Bummer! Student rent soars to £1,000
University halls shock
STUDENTS heading to university next month face paying record prices for accommodation with Scotland’s most expensive halls of residence breaking the £1,000 a month barrier.
Many universities have hiked charges with increases as high as an inflation-busting 5 per cent. The rises have angered students, who want more affordable rates.
Luke Humberstone, president of the National Union of Students in Scotland, called for universities to reconsider, saying: ‘It’s appalling to see student rent, particularly in university-owned accommodation, rising so sharply. The fact that these price hikes are so far above the rate of inflation raises questions about the motivation behind them, and how universities justify forcing such additional costs onto stretched student finances.
‘Affordable quality housing should be a basic right that all students have access to – and as publicly funded educational charities our universities should not be looking to maximise profits from it.’
At Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where increases of up to 5 per cent leave en suite single rooms costing upwards of £107 a week, a spokesman said: ‘We are comparable to other universities’ accommodation rates.’
The most expensive student accommodation is at Edinburgh University, where a single room with two meals a day now costs just over £1,000 a month.
The next most expensive is St Andrews University, where a room in the David Russell apartments costs £8,059 for the nine-month term, which works out at £895 per calendar month. The university said the rise this year was limited to 2 per cent and the rate quoted includes 14 meals per week.
Abertay University in Dundee has increased prices at its most expensive accommodation, Lyon Street, by just over 2 per cent to £5,559 for the year. Glasgow University has increased accommodation charges by 2.4 per cent this year, with a single room with en suite costing £182 per week at its dearest accommodation, in Wolfson Hall.
But rents at two-thirds of Stirling University accommodation have been frozen for 2017-18, although a spokesman said: ‘Rents for newbuild properties have increased by 2.5 per cent.’
Aberdeen University will charge students between £99 and £142 a week – unchanged since 2015.