Accommodation while you study
Where you live when you study is important, and every student or client will have different requirements or needs. It is vital to feel comfortable and secure so that you can focus on your studies or course. There are plenty of options available in the UK.
Language Students
A popular option when studying English is to take a ‘Homestay’. This means living with a local family, or sometimes a single person who has room in their home for an international student.
This way you can interact with English-speaking people and help to improve your newly acquired language skills. Talking in normal everyday situations will help to consolidate the vocabulary you have picked up in class and will enable you to hear English used in normal everyday situations.
There is a wide range of types available, and you can sometimes pay extra to have your own en-suite or separate bathroom facilities.
Meal plans can be ‘Bed and Breakfast’, or ‘Half-Board’ which is usually breakfast and dinner. Dietary requirements can be specified such as Halal or Vegetarian. You can also specify non-smoking or no pets.
Other accommodation options include houses or flats owned by the schools you are studying with. In these cases, you would normally have your own room and share other facilities like the kitchen and bathrooms. You would cater for your own meals although many schools have cafés for lunchtime provision.
Alternatively, there are many purpose-built ‘Residences’. These typically have a range of single and studio rooms with private bathroom facilities. The studio options usually have a small kitchen area. In most residences, you will also have a larger shared kitchen and sitting area where you can socialise with other students and practise your English.
The residences usually have laundry facilities, and some have gyms and other leisure options like games rooms with table tennis and snooker.
Accommodation in a residence includes all the bills like electricity and Wi-Fi. You will receive a welcome bedding pack on arrival.
If you are looking for a Homestay family, please get in touch and we can discuss your requirements, or fill out our enquiry form on the Contact Us page
University Students
All universities have their own accommodation – typically known as ‘halls’. These are accommodation blocks where students have their own rooms and share facilities such as kitchens and bathrooms.
In many universities,the accommodation blocks have en-suite rooms, and this is almost standard now. There are still some older blocks where you share bathroom and toilet facilities and these would be cheaper for those on a tight budget.
All universities guarantee rooms for First Year Undergraduate students, and in some cases, you may be able to keep the room in your second year.
We recommend living on-campus or in halls for the first year. It’s a great way to get to make friends, and familiarise yourself with the university campus and facilities, and it means you don’t have long travel distances in that first year whilst you acclimatise to your new surroundings and get used to studying in a new country.
For those studying on a Foundation course, the colleges that deliver these also have student accommodation blocks with en-suite rooms. These are reserved especially for the students so that they share with others on similar courses and this can really help with making new friends in these early days whilst you are getting used to living abroad.
Private Options
Some students will wish to find their own private accommodation in shared houses or rented flats and there is a wide range of online resources where tenants can search. Rooms and flats are in high demand in university towns so be aware that this can sometimes be a difficult task, especially in peak times. Most universities and colleges will have accommodation teams to assist and provide local knowledge. They usually have landlords on their books and can give you contact details and numbers for local estate agents – these are people who sell and rent properties.
Atava works with a number of accommodation providers in cities all over the UK (and abroad) and you or we can search for a room in the city you are planning to study.
We can also provide suggestions on where to search if you are looking for private flats and speak to agents on your behalf if needed. (Please note there may be a fee for our time depending on the level of service needed. We will discuss this with you when we know what help you require.)
You do not need to have used our study abroad services to book accommodation.
If you are looking for accommodation, please have a look here.
