Your views needed: YGRS PGR Housing and Commuting project

News

Posted on Thursday 9 July 2026

During the summer, a new YGRS project is exploring PGRs’ housing and commuting preferences and constraints.

Where you live and how you get to campus are topics that come up regularly in discussions with PGRs and York SU. There has been much attention on the rising cost of housing and travel, although a lot of this focuses on undergraduate students. We know that many PGRs commute from outside of York, which can bring challenges. We also know that the local rental market can be expensive and that couples and family accommodation is not always straightforward to find. Some of you live on campus or in purpose-built student accommodation in the city.

In order to best support the PGR experience and ensure this is factored into University plans, we need to understand your varied housing and commuting preferences and constraints. To achieve this, we are conducting research through interviews and a survey across the next few months. It is really important that we speak to PGRs representing a range of different housing and/or commuting experiences.

Later on in the summer, we will launch a survey which will be looking for responses from all York PGRs about these issues - look out for more information to come about that. But first of all, we are seeking PGRs for in-depth interviews about housing and/or commuting. These will last 30-45 minutes (in person or online) and be an opportunity for you to share your views and experiences. We can offer a £10 voucher as a thank-you for each completed interview.