable with this before you choose cramped accommodation. Universities tend to work extremely hard to make sure that students get great accommodation, though not every school is able to keep up with the same standards. Of course, even if you live somewhere cheap, you can usually make sure that it looks better with a little bit of effort.
Convenience
It can be hard to drag yourself out of bed when you have an early lecture and you’ve been out all night. This will only get more difficult if you live far away, with the idea of walking or commuting to your lectures making it easy to stay in bed. Making sure that you are close to your main campus is always a good idea, giving you the chance to limit the time and money you have to spend getting around. Of course, you may not have this luxury when you get to your second and third year, though this is a bridge you can cross when you come to it.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of choosing the right place to live when you first start university. This process can be tough, but you should be able to come to the right decision with the right time, effort, and research.