There’s also a point in my contract which states that upon using too much electricity

Yes, because an extra 1.50$ / year would definitely kill your wallet.

For me, storing the hardware and hosting anything would be problematic, as I’m in student accommodation meaning space is limited as it is

This is a valid concern thought, however you may host it at your parent’s home for instance. Either way a RPi and a disk aren’t that big.

You’re framing this as luxury when it fact it’s more like a small time effort to set it up than anything else.