College Life: Can you dig it?

Wild house parties, waking up to randomers sleeping on your couch and eating cereal for every meal - it’s a rite of passage for many students when they leave home for the first time.

But fitting that student stereotype is becoming more and more difficult, particularly for those who move to Dublin to go to college.

"The race for student accommodation began earlier than ever this year," says Edward Thurman, co-founder of Collegecribs.ie, a student accommodation website. "Some of our landlords were saying their accommodation was booked out even before the end of April."

For those who waited until their results came out, shared accommodation was scare on the ground. However, more and more people are now opening up their home as “ digs” for students, with options ranging from bed and bills only to all-inclusive bed, meals, bills and laundry.

“This year about 53 per cent of our adverts were for digs accommodation. Just a few years ago that was absolutely unheard of, it would have been about 20 per cent,” says Thurman.

For 19 year-old Liam McGee, a first year at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute, the digs he found in Castleknock were a godsend after viewing “shoeboxes” where he’d have to source his own water and gas.

"After a brief look around the house and room, I was beyond happy to take the place. I was a bit apprehensive about it at first, I had all these doubts and concerns about losing my independence and autonomy, but considering I moved up from rural Donegal, I think it was good to go into a family home and find my feet."

For €140 per week (with a €20 supplement if staying the weekend), McGee gets bed, breakfast, dinner and all bills included. He isn’t allowed use the kitchen to prepare any of his own food, which he finds quite inconvenient. He has however learned to time his hunger with the dinner schedule and loves the meals his landlady cooks. He can come and go as he pleases but has to let the family know when he is going out for the night.

There’s one other student in the home along with the family’s three college going children. But despite the full house he sometimes feels a bit isolated.

“I take my meals on my own in the kitchen and people will nod and say hello but I wouldn’t be sitting in with them in the evening and watching TV. It’s a bit awkward, and it’s the thing I had the most trouble with when I moved. I felt isolated, it was very lonely. It’s gotten better though since I met people through college, but as soon as I go back to the digs I probably won’t speak until I go back to college again. Digs have been good to get a feel of the area but I’d want more independence next year.”

Jonathan Douglas-Smith, a third year engineering student at Trinity College, spent his first year in campus accommodation and his second sharing a flat with friends. But a 40 per cent rent hike and a struggle to find another flat left him with little option but to seek an alternative this year.

“By far the biggest difference with digs is the level of responsibility you feel. You don’t have to worry about when bills are due, or if you have food in the fridge or what you’re going to make for dinner. It’s all inclusive and there’s no co-ordination required. It takes your mind off it and you can just focus on studying.”

Douglas-Smith pays €700 per month for a large double room with lots of storage space in a three storey family home in Goatstown. All bills are included, along with breakfast and dinner made by the family’s stay-at-home mum.

He shares the basement space with three other students, and they have a large fridge and two bathrooms to between them.

“It’s an unbelievable situation,” he says. “It’s very flexible and works very much on a communication basis, so if there’s a night you’re not coming home for dinner you’d just let them know. I’m free to come and go as I want. My schedule is fairly hectic but when I am there they actively try to engage in conversation to try and promote a healthy atmosphere so it’s really enjoyable. If they are watching a movie or sport they will say that I’m more than welcome to join.

“There’s also three other students who stay there and two are international so we can learn about their culture and the differences in their family lifestyle, so I find that really interesting. Next year if I apply for campus accommodation I’ll be likely to get it because I’ll be in fourth year and that’s obviously handy for lectures and the library. But failing that, my instant option will be to return to a digs household.”

For those who offer digs, it’s a chance to make use of an empty room, earn extra cash and have some company around the house.

After her mother died, Noeleen and her siblings decided she would stay on in the family home until they sold it. “It’s a big house to keep running and so I did up two of the rooms this year and let them out as digs for the college term. It’ll help maintain the place until it goes on the market next year.”

Located just a few minutes walk from DCU, Noeleen has already filled one room and has another person lined up for a viewing next week. “The guy I have at the moment is a pleasure to deal with, it’s working out really well. It’s room-only basis but it covers all bills and he has use of the kitchen and the living room, which is a chill out zone for him. It’s hard enough when you’re studying so it’s nice to give them an environment to de-stress in.”

Noeleen charges €120 per week, regardless of whether students stay for the weekend. As she leaves for work at 7am and returns at 5pm, she doesn’t see her lodger all that often. “We are a bit like ships passing in the night. If we’re both there we’ll sometimes sit down and have a chat, which is nice. But it’s working out well because we both have our space. I hope we’ll both feel as comfortable with the next person I get in.”

Noeleen is quite easy going and the arrangement with any student she takes in is based on respect.

“I don’t have rules as such. You get your key and can come and go, just make sure you lock the two doors and clean up after yourself. If you’re partying then party elsewhere because at the end of the day it is my mum’s house and our family home. But he’s very respectful towards me and I to him.

“He had one or two friends over the other evening and they watched the match while I had my dinner and walked the dog, it’s very comfortable. He might stay up the odd weekend but that won’t bother me. I have my family and friends over for dinner a lot and if he’s staying up he’d let me know and he’d be welcome to join us. So far, so good, it’s working out really well.”