Dormitories London
Do You Have to Share a Room?
Students who live in sometimes have to share whether they want to or not.
If you do, your rent should be lower – a lot lower – not least to make up for the cost of having to get on pretty damn well with whoever you’re sharing with. Everyone needs their own space sometimes, so this is not a satisfactory option for most student, especially light-loving, commercial radio fare-listening Annie who ended up sharing with veggie-loving light-loathing goth Clara.
However, sharing isn’t that common these days, even in halls of residence. And if you state on your accommodation application that you don’t want to share, you’ll usually not have to. Even those who do need to share are normally sent questionnaires by the university so they can make roommate matches as harmonious as possible. If one of these drops through your letterbox, make yourself sound as anti-social as possible. That way they’ll probably have to put you on your own (or, failing that, with someone else pretending to be anti-social).
A word of warning: if you get into university through the Clearing system, you may end up dumped in whatever accommodation the university couldn’t foist on anyone else. Depending on the options, it’s almost safer to take a year out and apply again the following year. That way you can get your housing application in nice and early while the competition are still brushing up their A-Level revision skills.
If you live out, sharing may make more financial sense because, rather than just getting you a discount, it should actually halve the price.
Some landlords, however, especially if they’re providing two beds in one room, charge per person, not for the room. It’s immoral, crooked and there’s nothing you can do about it. Never share unless you know you can get on with your roommate. That goes for boyfriends and girlfriends too. Otherwise it can be like living in a room with no heating. You’ll end up blowing more money because you can’t spend any time at home.