Freshers Is Changing: More Students Are Choosing to Commute to University
For generations, starting university has been associated with packing up, moving into halls and learning to live away from home for the first time, but for a growing number of students, university life now looks very different.
A recent Financial Times feature, looks at the increasing number of school leavers going into higher education who are choosing to remain living with their parents, with the high cost of moving away playing an important role in that decision.
Figures from UCASreinforce that shift. Among UK 18-year-olds accepting a university or college place in 2025, 31% intended to live at home, compared with 22% a decade earlier. UCAS also found that students from more disadvantaged backgrounds were particularly likely to remain living at home while studying.
It means the stereotypical Freshers experience - halls, campus and everything within walking distance -increasingly represents only part of the student population.
A different kind of Freshers experience
Commuting can bring obvious benefits. Staying at home can reduce the cost associated with moving away and allow students to retain established family and support networks.UCAS has previously highlighted the financial advantage of living at home as one reason students may choose this route, but it can also change how students experience university.
A commuter student might move between home, campus, work, social events and unfamiliar parts of a university town or city throughout the same day.
Their university experience may begin and end at a train or bus station rather than in halls. Joining societies, staying for an evening event or heading out during Freshers can mean thinking about the last train home, alternative transport or travelling alone for part of the journey.
Freshers therefore isn't only about helping students settle into accommodation.
It's also about helping students find their way around, build connections and feel part of university life, wherever they're travelling from.
Travel Guardian for the way students actually live
This is where Travel Guardian can become a useful companion to everyday university life.
Whether a student is commuting into university each morning, moving into halls for the first time or travelling between campus, work and social plans, Travel Guardian brings together tools, information and support designed to help people feel safe, connected and informed while they're out and about.
Students can:
Explore their new surroundings using the interactive map, including nearby transport links, accredited Safe Spaces, toilets, defibrillators and other useful locations.
Share a Journey with someone they trust when travelling somewhere new or unfamiliar.
Use Share Arrival to automatically let a trusted contact know when they've reached their destination.
Use Rescue Me if plans change and they need a trusted contact to come and get them.
Access Guides covering useful information, advice and topics relevant to everyday life, helping students find answers and understand their options when they need them.
Find Support in one place, with signposting to organisations and services that can help across a range of issues, particularly useful for students who may be away from their usual support networks or simply don't know where to start.
Report something that has happened or doesn't feel right, with options to report anonymously or provide their details where appropriate.
Keep informed through Noticeboards and local information, helping students stay connected with useful updates and resources available to them.
Those features matter during Freshers, but their usefulness extends well beyond the first few weeks.
For a student commuting from home, Travel Guardian might help with an unfamiliar journey or finding the last transport option after an evening event. For someone living away for the first time, it could mean quickly finding support, reading a Guide when they're unsure what to do, locating a Safe Space or reporting an experience they don't feel comfortable ignoring.
For students balancing university with a part-time job, placements, societies, nights out and trips home, it provides one place they can return to as their routines (and the places they spend their time) change.
