Unsure what to do about uni housing for next year

So it's coming to that time (seems so bloody early omg), where everyone is starting to think about where they want to live for uni next year.

Last year I lived in halls, which was quite fun and I met lots of people, although at times it was quite overwhelming too!

This year I'm living with a girl off my course and from halls last year, and we have a flat together near the Uni. It's been quite good and we get on fine. I have missed little things like having my own bathroom though. We're quite different in that she likes to go out all the time and has loads of friends and is really confident, and I'm quite the opposite! :P

She has invited me to live with her and a group of 4 other people (who I know from halls last year as we all lived on the same floor) next year, but I'm a bit conflicted, as part of me has been thinking about whether it might be better to find a place of my own? I know some final year students do find their own place in order to concentrate more on their studies etc.


I kind of have both positives and negatives for each option, obviously living alone is going to work out a lot more expensive than sharing with others, but at the same time I feel it would offer me more freedom and would suit me better as I'm naturally a quiet person and don't really socialise with people very well.

I've also looked at next years timetable, and there's the possibility I'll only be in Uni 3 days again, which has made me wonder whether getting the train to Cardiff and getting a hotel for 2 nights each week would work and just living at home back in England. It's around a 1 and a half hour train journey, and I've worked out that a hotel would only cost me £282 a month, which would be a lot cheaper than renting a flat/paying bills.

There's also private halls with studio options but they're almost £600 a month and on a 51 week contract, which seems silly considering I'm not here between June and September!


EUGH it's just giving me a headache haha! For those of you who did the whole uni thing, what type of accommodation did you have during your three/more years and did you live alone at any point during it?

I would go for it Martin. I regretted commuting and not livingin London at uni. This could be the making of you, I know its hard but you just have to go with it and do new things. If you are polar opposites then its awesome that your friend has invited you to live with her friends, you must have something going for you! :)

Ok, so first year, I did halls. Second year, a shared house. Third year was just me and lauren. Now I'm living by myself.
I would say I'm naturally a quiet person and socialising does take a lot of effort sometimes, but living by yourself is also a really lonely thing, so it depends on whether you will feel that or not. The money side of it is extortionate too.
id be against moving home for your final year, you'll have meetings and stuff to work around, so living an hour and a half away would just make it more stressful.
ultimately, sharing with others would be the cheapest option, but it also depends on the house. If you found a really great house with multiple bathrooms, and floors, you might feel a bit better about living with people. Sometimes you can get a whole floor to yourself, especially with the architecture around Cardiff.
Youre gonna have to go wth what you're comfortable with, you need a balance of studying and socialising too. Personally I'd make the most of the uni experience whilst you can and go with shared, but it all depends on the people and the place

I think if you are naturally quiet, you should challenge yourself and try your best to socialise. I think you would regret if all your uni memories were studying. It's just important to find the right people to stay with. I'm sure you can find others who want to study and don't go that that regularly. Third year can be stressful and you need to socialise to give you a good work life balanace and its the cheapest option!!

I can't help - only in year 2 at the moment and sharing a house. But my one thing to say after reading all that is if you were as bad as you said you were at socialising and making friends you wouldn't have someone inviting you to live with them next year! Good luck mate let us know what you end up doing

i would move in with other ppl - living alone at uni is very lonely and boring even if youre a quiet person!

im having difficulties deciding where to live as well

atm im in first year (did foundation year last year) and living in halls again but this year I was put with loads of unsociable people who are masters/third yr students -.- so not moving out with any of them so my options are 1. move in with people i lived with last year who will be in third year or 2. move with people on my course which im reluctant to do because i dunno if i wanna spend 24/7 with same people all the time!

Awesome, thank you for the replies guys :)

I've just told them that it's a yes in the group chat! :D


I think you're all right that it would be sensible to challenge myself and socialise more and stuff. Plus they are lovely people :) Just very outgoing haha! Plus it will be a hell of a lot cheaper, which means if things do get too much I'll have plenty of money for petrol if I need to drive home for a break! :P

Good to see you're staying. The idea of living in a hotel isn't nice!! It wouldn't be somewhere you could truly relax and personalise, and I know how much you would hate that!

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Originally Posted by lemons

i would move in with other ppl - living alone at uni is very lonely and boring even if youre a quiet person!

im having difficulties deciding where to live as well

atm im in first year (did foundation year last year) and living in halls again but this year I was put with loads of unsociable people who are masters/third yr students -.- so not moving out with any of them so my options are 1. move in with people i lived with last year who will be in third year or 2. move with people on my course which im reluctant to do because i dunno if i wanna spend 24/7 with same people all the time!

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only thing u have to think of is if you move in with the people going into 3rd years then you wont be able to rely on them the year after and the people in ya current year might wanna stay in their house which would have no room for you or might feel like they're not good enough if you've to rely on them in 3rd yr :O
@Martin; ye you're deffo right to live with them cus in a hotel you would probably get so fed up of the travelling, especially if it's to only go in for 1 hour classes you might be dead bored

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Originally Posted by Absently

only thing u have to think of is if you move in with the people going into 3rd years then you wont be able to rely on them the year after and the people in ya current year might wanna stay in their house which would have no room for you or might feel like they're not good enough if you've to rely on them in 3rd yr :O

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third year you can move back onto campus anyways which i plan to do because it's so convenient! but yes ive decided im going to move in with coursemates :)