commuting – The Orbital

Student who commute to university from home are growing in number. But, their specific experiences are often ignored in the student narrative. It might be difficult to understand why people choose to commute but for me and many of my friends, growing up in London, the idea of moving out for a university was not even something to contemplate. Of course, commuting is far cheaper than living on campus, especially with the scrapping of the maintenance grant now becoming a loan. The reality is that many students from working-class backgrounds, simply cannot afford for many reasons to leave their family homes and be straddled with so much debt. There are also cultural reasons for commuting, as some children are expected to stay at home throughout university. I commuted to Royal Holloway from W...

One student's anticipation of moving in day in September was heavily deflated when he arrived to find that he had no bathroom or kitchen facilities in his accommodation at Penrose Court, which Royal Holloway still expected him to pay rent for. The third year student, who wishes to remain anonymous, had traveled in from London by train with some bags he had prepared to unpack to begin his moving in process. After all the strenuous journey all the student wanted was a shower and to unwind and eat and sleep in his new accommodation but was disgusted to find out that his bathroom had not yet finished being renovated, meaning he not only had to access a shower by asking an adjacent block if he could use theirs, he didn't even have a toilet in close proximity. The student also had no acces...

Tag: commuting

Life at Royal Holloway as a Commuter Student

“Living in Penrose Court is almost as bad as being homeless”