"I've saved £6k-a-year on rent - by living in hotels" – Peak District woman’s top tip for struggling students

Kaitlin Fearn, 22, lived in student halls and a shared house in her first two years at the University of Salford, but had to work three jobs to afford her £550 rent and bills.

Realising she might have to drop out of university she realised she could save money staying in hotels in her third year.

The social media and marketing executive says she spent £100 a month on hotels - grabbing rooms for as little as £16 a night.

She was able to go back and forth to her parents house in the Peak District to do her washing - staying in hotels for two days every two weeks on average, due to her reduced contact hours in her final year.

Kaitlin said: “I stayed in halls the first year and then in second year I was in a house, but I just wouldn’t have been able to afford the third year.

“It got to the point where I was working three jobs just to survive.

“I knew I’d have to drop out if I continued staying in rented accommodation, as I wouldn’t have been able to juggle the jobs and my studying.

“I saved thousands by staying in hotels instead, and I spent the money I saved on holidays with my friends.”

Kaitlin spent all of her £4,500 maintenance loan on her £6,500 a year first year halls after starting university in September 2021, leaving her no money at all for food.

She stayed in a shared house in her second year - spending £550 a month on rent and bills.

But she was scraping by as she only had nothing left over to live off, so she had to get three jobs to be able to afford food.

Realising she might have to drop out for her final year as she couldn't juggle her studies and work, she researched what the cost of hotels would be and was surprised to find how affordable it would be.

She said: “Sometimes I would share a room with a friend too, and it would make it even cheaper. We got some rooms for £16 each a night.”

As Kaitlin didn’t have that many contact hours in her third year, she was able to live with her parents sometimes, and then stay in a hotel for around two nights every two weeks.

She said that this would cost her around £100 a month, saving her £450 compared to the cost of her university accommodation.

She said: “I saved so much money that I was able to go on holiday, which is something I could never afford when I was in university halls.

“I went to Milan, Copenhagen and Iceland with my friends.”

As well as financial reasons, another motivation for Kaitlin staying in hotels instead of renting was to have her own space.

“I was living with someone I didn’t really know in second year, and I thought I’d just rather be on my own than do that again”, she said.

And despite living away from her friends, Kaitlin said she didn’t feel like she was missing out on the university experience at all.

She said: “I actually preferred it, because the hotels I was staying in were in Manchester city centre whereas my university accommodation would have been in Salford.

“We’d always go on nights out in Manchester, so the hotels were so much closer.”

Kaitlin said she would recommend hotels to anyone struggling to afford to rent whilst at university.

“Some people worry that they won’t have the same experience, but I would advise people to try it out and see if it’s for you.”

She shares her story on her TikTok account @kaitfearn.