4 reasons to move back into campus dorms in your final year

27 Nov 2019

Your final year at university is big in many ways, not just because you’re likely to become inundated with a mass of essays and exams, but you’re also about to end a huge chapter of your life.

As such, it’s important that you make good decisions that will benefit you, both personally and academically.

A large proportion of students report having had the time of their lives while living in dorms (or residence halls as they’re called in the UK) you’re on campus (cue rolling out of bed 5 minutes before your 9AM), surrounded by friends, and it tends to be much cheaper.

YAY for halls! Source: Giphy

Typically, students move out of dorms and into a house after their first year, but many universities still have spaces open to students in other years, too.

And you should totally reap the benefits! Here’s why…

Dorms are usually close to campus

Nine times out of 10, dorms tend to be in a much better location than the majority of houses that are rented out to students. So, if you want to be living on campus – or at least mighty close to it – then halls are likely to be your best bet.

As a final year student, you don’t want to be wasting precious study time trekking back and forth all over the city from home to uni to the library and home again (maybe via the pub for a quick pint – final years can have fun too, you know!). You want it all on your doorstep, of course. And where better to get it than campus dorms?

Everything is taken care of

Drains are blocked? Washing machine’s broken? Bills to pay? Yep, good luck sorting all that yourself if you’re not in dorms!

Hmmm…not how you wanted to spend your Wednesday afternoon! Source: Giphy

While living in campus dorms, you’ll have a protocol to follow when something goes wrong and often any problems will be seen to pretty quickly.

If you’re renting, you’re unlikely to receive any guidance on what to do if something is amiss and you may end up having to get someone in to fix.

Also, (usually) in campus dorms, your bills are included in your rent, so you can forget about petty arguments and stress over the electricity bill each month.

Your last year at uni is often stressful enough without all these extra worries killing your vibe. Let someone else handle it.

Campus dorms offer more flexible tenancy agreements

The majority of housing contracts you’re likely to come across in the ‘real world’ will run for 10 months at the absolute minimum, while the majority run for a year. If you don’t plan to stick around for that long once your course finishes, or you’re not sure yet due to your visa or other circumstances, the last thing you want is to be locked into a contract.

You don’t want to be paying for an empty room thousands of miles away if you’re going to move back to your home country after your last assignment is done.

Save some $$$ Source: Giphy

This will drastically cut your costs and may even mean you can afford the more up-market residence halls.

You get a balance between alone time and socialising

If you want to live alone, as may be wise for you in your final year (for there’s nothing more distracting than excitable housemates) living in student halls could be a great solution.

You probably can’t afford a nice studio apartment all to yourself in the city, but you could opt for the more affordable studio rooms in dorms. You will benefit from all the perks of dorms while not having to share a kitchen or a bathroom, nor sacrifice any valuable study time begging noisy neighbours to keep the volume down and stop demolishing your snacks!

You certainly can when your pals live in the same building as you! Source: Giphy

You’re likely to have common areas so if you’re craving time to socialise, you should be able to pop into a communal living room for a chat before heading off to bed in your own private sanctuary come the end of the night.

So, don’t be afraid to break out of the mould and shimmy your way back into halls as an oh-so-mature final year student!