Dear Head of Sixth Form,

I am a nineteen year old former pupil of Kineton High School contemplating whether or not to take up a place at Bournemouth University in the next academic year, as I am concerned about the onerous financial implications.
As a direct consequence of this concern, I have developed a website which seeks to save students on average £15,000 of the cost of going to university, a figure that almost eclipses the recent increase in fees.

The scheme involves students swapping their bedrooms in their parental homes. For example, a student living in Coventry wishing to take up a course at Durham University would seek to swap their bedroom with someone living in the greater Durham area who wished to take up a course at Warwick University.

We discussed my idea with our head of 6th form Helen Sharpe, who thought it was “a great concept” and encouraged me to develop the idea. My brother and I have developed the website student2studentaccommodation.co.uk which gives students the opportunity to register completely free of charge and arrange to swap rooms, only then, on an 'honesty box' basis, pay a one off administrative fee of £20. Out of which we will be making a donation to the 'Help the Heroes' charity. We are not permitted to state how much because of HMRC regulations however we promise to make a significant contribution.

A common reservation about this idea was 'What if something goes wrong'? Clearly, no path in life is completely risk free but providing the swap is well researched by those involved, meeting and agreeing the terms, with full parental involvement, students would be staying in a safe family environment. To ensure this, our website gives guidance on suggested rules and regulations. Halls of residence are expensive and would not suit everyone and we believe the swap scheme offers a viable alternative that will not only save a large sum of money but will suit some students better.

student2studentaccommodation.co.uk has the potential to enable students to pursue their dreams and courses, without finding the financial burden too great.

I would be grateful if you could bring this scheme to the attention of your students; for which purpose I have attached a printable poster.

Thank you for your time,

Yours sincerely

Eleanor Riches

Student 2 Student Accomodation Swap, 50 Green Farm End, Kineton, Warwickshire, CV35 OLD.