Firstly, unless you are made of money, are very lucky in the location that you choose or are happy to accept digs that are verging on being a squat, you have to accept that you will probably spend about 1 hour each way commuting, door-to-door. That's London for you.
The other tip about London accommodation is not to look too central and don't discard areas that aren't on the tube as they tend to be cheaper, and are often as well connected by train/bus/dlr/whatever.
Also don't discard the middle and outer suburbs - many do this in a sort of inverse snobbery - they often tend to be cheaper, and what you get tends to be nicer and safer! Quite often you are looking at a similar length commute by train that you would by tube from a more expensive, central suburb, with regular night buses to get you home from the pub late at night
This is particularly true for south of the river where the tubes don't really go. Personally if I were you I'd look South East*, connected by train to London Bridge, as it automatically puts you on the right side of London for LGU. SE London has many nice but (relatively) cheap areas if you don't mind commuting by train - East London would also make sense, but watch out as some areas can be rough!
For instance a room as a lodger in Bromley (LT zone 4/5) would set you back about £330 per month all in, add onto that around £100 per month for your train ticket - 30 mins ride to London Bridge and then a 10 mins walk to LGU.
Good luck!
foggy.
*caveat I'm biased as I live in SE London however have lived in North, West and South West London before.
Last edited by foghorn; 13th Nov 2002 at 08:22.