Easy to get through the building Access to computers inside the building in study spaces

There's not much support for estranged or care leaving students without parental support. Aston doesn't have it's own student accomodation, they have a partnership with unite, so when students have issues with accomodation it's hard to know who to ask for help. Unite does not respond to emails and there's no clear contact details online. When trying to get to lectures, it's hard to get around University, some parts of corridoors are blocked off and you don't know it till you get there and end up stuck, especially if you get off the lifts. Also the lifts are always really busy, I'm not sure how they could amend this but when you have multiple classes on the upper floors, it makes you late waiting to take the lift up. The lifts don't stop on all floors either which I think makes it even more inconvenient.

Sometimes it can be really difficult to understand what the lecturer is trying to convey to us. A lot of the time it feels pointless going because we will be set hours of work to do independently, and then for in class sessions, all we will do is go through what we did at home. We're not actually being taught anything were just doing it all ourself and then marking it. It's an hour wasted because if they released the answer sheet we could do that whole lecture independently in 5 minutes. If we had a question we could email or go to a library PAL session, and half the time people don't ask their questions because it feels like you can't speak. I feel like our on campus time should be used better so that they're more engaging and people are encouraged to actually attend instead of it feeling like a waste of time.

It's right by the city center like you can cross the street and be there which is great. Also there is a bus stop right down the street that leads into town which is useful. However the city center can be dangerous and rowdy, I have friends that have to travel to get home and in the winter, when you've just had a lecture finish at 5pm or 6pm and it's dark and cold, having to go through the city center to go home can feel unsafe and scary. Also there are tesco expresses literally everywhere and most of the things are overpriced. If you want to go shopping the beat you can do is walk out of the city center for 25 30 minute to an aldi. It's not very convenient. But for other shopping like makeup and clothes the city center is useful if you ever miss something whilst at uni and can't go home you could probably buy it quickly. It's also really hard to get jobs, most fo the time they want you to have 1 or 2 years experience despite being only 18. Most of the time you won't find a job. The rent is expensive for what it is, your loan probably won't cover all of it and if it does you'll barely have anything left over.

Aston uni doesn't have it's own accomodation it has a partnership with unite. Unite is terrible. There tends to be dead and alive rats everywhere. Lifts are always breaking down, lights are always messing up, sometimes we don't have water, you can't contact them via the avenues you should be able to, such as email, which would be easier for dealing with private issues that feel difficult to talk about in person. Living here feels like in living in a dystopian future reality where there isn't enough space for a massive population and so people are confined to basic identical cells. It's starting. The bathroom is made out of plastic, like a portapotty, you get one corridoor with rooms stacked up and then a kitchen at the end. You don't even get a social space like a sofa in the kitchen or something. There's also nothing you can do about bad room mates, unite doesn't have anything in place if they're messy, if they steal, they just don't care. And everyone is just held responsible even if the others aren't Co operating. It feels unfair especially if students are leaving with older people like an undergrad with post grads. Also since this is the only option it's hard as an estranged student to get support. You need a guarantor over 25 to be able to book a tenancy but not all students will have that. There's no clear route on what to do if you don't have one, leaving estranged students and care leavers floundering with no one to contact. I was lucky because the staff from the refuge I was living at chased it up with loads of people until they got an answer otherwise I'd be stuck with no where to live. This is one of the things that should be easiest and clearest as it tends to be the people with the less support needing this help.