New major report on student residence at UK universities by William Whyte

In Moving Away? The Past and Future of Student Accommodation, William Whyte identifies a ‘deep-seated commitment to leaving home for university’ that has ‘characterised British student life for generations’. Despite the huge expansion of student numbers, the diversification of the student body, dramatic changes to student finance, and the transformation of the types of accommodation on offer, the cultural assumption that going to university means moving away from home remains remarkably resilient. Latest figures show that only 21% of UK students choose to live at home: a figure that has scarcely changed over the past eighty years. In a previous HEPI report, Whyte found that the mass migration of students is a distinctly British model; across Europe, for instance, 36% of students live in their parental home and only 18% live in student accommodation.

Whyte’s 2026 report argues that living away from home is not simply a deeply embedded cultural expectation, but also brings significant benefits for British students and the universities they attend. He suggests that the value of on-campus student residence lies not only in providing decent accommodation, but also in helping students build friendships, develop independence, build confidence, and become active members of their university communities through sports and other student societies. Research indicates that these benefits contribute to academic success, with students living in residence more likely to achieve a good degree.

Increasingly, however, fewer students are able to afford to live away from home – or at least, are unable to do so without supplementing their maintenance loans with paid work. Whyte’s report highlights that the proportion of students undertaking paid work during term has risen from 35% in 2015 to 68% in 2025. Unsurprisingly, students who undertake more paid work outside of their degree have less time for independent study than their peers and are less likely to achieve the highest degree results. Furthermore, students who work to meet their accommodation and living costs have less opportunity to enjoy the social, health, and community benefits of residential life that prompted them to move away from home in the first place.

To address this ‘perverse outcome’, Whyte’s report concludes with six practical recommendations for policymakers, higher education institutions and accommodation providers. Central to these recommendations is the need for higher education institutions to 'rediscover the idea of the university as a living, breathing community: a place as well as an idea'.