Section 1. You will hear a student from overseas phoning the Student Accommodation Office of a college in the UK for some information.
Oh, good morning. I’m starting at the college in September and I need to find some accommodation.
Right. Well, there are various options. The first one is to stay in college accommodation.
That’d be a single room.
Woman 00:33
How much would that cost?
Man 00:35
Well, it depends. For a standard room, you’re looking at £3,276 for the year. That’s just for a room with wash basin. Or £3,834 if you want a non-sweet. That’s with your own small bathroom. Thank you.
Woman 00:56
I see. That’s more than I expected.
Man 00:59
It does include heating. That’s quite a saving because energy costs can be high, especially in winter.
Woman 01:09
Does it include meals as well?
Man 01:11
No. All our rooms are self-catering now. There’s a shared kitchen on each corridor where you can cook if you want to, or there are plenty of places to eat out on campus.
Woman 01:23
Okay, and you said that’s the price for the whole year?
Man 01:27
Well, you pay annually, but actually it’s for 36 weeks. It doesn’t include holidays. You have to vacate the room then.
Woman 01:37
Oh, um… I’d need somewhere to stay in the holidays. I can’t afford to go home. The flights are too expensive.
Man 01:44
Well, there is another option. Several families who either work at the college or have children studying here offer visiting students a room in their homes. Oh? We call this arrangement Home Welcome and we’ve still got a few places left at the moment.
Man 02:03
You pay £150 per week and that includes breakfast, a packed lunch and dinner, as well as heating.
Woman 02:13
Is there a contract? Do you have to stay for the whole year?
Man 02:17
No, it’s flexible.
Woman 02:19
It sounds really good, but I’m not sure. I really want to be a little more independent. What about finding somewhere to live off-campus?
Man 02:34
Yes, you can rent a property in town privately. You might want to rent a room in a shared house. You’d have a room of your own and share the kitchen and bathroom with other students.
Woman 02:48
What about if I don’t want to share?
Man 02:50
you can get what we call a studio. They’re often quite small but they’ll have everything you need.
Woman 02:56
Right. How much would those two options cost?
Man 03:00
Well, prices vary depending on which part of town the property is in. Generally speaking, the cheapest is around £275 a month for each student.
Woman 03:12
Oh, uh, that’s not too bad.
Man 03:15
Yes, but it can also be as high as £490 and then you’ll have to pay all your other bills.
Woman 03:23
what sort of amount would I be looking at for those?
Man 03:26
Well, last year students were paying on average about £43 per month each for gas and electricity. This year it’ll probably be somewhere in the region of £48.
Woman 03:42
That’s a lot.
Man 03:43
Yes they’ve gone up quite a bit and on top of that you have to pay for water and that’ll probably be around nine pounds.
Woman 03:52
That didn’t occur to me, and I guess I’d have to pay for transportation, too.
Man 03:58
That’s right. Most of these properties are quite a long way from the College.
Woman 04:03
Oh, it just gets worse and worse. What’s the minimum contract on this type of accommodation?
Man 04:11
six months and you have to pay a deposit but of course you can stay there over the holidays that’s true and you’d have to provide references they want two from someone in this country
Woman 04:25
I see. That’s not a problem.
Man 04:28
If you do choose this option, we can’t find the property for you. You’d have to go through the estate agent which manages the property for the owner.
Woman 04:37
Right. Thanks. Well, I think I’d like to see what’s available privately. Could you give me the estate agent details?
