More than a third of of A-level students are considering living at home instead of opting for halls of residence if they get accepted by their first choice university, a new report has found.
The number who said they were either definitely not going to stay in student accommodation, or were considering not doing it, was 34 per cent, according to research by University College London and the Sutton Trust.
This suggests there could be sharp rise compared to pre-pandemic levels, when 20 per cent of students chose to live at home and save on costly student halls.
Staying home: A significant proportion of this year’s university intake do not plan to move out
But as rents today hit an all time high, students are weighing up whether spending an increasing amount on accommodation is worth it.
Of those who were planning to live at home, 20 per cent said it was because they could not afford to live away, while 46 per cent said they needed to be close to their family.
The report said that many of those who cited a need to be close to family would be doing so at least in part for financial support.
Just over 20 per cent said it was because their preferred university was near home.
The study also looked at those not wanting to go to university at all, 22 per cent of whom said they were not applying because of the cost.
Researchers also found that young people from families who used food banks were much less likely to apply to university than their classmates.
Despite the rising cost, the vast majority of students did still see the value in a University degree with 73 per cent saying it would lead to a better job.
But less than half at 48 per cent still said that student loans were a good investment for the future.
Jake Anders, UCL professor and lead author of the study, expressed concern that disadvantaged students are more likely to miss out on university due to cost.
‘For some planning on going to university, living at home will be the right choice for them, for a whole host of reasons,’ he said.
‘But it should be exactly that — a choice — not something they feel they must do because of the financial challenges of living away from home during term time.’
Research was conducted by interviewing 11,000 students who took their A-levels or similar exams this year.
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, suggested that the findings highlight the ‘difficult decisions many young people face as they weigh up their future.’
He added: ‘Young people from disadvantaged families are less likely to apply to university and are less likely to live away from home if they do apply, limiting their university choice.’
UCL professor Jake Anders says living at home should be ‘a choice’, not a financial necessity
The real cost of being a student
It is arguably the most expensive time ever to be a student. Since 2017, the maximum tuition fee for undergraduate degrees has been £9,250, with nearly every university in the UK charging this maximum.
You can apply for a loan to cover the full cost of these fees from the Student Loans Company.
Students can also apply for a yearly maintenance loan to cover things like housing, food and utilities. The maximum that someone can apply for will be raised this year to £9,978 for students outside London and £13,022 in London.
Masters degrees can cost even more. The average cost of a masters degree for a UK student is £8,740 and is accompanied by a maximum loan of £12,167.
There is no masters maintenance loan, however, and this sum is supposed to cover both fees and living expenses.
In early 2022 the National Union of Students revealed that University-owned accommodation was £2,000 higher per year than it had been 10 years ago at an average of £6,227.
For university halls run by private companies, that figure was almost £2,500 more than 10 years ago at an average of £7,732 per year.
The cost of renting from a buy-to-let landlord is also soaring.
On the job: Students won’t have to repay loans until they are working and earning £25,000
When and how much will this year’s students repay?
Those heading to university this year will be the first cohort to fall under new student loan repayment rules.
Those starting an undergraduate course this autumn will need to start repaying when they have finished their course, are in work and their income is over £480 a week, £2,083 a month or £25,000 a year.
If they never earn that much, they don’t have to pay, and the £25,000 threshold is frozen until 2027.
As long as you earn that much, you will need to make repayments until you clear the loan, or 40 years after the April you leave university.
Until last year, those limits were £27,000 and 30 years.
Interest is charged from the point the loan is taken out, and the interest rate is usually set on 1 September each year, based on the Retail Price Index of the previous March.
For students starting this year, the interest rate will be 7.1 per cent.
