Student Accomadation

The trials and tribulations of living in student halls.

The photos look inviting and the guided tour on induction day makes them seem like the best thing. Even for the first few weeks they seem like paradise. But then it changes. The europhic feeling of freedom passes and the reality that your trapped in a box room surrounded by the worst kind of people. Students.

Though it seems like a small aspect of university life, finding the right accommodation is very important. The university of Portsmouth has lots of options for student housing but which is best? There are multiple choices, catered self-catered, near town, further away and private rent or halls of residence. I have personal experience with the trials and tribulations of halls of residence.

One of the main issues with halls of residence are the ever-rising costs. This is a huge issue for student’s as costs sometimes make the choice for them. For first year’s halls of residence are a good idea as it’s a gentle introduction to independence and offers a safe environment near to lectures. For most students, it’s the first time they’ve been away from home so private rent seems quite daunting. Unfortunately, the rising costs mean it’s cheaper to live in a house share. The weekly rent of Portsmouth halls range between £127-£153 per week, these costs are extremely high considering private housing can be as low as £50 per week. Although this has the ease of all bills included in one price it is very expensive, and for most it eats up all of the student finance leaving nothing for weekly living costs such as food, toiletries etc.

The other big issue with halls of residence is noise. During freshers week the constant parties were fun, the novelty of parties that go on till 4 am without nagging parents telling you to turn the music off. When that wears off you long for some authoritative figure to tell them to shut up.The trouble doesn't stop there either , noisy students pale in comparison to the blaring fire alarm that rouses the whole building every morning at 4am. This brings into question are these conditions really worth the amount of money students are paying? If these problems occurred in normal homes people would be entitled to compensation, so why do students not get the same high standards when paying such large sums for such poor service?

Student accommodation also has a sometimes-negative effect on local residents of Portsmouth. The two new buildings, Greetham street and Catherine house (coming in 2018) are big eye sores for the town and bring an influx of students into guildhall square. That being said there are some positive aspects to the new buildings as they bring an income to Portsmouth. Also, the bigger buildings create more space meaning more students can get a place in halls. This also has its own problems as putting lots of students in one place ask for disaster. One of the issues with Greetham street has been that the staff cannot cope with the number of students, this has led to the building becoming messy and breakages to facilities.

Private housing is far from perfect however, the cheaper prices mean that faults are more acceptable. With private housing, there are less people in one space which means the noise and mess are halved. However, for first years this prospect is daunting, there is a lot more to think about, bills are separate and must be remembered and your completely independent. But financially private house shares seem to be the best option.  Although student housing offers more stability I would personally say that private housing is preferable in most if not all ways. It’s cheaper, nicer and there are less people. You also have more choice over who you live with and the landlords have more incentive to help than unite services do.  The only negative aspect of private housing is that there further away but this can be solved by the free university bus. So overall private housing is the way to go.