Rise of the live-at-home student commuter

Rosie Rockley knows the true cost of student living in London; her friends in rented flats live in cramped conditions and save cash by renting out their living rooms as bedrooms. Having opted to live at home with her parents in Pinner, Greater London, the 21-year-old languages student says her only expense is £150 a month on a travel card – about the same as her friends studying in London spend on a week's rent.

"I don't want to generalise, but landlords run a business so they often try and cut corners where they can – maybe by being slow to fix damp and mould in bathrooms. When I've seen friends' flats I have been very grateful that I am living at home," says Rockley, who is starting her third year at King's College London.

Figures this month from Santander show that more than 22% of students still live in their family home. Of these, 66% say the cost of living is the main reason.

For Rockley, there are other advantages. "The one thing I love about commuting to university is that at the end of the day you get to leave everything behind. You don't have to be in the thick of it all the time," she says.

With tuition fees of £9,000 and the yearly cost of renting a room in London around the same, for Rockley, commuting to university is a no brainer.

"Maintenance loans probably only cover about three quarters of your accommodation costs, so if you want to live near university you still need to find an extra £2,000 a year."

Research published this month by the Money Charity highlighted the rising cost of student accommodation; average rents are around £420 a month, rising to £554 in the capital.

In many cases, loans don't cover students' accommodation and living costs, meaning they must seek part-time work or turn to mum and dad for support. According to the The Money Charity, parents are paying as much as £750 a month to help their child.

Money is the main reason 23-year-old Scott Varnham decided to live at home. After talking to his parents, he realised at the start of the second year of his degree course that it would be cheaper to commute from his home in Slough to Bath Spa University, where he is studying creative writing – £1,500 a year in train fares compared to £4,000 on rent.

"Although my main motivation was financial I do actually appreciate the extra time," says Varnham who spends the four-hour commute studying. But to get the cheapest rail fares he has to take the late train home at 10pm, arriving into Slough at one in the morning.

According to research on student finance this year by the National Union of Students (NUS), the weekly cost of a room in halls of residence has doubled in the past 10 years. And one of the most worrying findings of the NUS Pound in Your Pocket research was that 58% of students regularly feel stressed about not having enough money to cover rent and other basic living expenses.

Tim Picton, a recent English Literature graduate, commuted from his home in Romford in Essex to Queen Mary University of London during his three-year course. He says this decision was not purely financial. Although he wanted to stay at home to keep his part-time job, he also wanted to help look after his disabled brother. "I found it hard at first to balance everything but then you get a routine and you have to be assiduous," he says.

History graduate Jessie Martin did a 120-mile round trip several times a week from London to Canterbury because she wanted to be near her friends – many of whom had stayed in her home city. She puts the higher grades she achieved in the third year of her degree at the University of Kent down to being able to concentrate better on her studies at home. "My parents were really supportive with my work and helped me handling essays," she says.

But not everybody thinks living at home while studying is a good idea. Paolo Ramella, principal of Sir George Monoux College, in London says it can affect a student's experience of university life. "Going to university is not only about getting a qualification, it teaches you to live on a budget, to cook for yourself, to be self-reliant. It builds independent living skills and creates the chances of forming new friendships; staying at home can sometimes take away some of these learning opportunities."

But fears remain that rising costs are playing a bigger factor in where students choose to study rather than the quality of their degree courses. With a record number of young people in Britain going off to university this year, including rising numbers of students from disadvantaged areas – will more students feel pressure to live at home?

"The choice of where to stay for many students has become more to do with the fear of the costs associated with leaving home. This means they are not always basing the decision of where to go on what is right for them academically. It becomes a decision about whether they can afford to live somewhere," says Katie Llewellin, a sabbatical officer at Birmingham City University.

"Lots of students are now making decisions based on locality and it is a very complicated issue. It is not just about a rise in accommodation costs but there is a general rise in the cost of living and associated costs of courses. It is something that needs to be addressed because a lot of the time the worries students have could be mitigated."

Rockley predicts her decision to live at home will reduce her student debt by around £20,000 overall, giving her more choice about her future. "After university I would like a change of scenery and maybe move to New York, Hong Kong or Dubai. I think that living at home buys you a bit of time once you've left university because you don't have to immediately worry about paying off your student loan. If you are dealing with £54,000 debt then you are going to want to get a job as quickly as possible … Living at home gives you space to breathe."

Most and least affordable places to study

HSBC have just published research into students' cost of living. The bank looked at the cost of renting in halls, weekly essentials (which it classed as food, activities and university supplies), five pints of beer, two bottles of wine and a bus pass. It found that the average weekly spend for first-year students was £196. But there were some surprising conclusions about which cities were the most, and least, affordable.

Five most affordable:

1. University of Leicester Here lucky students pay around two-thirds of those studying in London. Renting in self-catered halls set you back is about £91 a week and five beers cost just £8.

2. University of Nottingham Weekly essentials cost about £10 more than in Leicester but the city is still very affordable with rent in self-catered halls at just £100 a week.

3. University of Cardiff A weekly essentials shop sets most students back around £92 here. But the city is slightly cheaper than Nottingham if you're renting in halls, at around £94 a week.

4. University of Southampton A bus pass for a week is £6.67, cheaper than most other universities. The cost of five beers is also reasonable, at just over £16.

5. University of Bristol Perhaps a surprising addition to the list, Bristol is the fifth cheapest place to study. Weekly essentials come in at just over £70, with a weekly bus pass a reasonable £7.27.

Five least affordable:

1. UCL/ Imperial It's no surprise that London is top. A weekly shop comes in at £155. A bus pass is also a huge £21.

2. The University of Oxford Self-catered halls cost £137 here and a weekly essentials shop is around £120. Five beers in Oxford is around £20.

3. University of Sussex It's reasonably cheap to ride the bus (£7.67) but weekly essentials are £135.

4. University of Birmingham Renting in halls is about £121, with your weekly shop costing you £10 more than that.

5. University of Manchester Renting a room in halls is £131 and a bus pass is just over a tenner.