Student's Life

I live in what's called a hall of residence where I get full board as well as a room. It's not exactly what you call cheap, though. I pay 87 pounds per week for my single room and three meals a day. This also includes the use of a washing machine and ironing board. But I can't complain because my room has just been re-carpeted, the furniture’s new and the cleaner comes in daily. The main drawback is sharing the bathroom with nine other students and we don't have any kitchen facilities. The first thing I did when I arrived was buy myself a mini-fridge, so I could have cool drinks whenever I wanted. But, we're on the university network, so I have access to the internet and free e-mail from my room, and we get room phones so I can ring friends around the campus for nothing.

The city where I study is appalling for cheap accommodation, and the college has nothing of its own to offer you, but I was lucky. I found a room in a nice little terraced house with central heating which I share with three other girls. I have a yearly contract with a private landlady and I pay 220 pounds a month for my study bedroom. This is not bad as it also has a large walk-in wardrobe where I put all my stuff. I share the bathroom, kitchen and a small living room with the other girls, and we split all the bills between us. We tried to make a rota for the washing up, cleaning and putting out the rubbish, but it's not always strictly followed. Cooking your own food is much cheaper than eating at college, and I like it because I have what I want when I want it.

I live in a college-owned self-catering block. There’s not much luxury, but I get value for money. For my 38 pounds per week rent, I get a reasonably-sized room with an old wardrobe, a tiny desk, one shelf, a rather stained carpet and a sink. When I first moved in, I probably spent more on decoration than I did on food. My only real complaint, though, was that I had to buy a new pillow because the one I was provided with felt like a plastic bag full of old towels. I share the kitchen and bathroom with six other girls. One of them has a TV in her room, but she is a bit possessive about it. The fridge is not huge, so you're always trying to squeeze your food into the last remaining inch of space. I twice set off the fire alarm by burning my dinner, so tended to give up on cooking after that. We eat a lot of take-aways. In the next block, there's a games room where we hang out which has things like table football and satellite TV if you need a break from studying.

I made the big mistake of going to a college fairly near my home. It isn't so much the course that I don't like, but the fact that I'm stuck at my parents’ house so I don’t feel in touch with what’s going on at campus. In some ways, I’m lucky because I'm not paying out all the money for food and rent that other people have to find, and I have someone to do my washing, but I don't have the same amount of freedom or privacy as the people who’re living away from home. I even have to share a room with my younger brother. When I told my parents I wanted to move out and go into college accommodation, they said they’d stop supporting me financially. So, in the end, I had to give up the idea. That hasn't made any of us very happy.