One of the things you are going to have to decide when going to University is where you are going to stay and in what form of accommodation. Here is a list of 5 reasons why staying in student accommodation is absolutely the best financial decision you can make.<\/p>\n
Electricity\/Gas<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2014, it was found that the average Electricity and Gas bills amounted to a dual bill of \u00a31,344 per year! This means that, on average, someone is spending \u00a3592 for electricity and \u00a3752 for gas. [Source<\/a>] As a student you may not be earning a lot (if anything at all), so these kinds of costs can be really detrimental when considering where you want to live.<\/p>\n Water<\/strong><\/p>\n As if the first two were not bad enough, you also have to worry about water bills. In 2014, it was found that average person pays around \u00a3393 per year! [Source<\/a>] Now, most students choose to live in house shares so these costs can be split between different people but these three bills are essentials and even splitting them four ways still amounts to around \u00a3430 per person per year!<\/p>\n Wi-Fi<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course, what student can survive without the internet? Even going beyond using it for recreational purposes, you cannot do without it when you need to study or do research for essays. Unfortunately, while it is technically not an essential for basic living, a good quality internet connection is absolutely crucial when you are a student and sadly this cost is not cheap (or easy to set up, trust me) at an average of \u00a3216 – \u00a3312 per year! [Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n Transport<\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, these can vary depending on where exactly you manage to find accommodation, and what means of transport you take. If you are traveling by car, you have to take into account petrol and parking costs. If you are traveling by train, then you have to account for train tickets and more than likely, bus costs. If you are traveling by bus, dependent on which bus you take the costs can also vary. But if you live any particular distance then there will<\/em> be costs.<\/p>\n Gym<\/strong><\/p>\n You may be wondering why I am including Gym at all but you may be surprised at how many students actually go to Gym and how much it costs them to do so! Ultimately, it works out to around \u00a3228 – \u00a3312 per year for the average person to have a monthly gym membership. [Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n