< BACK TO CONTENTS UNITE STUDENTS | THE IMPACT OF SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND ON THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE 15 Student accommodation has been referenced in previous sections as a context for other themes. This short section summarises themes that refer solely to accommodation. Students who had lived in PBSA, whether through the university or with a private provider, had generally been happy with it. Flatmates often became friends, although this was not guaranteed. “You’re living away from home for the first time. You don’t really know these people.” However, when they did find friends among their flatmates it made a positive difference to their experience. Where there is a range of price points in a city, accommodation can become “segregated” on socioeconomic grounds; this could be a positive when it helped disadvantaged students to find friends with similar backgrounds. For other students able to do so, they had financially prioritised accommodation and chosen a more expensive room to help them feel safe and comfortable. Those living in student accommodation appreciated events and activities in the accommodation and would like to have seen more of them throughout the year. Events that were casual, didn’t involve alcohol, or that centred around activities were especially appreciated as being effective in helping to form friendships and to “get students out of their room”. In one case, a student who worked part time in the accommodation bonded with some of the accommodation staff because they were from a similar background to their own. “I would see some of those older members of staff and I’d kind of see them like my own family back home.” Overall, students were positive about their accommodation experience. However, one had previously experienced an unresolved maintenance issue that compromised their safety and security. This coincided with a medical emergency within their family, compounding their distress. Some students had remained in PBSA into their second year or beyond because they had missed the opportunity to find a shared house with friends, sometimes because they were unaware about how to arrange second year accommodation. STUDENT ACCOMMODATION