Should Your Young person Commute To University?
What Parents Who’ve Actually Done It Want You to Know
With accommodation costs taking an increasingly large bite out of the university budget, it’s hardly surprising that more families are asking:What Parents Who’ve Actually Done It Want You to Know
Could my young person simply live at home and commute to university?
We asked parents in the WIWIKAU community to share their experiences, and the responses showed just how different commuting can be from one student to another.
Some had young people travelling 90 minutes or even two hours each way and thriving. Others said the journey became exhausting and restricted university
life far more than they had anticipated.
So perhaps the question isn’t simply: “Is a 90-minute commute too far?”
Can your young person commute to this course, at this university, on this particular route, without the money they save costing them too much in time, energy and opportunity?
First: the potential saving can be enormous
This is the obvious attraction.
One WIWIKAU parent told us their daughter’s travel was estimated at around £2,500 for the academic year, compared with £8,500 for 44 weeks of accommodation.
That’s one family’s calculation rather than a figure everyone should expect, but it demonstrates why commuting is increasingly worth investigating.
And rent isn’t the only saving. Living at home may also mean lower spending on food, utilities, laundry and all the other costs involved in running a second home.
But remember Student Finance
For full-time undergraduate students from England who are not eligible for benefits, the maximum Maintenance Loan for 2026/27 is currently:
| Living arrangements | Maximum Maintenance Loan |
| Living at home | £9,118 |
| Living away, outside London | £10,830 |
| Living away, in London | £14,135 |
The amount a student actually receives depends on their individual circumstances, including household income. So do the sums using the whole picture, not simply rent versus train fares.
Check how much Student Finance your young person could get
Note: These figures relate to Student Finance England. Different arrangements apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Courses starting on or after 1 January 2027 may fall under England’s Lifelong Learning Entitlement system.
Don’t assume they’ll only need to travel three days a week
This was one of the strongest messages we heard from parents.
Eight or ten hours of teaching doesn’t necessarily mean two or three convenient days on campus.
One parent described a timetable with teaching from 9–11am followed by another session at 5–6pm. Another talked about travelling in for a single hour in the
middle of the day.
A relatively small number of contact hours can therefore involve a surprising amount of time on campus.
Before making a decision, ask the university or department what a typical first-year timetable looks like. Not just the number of contact hours. You need to know
when those hours happen.
Do the REAL commute
Google Maps telling you the train takes 75 minutes isn’t enough.
Think door to door: Home → station → train → connecting train/bus → campus → actual lecture building. Then do it backwards.
And preferably try it at 7am on a wet Tuesday rather than at lunchtime during an Open Day!
Several parents told us that the journey itself was perfectly manageable when everything worked. The problems came with cancellations, missed connections,
full trains and the additional journey between the station and university.
A reliable direct 90-minute train, where a student can read, work or sleep, may actually be easier than a shorter journey involving several connections.
WIWIKAU TIP: Before deciding, do the complete commute at the time your young person would actually be travelling. A journey that looks perfectly reasonable
on a screen can feel very different in rush hour.
A Railcard can change the calculation
For students travelling by train, it is worth investigating the 16–25 Railcard and comparing different types of tickets.
But don’t automatically assume a season ticket will be cheapest.
If your young person is only travelling two or three days a week, compare individual tickets with a Railcard, Advance fares, flexible season tickets
and traditional season tickets.
One parent in our discussions found that buying tickets as needed was considerably cheaper for their particular timetable.
And calculate the cost based on the weeks and days they will actually be travelling, rather than assuming five days a week for the entire year.
Check the current 16–25 Railcard rules and discounts
Plan journeys and compare rail options with National Rail
What about all those gaps between lectures?
Interestingly, some commuters told us this actually worked in their favour.
A student living in halls may head back to their room during a three-hour gap. A commuter can’t. So they may go to the library instead.
One parent suggested this could actually make their young person more productive: use gaps for independent study, finish work on campus and then go home.
A former commuter in our community told us they used their 90-minute to two-hour train journey for extra reading, or occasionally sleeping!
The commute doesn’t necessarily have to be wasted time.
But university life isn’t just lectures, or partying
This came through very strongly in the responses.
When parents worry about commuters “missing out socially”, it’s easy to picture Freshers’ nights and clubs. But that’s only part of it.
One parent described everything their daughter had become involved with while living at university: being a course representative, editing the student newspaper,
completing an internship within her department, joining societies, attending guest lectures and volunteering.
Those opportunities can happen outside scheduled teaching hours.
If something interesting happens at 6pm, will you stay?
If every decision is dictated by catching the 5:42 home, commuting may eventually start to feel restrictive.
On the other hand, plenty of WIWIKAU parents told us their commuting students had made friends, joined activities, worked part-time and had
perfectly happy university experiences.
There simply isn’t one “proper” way to do university.
Freshers can require a little more effort
Friendships in the first few weeks can be spontaneous.
Someone says, “We’re all going for coffee” or “We’re meeting in someone’s kitchen tonight”, and the students who happen to be there join in.
A commuter may need to be more deliberate about staying around. That doesn’t mean they can’t make friends. It just means they may need a plan.
Stay for society events. Join study groups. Have lunch with coursemates rather than immediately heading for the station. Use the Students’ Union. Find out whether
the university has facilities, events or groups specifically for commuting students.
And perhaps budget for the occasional overnight stay.
The hybrid option may be the cleverest of all
This was one of the most useful suggestions to come from our community.
Commuting doesn’t have to mean commuting every single time.
An occasional hotel room could still cost considerably less over the year than thousands of pounds of accommodation.
Parents suggested considering an overnight stay for Freshers’ Week, a late finish followed by a 9am lecture, exams, balls or major social events and
particularly intensive teaching periods.
Some students may also occasionally be able to stay with friends.
One parent suggested checking whether the university itself has rooms that commuting students can book overnight. That’s certainly a question worth asking.
And it doesn’t have to be a three-year decision
This may be the most reassuring point of all.
Your young person can try commuting.
If they’re exhausted and miserable six weeks later, they can investigate alternatives.
Equally, they could live in halls for Year 1, establish friendships and university life, then commute in Years 2 and 3.
Several WIWIKAU parents described students who changed their arrangements during their degree.
One parent told us their son commuted in his third year and subsequently wished he had stayed at home during Years 1 and 2 as well.
There is no rule saying the decision made at 18 has to apply for the entire degree.
Don’t make the decision purely to avoid “student debt”
This is an area where it’s important to understand how student finance actually works.
For English undergraduate students on Plan 5, repayments are linked to earnings rather than simply to the size of the outstanding balance.
For the 2026/27 tax year, the Plan 5 repayment threshold is £25,000. Borrowers repay 9% of earnings above the threshold.
So borrowing £5,000 less does not necessarily mean a smaller student-loan deduction from someone’s monthly salary.
Reducing borrowing may still be financially beneficial, particularly for someone who would otherwise repay the loan in full, but families shouldn’t make a major
university decision purely because the headline loan balance looks frightening.
Read the official Student Loan repayment guidance
The WIWIKAU Commuter Checklist
1. What does the actual first-year timetable look like? Not just contact hours, how are they spread?
2. What is the genuine door-to-door journey time?
3. How many changes are involved?
4. How reliable is the route?
5.What happens when there’s a 9am start?
6. What happens after a late finish?
7. How much will travel really cost over the academic year?
8. Would a Railcard and individual tickets be cheaper than a season ticket?
9. Could the journey realistically be used for reading or studying?
10. Does the university provide anything specifically for commuting students?
11. Is there somewhere comfortable to study, eat and spend long gaps between teaching?
12. Are there affordable overnight options nearby?
13. Will commuting make societies, volunteering, sport, careers events or other opportunities difficult?
14. And most importantly: does your young person actually WANT to commute?
So… is 90 minutes too far?
After reading dozens of experiences shared by WIWIKAU parents, we don’t think there is a magic number.
For one student, 45 minutes involving unreliable buses and several changes could be miserable.
For another, 90 minutes sitting on one direct train with a laptop and headphones could be completely manageable.
Some students will desperately want the independence of living away.
Others simply aren’t interested in halls and would much rather keep their bedroom, their existing job, their local friends and potentially thousands of
pounds in their pocket.
Neither is doing university “wrong”.
The best university experience isn’t necessarily the one where your child moves furthest from home. It’s the one that works for them, academically,
socially, practically and financially.
And if they try commuting and discover it doesn’t work?
They can change their mind.
That may be the most useful thing we can tell them.
One final WIWIKAU tip:
Do a practice run before committing.
Pick a normal weekday and travel at the time your young person would need to leave for a 9am lecture. Make the entire journey right through to the university
building, and then make the journey home again.
A 90-minute journey on paper can feel very different at 7am on a dark, wet November morning. That test run may tell you more than any journey planner can.
What Next?
Read our University Packing List Check our Student Food Staples Listhow to apply for student finance Find your university parent group and connect with others here WIWIKAU FAQ’S
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