A degree has always been the passport to a better job …

…but being a student is quite different these days. Universities now tend to be much larger. Students take different modules with large numbers of different people in more impersonal, less supportive environment.

From 2006 students will be charged tuition fees of up to £3,000 a year (payable after graduation). The government estimates that students will be graduating with a debt of more than £20,000, whilst the National Union of Students quote £30,000 as more likely.

Be smart – reduce your debts, not your grades!

Many students now have to take part time jobs to make ends meet but research shows that students who do more than 15 hours of work a week are at risk of reducing their grades.

Most students have to borrow money to make it through their university years. The interest rate payable on student loans more than doubled last year. It rose from 1.3% to 3.1% in September 2003 (an increase of 138%), affecting more than a million people.

“The report published by the charity Shelter and the Citizens' Advice Bureau shows that nearly 35,000 students will face a summer cash crisis when they have difficulty getting their deposit back from their landlord. Over £5.5 million of students' money will be wrongfully withheld.”

Be smart – live rent-free!

Swapping homes is a perfect solution to reducing your student debt! It will save you and your family thousands of pounds in rent. It will also create a generally safer and more supportive living and working environment for you. This is particularly important during the transitional period of your university life but, ultimately, it will reflect on your overall academic performance throughout your degree course.

Your good academic performance benefits also your university. High student drop-out rates harm your university's reputation. If the university fails to attract the required numbers of students, its levels of funding will be affected.

The obvious things to do:

Students wishing to use this service must bear in mind that their parents'/ guardians' co-operation in home-swap is vital.

So, the first thing you must do is to discuss the idea with your family and, if they agree, register yourself for a home-swap on our secure database, where a small registration/ administrative fee of £5.00 will give you access to accommodation details being offered by other registered students. No personal/ contact details are made available at this point.

Select your potentially suitable home-swaps from our database offer and request exchange of contact details (e-mail address and/ or telephone number only).

You may contact as many potentially suitable-home swaps as you like during your annual subscription period, until you and your family have made your choice.

We recommend that you do not disclose your home address to any potentially suitable household until you have found out more about them (via the internet or the phone) and are fairly sure that you wish to proceed further. If practicable, both families can then arrange to meet in person and to view both homes and the area. If all is well, they work out the details of the arrangement in a way that will suit both families.

Things that need to be considered:

Are both families really keen to co-operate?

Have you checked out the area you would be living in and the distance of the accommodation from your university?

Have you all come to an agreement about the exact level of practical care that each household will be providing, e.g. lifts to and from the university at the beginning and end of each term (the families can take turns and save money, as only one car trip is needed to transfer both students), laundry, meals, etc.)?

Will this practical care be provided completely free of charge or will some small remuneration be expected?

Are you prepared to respect the household rules in your new home and show consideration to all family members? Will you be allowed to have your friends visit you?

After meeting your new household, do you anticipate any problems with “fitting in” because of religious/ cultural differences or your social habits? If you do, make sure you discuss them openly and in plenty of time.

And, most importantly: Have both families agreed on course of action in case things do not work out as expected? Both families SHOULD resolve this issue beforehand!

If you fail to find a suitable direct swap , you may wish to consider creating a chain swap between three students. However, this is a potentially less stable arrangement and the families involved should proceed with greater care and allow plenty of time for establishing each other's suitability. Creation of a chain with more than three families is also possible, but cannot be recommended, as it may eliminate from such arrangement the essential element of mutual friendship and trust.

See FAQ and TERMS AND CONDITIONS for more information.

If you follow these recommendations and proceed with care, you will have a new home and a new family to help you adjust and cope with the demands of your university life, and it will cost you virtually nothing!

As more and more students register on the freehome4me.com database, the more accurate matches will result and the more choice there will be for everyone.

Be smart – register now! £5.00 registration fee can save you up to £15,000!