I've been working 3 months full time this summer, I have a company sponsoring me half of my tuition fee's and i'm going to try and get myself a job down there, hopefully working at a bar.
You and your flatmates should all pitch in and get something nice for the common room. Depending on how many flatmates you have, you could even get something real nice like the 40 inch full HD http://www.idealo.co.uk/compare/978073/samsung-le40a656.html
If you have like 5 flatmates then it works out to less than [font="][/font]200 pounds per person. This is what I did when I went to uni, and believe me, playing Xbox on a 40 inch full HD LCD is really something special. When you all move out, you can just hold a lottery to see what lucky person gets to take the TV home with them.
I'm in halls for the first year, so would prefer to have my own TV for my dorm. I'm going to purchase my TV soon for £200 ... that'll do me nicely, especially as I am in a small room.