Soaring campus costs force freshers to live at home with parents

A third of freshmen are considering avoiding student housing to live with their parents, according to a survey.

Students preparing to collect their A-level results next week have said they would prefer to live at home while they study because campus costs are too high and they want to be closer to their families.

A survey of 11,000 young people in England who took A-level exams and other qualifications this summer found that 20 per cent plan to live at home if they enter university. Another 14 percent have not yet decided if they will move to their university.

About one in 10 students with parents in managerial or professional occupations said they expect to live at home during university, compared with a third of students from working-class homes, the University College London (UCL) and Sutton survey found. Trust.

It comes after Russell Group universities raised rents for student residences by up to 19 percent for the upcoming academic year.

Durham University is planning rent increases of 10.3 per cent on its university accommodation, meaning students will pay £9,156 for a 39-week contract for self-catering universities.

Universities planning large rent increases in independent accommodation include Glasgow, at 9.5 percent, and Newcastle, at 8.9 percent, responses to freedom of information requests have shown.

However, student support loans in England will only rise 2.8 per cent next year.

Young people ‘hold back educational options’

The rising cost of living on campus is taking a toll on young people from working-class and middle-class families, the survey suggested.

Nearly a fifth, or 19 percent, of youth with parents in managerial or professional occupations who did not want to go to college said affordability was a reason, while 27 percent of working-class teens blamed the cost of living.

The survey found that 57 percent of working-class teens had applied or intended to apply to college, compared with 77 percent of middle-class families.

Dr Jake Anders, Deputy Director of UCL’s Center for Education Policy and Equal Opportunity, said: “It is worrying that young people, who are likely to come from less affluent backgrounds, are restricting their educational options due to concerns about cost.

“For some who plan to go to college, living at home will be the best option for them, for a myriad of reasons. But it should be exactly that, a choice, not something they feel they have to do because of the financial challenges of living away from home during school term.”

Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “The findings of this research highlight the difficult decisions many young people face when considering their futures.

“Young people from disadvantaged families are less likely to apply to college and less likely to live away from home if they do, limiting their college choice.”