[HDNG]IN COLLEGE:[EHDNG][PARA][GRPH]A3[EGRPH][STAT][BULL] Self-catering: 6% [BULL] Cost: ú44-52(41/42wks)[ESTAT][PARA][BOLD]Availability:[EBOLD] [ITAL]Housing is not a serious problem, certainly not as bad as the figures above make it look[EITAL]. 60% of students are from London anyway or are mature students and have their own homes. 35% of 1st years can get a place, and 7% of the others[ITAL]. [EITAL] Places are distributed according to who lives furthest away. There are 5 halls of residence (one of which is shared with the [ULNE]University of Westminster[EULNE]) and the University acts as landlord for 70 houses. No rooms are shared. Ingle House is a small all-male hall in Dulwich (which makes travelling expensive), [ITAL]which is, let's say, 'pleasant'[EITAL], but reserved mainly for Commonwealth students.[PARA][BOLD]Catering:[EBOLD] At Surrey Lodge students get Sunday lunch, while at Uplands breakfast is included. However, essentially, all places are self-catering and have access to shared kitchens, the [ITAL]plusher [EITAL]ones have microwaves.[PARA][BOLD]Car parking:[EBOLD] [ITAL]Forget it.[EITAL][HDNG]EXTERNALLY:[EHDNG][PARA][GRPH]A3[EGRPH][STAT][BULL] Ave rent: ú60[ESTAT][PARA]London Transport (buses, tube and trains) splits the city into several 'zones' which are concentric circles from the centre. Zone 1, for example, is the area within a radius of about 21/2 miles of Trafalgar Square. Zone 2 is the next 3 miles and so on. Obviously, rents get cheaper in the outer zones, but then travel costs to the centre go up accordingly.[ITAL] [EITAL]Travel costs should be taken into consideration when looking at rents because a Travelcard from Zone 3 to the centre costs more than ú15 a week.[PARA][BOLD]Availability:[EBOLD] [ITAL]Contrary to popular belief, it's really not that difficult to find accommodation in London, just buy a copy of the Evening Standard and there are hundreds of places. It is however a challenge of epic proportions to find anywhere that is both affordable and inhabitable. There's very little housing in Zone 1 even for yuppies, and students come a lot lower in the pecking order. Zone 2 is a bit better, particularly for single rooms in shared flats or houses in places like Wandsworth, Putney and Fulham and wherever the tube system is lacking. Zone 3 is relatively promising, but the catch is that it can take upwards of an hour to get to the centre. Zone 4 and beyond are not popular for the same reason, but, as they say, homeless students can't be choosers. Although there are many thousands of people living, quite literally, in cardboard boxes on London's streets, they aren't students. In fact, many students manage to find very comfortable flats for almost reasonable rents. There is also a growing number living in squats. To be safe, students coming to London should work out where they're going to stay first.[EITAL][PARA][PARA][ITAL][GRPH]A3[EGRPH][EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Availability:[EBOLD][ITAL] It's easier to find accommodation in South London than north of the river (The Thames) and it's cheaper.[EITAL][PARA][BOLD]Housing help:[EBOLD] The [ITAL]excellent [EITAL]service offers 3 housing advice workers to help with house hunting. There are daily accommodation vacancy lists, often as long as 70 pages.[PARA][PARA]
