In 2000, I started my year as vice-president, welfare at Liverpool John Moores University dealing with 294 homeless students who'd turned up to move into their privately built halls and found they were being asked to move into a hotel until they were finished. Not an ideal start to university, writes Gemma Tumelty
The more I dug the more I found that the costs of private accommodation were higher, there was less pastoral care, more hidden costs and less social space - and that welfare officers all over the country were having to deal with late delivery nearly every September.
Accommodation is the largest student expense, so living arrangements are a serious consideration when thinking about where to go to university. In some cases a year's accommodation, sometimes required up front, can wipe out your student loan entirely. This can exacerbate the need for students to work more hours in part-time jobs. The idea that there is now competition for the cheapest halls might seem laughable, but is a cruel joke if you are the student who has fought to get to university and then has to blow your budget on an en suite that you don't really need or want.
With costs of more than £3,000 per year (£4,500 of you're studying in London), a massive rise over the last three years, you'd be forgiven for thinking I'm talking about top-up fees. The NUS/Unipol students accommodation costs survey shows a 23% average price increase in university accommodation since 2003-04, increasing dominance of private providers, "add on" charges and the continuing obsession with luxury student accommodation.
The trend for students studying at home is surely set to continue if this is not addressed. While that option is best for some students, for others it will be a decision compelled- as ever - by costs.
Consumer choice for quality standard housing can be a good thing and before the Housing Act was introduced, students were more likely to be complaining about poor standards not plush ones.
However there is a danger now that an entire market is being ignored. Supermarkets make a mint out of "value" or "economy" items because there is a choice about whether to buy the more basic brand or opt for the luxury products, or whether to buy at that supermarket at all. The point is that luxury student accommodation isn't a consumer choice anymore, it is becoming a burden. Surely the providers of accommodation on campus should be accountable to student demand and not stitch up students with restricted supply and high prices?
