Tuesday 24-04-2018 - 10:00

The University is set to raise rents for halls of residence for next year by 4%. This is against RPI at 3.3%, that means the cost of living in a university residence is increasing at a greater rate than goods and services. Rents charged by the university are already unaffordable and now they are set to become even more unaffordable.

These increases have been agreed in an environment where students face high fees, and want to get the most out of their education as a result, and in many cases have loans that don't cover their living costs. Some students spend hours working, hours in which they could studying or getting the most out of the student experience, in order to meet the shortfall between their rent and loan. The financial pressure will undoubtedly add to the many worries that students have.

Unaffordable accommodation also makes the university less accessible to students from lower socioeconomic-economic backgrounds, who will be put off by the high cost of accommodation in comparison to other Russell Group universities. The university may have accommodation bursaries for these students, but there aren't enough available to make a meaningful impact for students from low and middle income families. For middle income students that have limited access to funding, expensive accommodation limits their choices and means they will have to work many hours to make ends meet.

For current students that have heard about controversial changes to pastoral support in halls and will no doubt have been affected by strikes, the university will have taken actions that will have confused and disappointed them. Rents increasing above the rate of inflation is something that cannot be justified, and that will add to their disappointment. The university should be seen to be doing more to about the issue of unaffordable rents.

Lucky Dube, Student Living Officer