How to go about explaining this?

Hi all!
Myself and my boyfriend have been together for a year and a half now. I finished college this year and I'm taking a year out before doing a postgrad, he still has another year to do. Before I left college, my plan was to find a job for the summer at home in order to save up enough to afford a deposit to rent a house and find a job in the city the college is in. I also needed to save up a grand to give to my mother, who borrowed me it in order to pay for accommodation last year. My boyfriend offered to let me stay at his until I sort a job/house. However, this hasn't gone to plan. I live in a small town and can't find a job anywhere. The few places that are hiring are looking for ridiculous amounts of experience such as four years working in a shop, for a place in the small, local shop that I don't have, or they're jobbridge. My mother is refusing to let me go on social welfare so I have literally no money. As a result, I'm very reluctant to move back to the college as I would be going with nothing. My boyfriend was really looking forward to me moving down and is still looking for me to move in with him for a while. However, I wouldn't be able to contribute towards bills, food or rent which is completely unfair on the other housemates.

I tried talking to my boyfriend about this at the weekend. However, it didn't get very far. He kept explaining about how it would make sense to go at the start of semester when none of the students have taken part time jobs, leaving no full time jobs, and that he's sure the other housemates wouldn't mind me moving in etc. Although he may have a point about it being easier to find a job/house in September, I still feel deeply uncomfortable about not contributing to the house financially as I know the house isn't cheap. At least at home, I do nearly all the driving and help out a lot with childminding etc. If it was just my boyfriend, I wouldn't mind so much but I don't know many people who wouldn't get annoyed at a housemate's partner essentially living for free, using their electricity etc. If I can't get a job or house around the college, I can see my boyfriend insisting that I stay as the bus from my home to the college is about 7/8 hours. There'd also be the problem of me having nothing to do except look for jobs all day, every day. At home, I volunteer 6 days a week.

I can't see another way to explain this to him, or to say it in a way that minimises disappointment but doesn't leave it open for further discussion. I hate the idea of upsetting him and, under other circumstances, I would be excited too but I just don't see it as being very practical at the minute, whereas he doesn't see a problem. Maybe I am being unreasonable. I mean, it would be easier to find a job in a city as opposed to a smaller town, although accommodation would be difficult to find. I think I just need to get my thoughts out in order to wrap my head around them.