Make university your home
Not just the place you study
When you apply to university, your decisions don’t end there. You’ll want to research where your new home is going to be. Most universities will offer their own accommodation to students, but it’s up to you to decide what sort of accommodation suits you best.
When to apply for student accommodation?
If you’re applying to Portsmouth, you’ll get an email from student housing after you’ve accepted your firm offer to study with us. It’ll give you instructions on how to apply for accommodation. For now, have a look at the types of housing you can choose from to help with your decisions.
Your accommodation options at a glance
Halls of residence
Most students will spend their first year in halls of residence. These are often owned by the university, or by a company linked to the uni. You’ll get to choose a place that suits you and your budget well. Have a look to see what you can expect in your new home.
Cost
Because bills are included in your rent when you stay in halls, you only have to think about one payment. Most halls will ask you to pay termly, which can make it easier to manage your money if you have a student loan. Here at Portsmouth, our halls range from £104 to £167 per week, depending on what you want included in your halls.
Finding your perfect fit
Even if you know you want to stay in halls, there are still lots of options to choose from. Some halls are catered, meaning you never have to cook for yourself, but you might be limited to set meal times. You might want to be amongst the buzz in the city centre, or to live right by the sea. Maybe you want a double bed instead of a single. Whatever suits you, we’ve got you covered.
Pros
- Uni halls are very social, and you will usually be living with other first years, making it easy to make friends and navigate moving away from home together.
- You’re likely to be on campus or in the student centre, meaning it’s easy to get to your lectures, the student union and all the popular student spots.
- You can choose catered halls if you're not up for cooking.
- You might find future flatmates in halls.
Cons
- Halls are the most popular option, and not all unis will guarantee you a place. But don’t worry, if you’re applying to Portsmouth as your firm choice, we’ll guarantee you a spot in halls.
- You’ll have to adjust to living with a group of people you may not have met before. Although it’s a great opportunity to make friends, it also means working out how to share household tasks like cleaning the kitchen and taking out the bins. If you find it hard to share your space, or live with other people’s mess, halls might not be the best option for you.
Want to live with a friend in Halls?
It's always nice to see a friendly face. If you and your friend are both joining us at Portsmouth and would like to live together, get in touch with us and we will do our best to allocate you accommodation together.
Your home away from home
What to expect at the University of Portsmouth
When you stay with us in halls, you get the keys to your own place and open the door to a community of new people.
All our halls are in the centre of Portsmouth, close to our campus. Find out more on our accommodation page.
Video showing benefits of University of Portsmouth halls - fully furnished, in the heart of the city, with bills covered. No dialogue.
Private rented accommodation
Some students choose to go into private housing in their first year. That could be a studio, shared flat or shared house. This way, you can choose who you live with and where you want to live.
How renting privately compares to halls
Most students choose to live in halls in the first year, and then move into private housing in their second and third years. Although you can move into private housing in your first year and choose who you live with, you may not know anyone yet, and it could make it harder to make friends.
Private housing can be cheaper than halls, but you may have to organise your own bills, as things like water, WiFi and electricity aren’t always included in your rent. However, private housing may be a good option if you want to live on your own or with a smaller group, as you can find studios, flat shares or house shares for 1-5 people.
In halls, you’ll usually be sharing communal areas with at least 6 people. They may also be a good option if you want to live a little further out from the city centre. At Portsmouth, lots of students choose to live in Southsea when they move into private housing, rather than staying in the city centre. If you want to move into private housing in your first year, your chosen uni’s student housing team can help you to find other students to share with.
Guarantors
Most landlords and agencies will ask you to have a guarantor. This is someone who is living in the UK, who signs your tenancy agreement to say that they will pay your rent if you can’t. If you don’t have anyone to ask, there are services who will sign as your guarantor, for a fee. Talk to your chosen university’s student housing team to find out more about the support available.
Deposits
Whether you decide to live in halls or private housing, you are likely to have to pay a deposit. This is an upfront sum of money to cover any damage or missed rent. If you keep up with your rent payments, and don’t break anything, you should get this back at the end of your tenancy.
Living at home
If you’ve chosen to go to a local university, you might decide you want to live at home during your studies. This can be a good way to save money whilst you are studying, as you are likely to pay less rent (if any), and might even have your food bought for you. Staying at home can help you avoid the stress of moving out and finding accommodation each year.
But you might feel a little removed from student life, and you might find it harder to make friends when you first start. Joining sports clubs and societies is a great way to make sure you don’t miss out on the student experience if you are choosing to stay at home, as well as getting involved in any welcome events put on by the uni or student union.
Making your decision
Go to experience days
Open Days and Applicant Experience Days are a really good opportunity to look at the accommodation on offer and to help you make a decision about where to live. You'll chat to students who have lived in halls and private rented accommodation, and meet student housing teams.
You might even find people who you want to live with in private housing, or just make some friends before you arrive.
Chat to friends and family
It’s great to get advice from as many sources as possible to help you to make an informed decision.
If you have any family or friends who've been to university, talk to them about where they lived and what they liked or disliked.
If you don’t know anyone who has been to uni, or you want another opinion, you can always chat to current students.
Ask yourself if it’s the right fit
Decide what your budget is to make sure you can afford your chosen accommodation. Consider whether you’re happy with the location, and think about how long you want to live there.
Lots of contracts end in June or July, which might not suit you if you want to stay in your accommodation for the whole summer.
Think about whether the accommodation will give you the student experience that you desire, whatever that may be. Find out if the bills are included, if there’s a TV licence, parking, or anything else that’s important to you.
In doing so you might identify some non-negotiables that helps you pin-point somewhere that suits you.
Discover Portsmouth | City Guide
Portsmouth is a great place to live as well as study. We're the UK's only island city and life as a student in Portsmouth is unbeatable. We’ve got beaches, great places to eat, heaps of independent shops and music venues, cultural and artistic hotspots, and stacks of green space. Portsmouth is one of the most picturesque, welcoming and interesting places to live in the UK, and was voted the in the top 10 trending hotspots by Airbnb (2022).
I think Portsmouth is very forward thinking.
It's got such a really friendly atmosphere and even though it's a city, it’s quite a small city, so it feels really welcoming and homely.
When I first came to the open day for Portsmouth, I instantly fell in love with it.
When the sun is shining, there is nowhere better than Portsmouth.
Welcome to Portsmouth, the UK's only island city and home to the University of Portsmouth.
Join us today as we show you some of our favourite spots so you can take advantage of studying at the heart of our community.
It's a very cosmopolitan city, it's got so much to offer.
You have the commercial road, you have the city centre ar the heart where it's all lively.
Student nightlife is really, really good. You’ve got lots of nightclubs, lots of stuff to do.
But then as soon as you come to Southsea it’s more of a lazy seaside town, you get to go to the beach.
You just have to go down to the beach or the common on a sunny day and everyone's having picnics. It's just beautiful.
Fuelling up for the day, you’re absolutely spoilt for choice.
Everyone I know has a different favourite café spot.
We’ve got you covered for freshly roasted coffee, doughnuts, fish and chips, vegan food and artisan bread.
And that’s before we even get to the restaurants and bars. Cheers.
Okay, shopping. I love to shop local myself and the top spots for that are Palmerston Road, Marmion Road or here, Castle Road.
Commercial Road has you set for your shopping essentials. Or pop down to Southsea for charity shop bargains and quirky independent businesses to browse for something unique.
Or join us in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth's Waterfront Shopping Centre to check in on your favourite brand outlets or catch the lights at Christmas.
I love that kind of vibrancy of the city
It's got a real independent spirit about it.
I think it's got a really good mix of independent businesses.
There are so many local independent businesses.
There are entertainment activities in terms of lots of bars and restaurants and loads of cool places to eat.
There's so much to do right here in the place you live.
There's an island’s worth of beautiful coast to explore and unique green spaces like Canoe Lake and the Rose Garden to enjoy with your friends or by yourself as a space for study or reflection.
Or for something a little different, you could wander into an art gallery, try an escape room, or book a table with your friends at DICE, the local board game café.
And don't forget the nights. There's a ton of live music events happening every week as well as karaoke comedy nights and live theatre.
There are lots of cultural events, art galleries, music venues.
And there are so many shows. You've got kite festivals.
Food festivals.
The big one that really helps the town is Victorious Festival.
It is such a really lovely community.
And I think after you've been here a while, you feel part of the community.
It just makes you feel like you're at home away from home.
Portsmouth is a one of a kind place, a place for you to explore and thrive.
There's something for everyone here, and we can't wait for you to be part of it.
To find out more about our city, book an open day and get exploring, visit port.ac.uk.
