The best 5 things about living off campus

Once you’ve ventured out of university, you’ll never go back
(Except for lectures obvs)

As I entered my final year of University and was greeted by all the deadlines associated with it, I immediately grew nostalgic for the simpler times of first year.

As much as I miss not having a constant pile of reading I should be doing and being able to justify more than one night out a week, I realised I didn’t actually enjoy halls that much.

I might be outnumbered by second and third years with rose-tinted glasses, longing for a bygone era, but let me make my case for living off-campus:

You get to choose who you live with

You don’t get this freedom when you’re in halls. Sure, you might be able to fill in a questionnaire or write a bio about yourself with the intention that you’ll be placed with similar people. But your first-year flatmates can definitely be hit or miss.

Once you get to second year, you can have complete control over who you want to live with.

This means you can choose not to live with that guy from down the corridor you never saw, apart from his 4.00 am trips to cook chicken nuggets. Every night.

Or that girl who would optimistically buy a bowl of fruit with her shopping every week, only to let it rot on the side in your communal kitchen. Plus points to her for thinking about healthy eating, but minus points for the infestation of fruit flies you never managed to get rid of.

Rent is cheaper

Halls are definitely more expensive than off-campus housing. Don’t get me wrong, I think it was worth living in halls for a year as it’s a great opportunity to meet people. But the social scene comes with a price tag. Literally. My rent was so much cheaper when I moved off campus in my second year, and I actually managed to find a house closer than halls to my classes.

When you’re looking for your off campus accommodation, make sure you shop around.

There’s more choice of everything

All that money saved on rent brings me nicely to my third point: there is so much more to do off campus!. In Birmingham I traded the one overpriced CostCutter in the student village for an Aldi, 2 Tescos, an Asian supermarket and a Sainsburys (for when I want to splash out).

There’s also more bars with lots of events going on from society socials, to open mic nights and pub quizzes. Think how many pints you could buy in your new local with all your saved rent money!

Trying out a bit of ‘adulting’

Or you could save that cash for a rainy day, because that’s a bit more grown up. Having off-campus housing does give you a better taste of what it’s like to be an adult. Think of it as a practice-run: you have to set up your own rent payments and argue with the council about your tax exemption. But you can still justify a call to your parents to ask them how a fuse box works.

You also have to organise bills and payment with your housemates. Which is a hassle at the time but I’m sure it’s a good life skill or something. Right? (Or, if you’re not sure you can handle expert-level adulting, you can choose a student  house with the bills in the rent.)

Outdoor space

Finally, and this might be more of a personal thing but, I love having a garden. It’s such a simple thing but having your own private patch of outside space can easily become the best thing about your student house.

It’s nice to have a place to study outside or just sit out and relax on the odd sunny day we get. You can have BBQs in the summer and trust me that a few friends, a kids’ paddling pool and a couple of cans bought from your choice of local shop with your excess rent money makes for a great post-exam afternoon.

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If you want to discover the fun of living off campus, Purple Frog will help you find the right place (including a garden, if you want one). Loads of our student accommodation has bills included in the rent, which takes the stress out of budgeting for the year. Plus, there’s free contents insurance for your stuff. Find your new student home, here: https://www.purplefrogproperty.com/student-accommodation/.