The results are in, you’ve accepted an offer and you have a place at University secured. All that’s left – apart from the working hard for the next few years – is to find the right place to live. Of course, time to decide is short and you need to make a choice, with the two main options being: halls of residence or a shared student house.

Everyone has a different view of what’s best for a first-year university student living away from home. But only you know what you’re really looking for and which option will be best to help you settle in to your new student life.

To help you make the right decision for your first move out of home, our halls of residence versus shared student housing post is designed to give you some useful information on making that choice.

Halls of Residence

In many universities across the UK, university run halls of residence are often guaranteed for first-year students who want to live in them. There are also privately-run university halls of residence, which are similar to university run ones, but often a little more expensive.

University Halls tend to offer a number of benefits, or pros, that are attractive to first-year students. They include:

• All-inclusive accommodation, with furniture in place and no separate bills to worry about.
• Be very close to, or even on the university campus.
• Offer a catered option.
• In many cases, you’re guaranteed to share with other first-year students.
• There may be same sex, mixed sex, same religious orientation options.
• En suite or shared bathroom options.

However, while all of that is perfect for new students, it’s not all a bed of roses. Living in halls can offer some challenges too. Some of them are:

• Halls tend to be busy and noisy as pre-drinks and late-night parties are common.
• Those parties can result in fire alarms going off at all times of the night – not conducive for a good night’s sleep.
• If you really don’t get on with your flat mates, the university may not let you move, or they may insist you stick it out for longer than you want to.
• Some halls can be old and lack the modern touch you’re used to.
• Bedrooms can be on the small side.

Shared Student Housing

Your other main option as a first-year student, is to look into shared student housing. This can still be done with support from your University as they will usually have an approved list of landlords and letting agents to contact.

Shared student houses can be called a number of different things, such as HMOs, student house, shared accommodation and others. But they all refer to the same thing: a shared student house. Student houses tend to be in student friendly areas, very close to your university, so location shouldn’t be an issue. However, as with halls, there are still a mixture of pros and cons.

Pros:

• They tend to be cheaper than halls.
• There’s more opportunity to choose your house-mates before you move in.
• Not all student houses are the same so you can choose the one that you like best.
• With fewer people than in a block of university halls, the only pre-drinks and all-night parties will be the ones you arrange and attend.
• Much less chance of late-night fire alarms going off and disrupting your sleep.
• It can be easier to wind down when you’re away from the physical University building.
• Being away from Halls can encourage you to join more societies and groups.

Cons:

• You may have to budget for bills if they’re not included in the rent.
• Disagreements over who gets which room can arise.
• There’s no catering option which means you need to buy and cook all your own meals.
• You’ll almost always have to share bathrooms, unless it’s a nice new and modern renovation.
• You could be sharing with students from a variety of different years.
• You might miss out on spontaneous late-night parties that often spring up in neighbouring Hall flats.
• Even if the house is in a known student area, it still might be some distance from your main University lecture theatres.

As you can see, there are a similar number of pros and cons for both options, which means you need to try and weigh up what’s most important to you when you move to University.

It’s an exciting time with a lot to think about and even if you’re still not sure about which living choice you should make, don’t worry. There’s almost always a chance to make a change if you’re really unhappy and no matter where you live, you’re sure to make some amazing friends and memories, as you begin your years of studying!