Ever lived outside St Andrews?

[NMP]

Out of interest, has anyone ever lived outside St Andrews in term time e.g. in Anstruther? I´m a bit stuck for housing and am considering renting a property out in a neighbouring town. Is it social suicide??

[starchild]

my friend lives in anstruther and hates it.
okay. so in addition to your rent you'll need a bus pass which is in the region of £70 a month. if you want to do anything with people in st andrews you have to plan in advance and if you want to go out at night you're a slave to hourly buses or twenty pound taxis. there's no spontaneous 3am parties unless you can pay for the taxis or whatever will bring people over. you will have to wait for buses for simple things like going to the library (late night study sessions anyone?) or lectures, and the travel distance for these things will put you off going. if you wake up late for an exam you are more fucked than someone who lives in st andrews. living out of town is probably a very last resort because it's such an arse...

[dw254]

my friend lives in anstruther and hates it.
okay. so in addition to your rent you'll need a bus pass which is in the region of £70 a month. if you want to do anything with people in st andrews you have to plan in advance and if you want to go out at night you're a slave to hourly buses or twenty pound taxis. there's no spontaneous 3am parties unless you can pay for the taxis or whatever will bring people over. you will have to wait for buses for simple things like going to the library (late night study sessions anyone?) or lectures, and the travel distance for these things will put you off going. if you wake up late for an exam you are more fucked than someone who lives in st andrews. living out of town is probably a very last resort because it's such an arse...

All true from my experience living in Cupar. Rent's only £100 a month though... which is nice.

[steelegbr]

£70 per month in bus passes? I'm coming from Dunfermline every day and it's ~£50 (unirider). But even so, rent will usually be hell of a lot cheaper. Also, if you're wise and get a house on the 99/96 bus route, they run as late at midnght/1am (I used to work in Dundee, getting the last bus back).

It's not great socially. Yeah, so be it. And indeed you are slave to the timetables (I can only stay as late as 8pm). However, that does have the unintended benefit of preventing you from living in the lab/library. You learn to get stuff done ahead of time (or on the hour long bus journey in my case).

As for exams, I drive in. But time on the bus will give you time to wake up.

[sushiguru]

my friend lives in anstruther and hates it.
okay. so in addition to your rent you'll need a bus pass which is in the region of £70 a month. if you want to do anything with people in st andrews you have to plan in advance and if you want to go out at night you're a slave to hourly buses or twenty pound taxis. there's no spontaneous 3am parties unless you can pay for the taxis or whatever will bring people over. you will have to wait for buses for simple things like going to the library (late night study sessions anyone?) or lectures, and the travel distance for these things will put you off going. if you wake up late for an exam you are more fucked than someone who lives in st andrews. living out of town is probably a very last resort because it's such an arse...

All true from my experience living in Cupar. Rent's only £100 a month though... which is nice.

If it's any consolation, half of the university staff are in the same boat, and live outside St Andrews. I see more familiar faces in Cupar than in St Andrews now. The x24 is a reliable service from Cupar. If more students lived out of town, perhaps the social scene in the outlying towns would improve? When I was in Southampton, half of the students (at least) lived in a 10 mile radius of the main campus - you just don't question living that far out when it's in a city.

[Fawksie]

The X59 also tends to be dead on time.

[ojk6]

I'm a returning student, seriously considering living outside of St Andrews, the rent being the major motivating factor as well as the desire to be able to get away from the bubble

[lhf9]

I think you have to weigh up the pros and cons of it. Do you have friends who have somewhere for you to sleep if you want to go out in St.Andrews? Or if there are a few of you applying you could get taxis back perhaps?

[sqril]

are you living with anyon who has a car/ could you afford one between you? might work out cheaper than depending on buses, i dont know. If you were all insured on it if you wanted a night out only one of you has to stay sober...

[NMP]

Well I´ve got a car of my own so that´s not really a problem. As for living with a group of friends - they´ve all graduated. It would just be me and whoever else the landlord can find to fill the other rooms.

[sushiguru]

It would just be me and whoever else the landlord can find to fill the other rooms.

Residential and Business Services are about to launch a new part of their website which allows for you to find flatmates - I'll message again once it's live.

G.

[Kal]

Find a flatmate service has gone live. Doesn´t appear to be much on there though. This should have gone live about 3 months ago to get any use out of it!

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/resbus/letting/faf/

[Freaker]

Find a flatmate service has gone live. Doesn´t appear to be much on there though. This should have gone live about 3 months ago to get any use out of it!

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/resbus/letting/faf/

This needs to be advertised! Let's hope the incoming sabbaticals will do something about it and that the system will be well used.

[JCdizzystar]

I'll be going into my fourth and final year in September of this year, but am soon to move to Edinburgh to live with my partner and am planning on commuting through for the (hopefully) two days a week I'll need to be in St Andrews. I've done the research and it appears to be completely possible using public transport, though inconvenient, especially given that my classes are at 9am. I was just wondering if anyone else has studied in St Andrews whilst living in Edinburgh, and how they found it, particularly in terms of travelling in and out, and any advice anyone might like to give me? When deciding whether or not to do this I spoke to a number of my friends, virtually all of whom thought it was probably a bad idea, so I was sort of hoping there might be others who have been in a similar position and can offer a slightly more positive point of view...?

[sushiguru]

Hrm. Edinburgh to St Andrews is a tough ask. There are lots of things to consider here; you may be able to commute for the two days a week you have lectures, but have you considered how you're going to access the other university facilities you may need, perhaps at short notice (that library book that's only in short loan and you're going to have to wait for its return etc etc)? Another couple of factors worth considering: your final year (especially the first semester) are crucial when applying for employment (though obviously less of an issue if you're definitely going on to further study) and you don't want to do anything that may jeopardise your final degree result. In the current climate, you can't afford to allow your degree classification to slip for the convenience of living with your partner for 30 weeks of the year.

This may sound obvious, but I know that when there's a bus or train you need to catch, the temptation is just to go and get it and not wait for the next one - especially if that's in another 2 hours and it's now 7pm and you're not going to get home until 10pm.

If it were me, I'd stay in St Andrews and wait until after final exams to move to be with my partner. For one year (30 weeks of academic term, excluding weekends) it's simply not worth the risk of buggering up all the good work of the last three years.

I'll be going into my fourth and final year in September of this year, but am soon to move to Edinburgh to live with my partner and am planning on commuting.....When deciding whether or not to do this I spoke to a number of my friends, virtually all of whom thought it was probably a bad idea, so I was sort of hoping there might be others who have been in a similar position and can offer a slightly more positive point of view...?

Kinda sounds to me like you've already made up your mind and are seeking affirmation that it's going to work. Are you prepared to re-think your plans, or are you simply seeking approval?

G.

[JCdizzystar]

I have already made up my mind, yes; we are currently in the process of finding a new place in Edinburgh and will be moving there within a matter of weeks, so I guess I am simply seeking approval, like you say.

There were a number of factors in making this decision, all of which I personally see as very valid points:
1. I can't afford to live in St Andrews, and after three years of intense financial hardship I'm very much looking forward to being able to live comfortably, which is only possible for me if I live with my partner.
2. If I stayed in St Andrews, my partner and I would virtually never see each other due to the nature of her job, and even if I was to travel through at every available opportunity I'd end up wasting enormous amounts of time (and money, which I'd then be short of due to my rent in St A's) on travel. Also, I'm as yet undecided as to what I want to do once I've graduated, though I have always had my heart set on moving abroad at some point, even if not straight away (particularly as my degree is modern languages) but my partner's job ties her to Edinburgh, so once I've graduated there is no guarantee that we'll be able to live together. It will all depend on the job I get.
3. I am hoping that this situation will actually encourage me to work better, as I'll be forced to spend full days in St A's when I'm through, and therefore will spend my free time in the library, studying. I'll have a peaceful home environment in which to work instead of a grotty student flat. I'll have access to libraries in Edinburgh, including the university's, which I am sure will more than make up for lack of access to St A's.

I appreciate it may seem like rather a pointless discussion to begin considering I've already made up my mind, but in addition to approval I am also hoping to find advice or stories from others who've been in similar situations, or even just people highlighting potential obstacles, as you have done, so that I can bear these in mind and try to be prepared for them at least.

[sushiguru]

Fair comment then. If your partner's working in Edinburgh, you could always seek a compromise, like Cupar - which can be used as a commuting base for both Edinburgh and St Andrews, and is a damned site cheaper than both to rent in.

As for future plans, pop into the Careers Centre and we can have a chat on how best to prepare for whatever you do end up doing next, and ways to maximise the use of your available time.

Cheers,
Gary.

[Thalia]

Edinburgh's a fair commute from Cupar, all that really would serve to do is make it easier on the student at the expense of the partner If we're going for compromise suggestions - Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy are roughly the same distance from both St Andrews and Edinburgh, but the negative part of that of course would be actually having to live in Glenrothes or Kirkcaldy

[sushiguru]

Edinburgh's a fair commute from Cupar, all that really would serve to do is make it easier on the student at the expense of the partner

True, but it does have a mainline station and keeps the expense down for the student half of the equation, and also has a frequent bus service.

If we're going for compromise suggestions - Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy are roughly the same distance from both St Andrews and Edinburgh, but the negative part of that of course would be actually having to live in Glenrothes or Kirkcaldy

True. I commuted to St Andrews from Dalgety Bay for 3 1/2 years whilst my wife worked in Edinburgh. Not quite half the distance, but it took us an equal amount of time to do our respective commutes.

[JCdizzystar]

Living somewhere between Edinburgh and St Andrews was never an option for us, as my partner will be working shifts at ridiculous hours and with unpredictable start and finish times, so public transport would be out, and it's easier for us to live within a few miles of her work so she can cycle - thus keeping transport costs right down.

Plus, I think most people would agree with me than Edinburgh is a far more interesting place to live than Glenrothes or Kirkcaldy!

Incidentally, we now have our apartment in Edinburgh, and are moving in today. Fingers crossed!