Cambridge students given beds in sheds
Fury at no hot water or heating... and £200 weekly bills!
THEY are among the nation’s brightest prospects – but students at Cambridge are starting their degree courses in the dark.
Instead of lodging in historic surroundings, some have been given portable cabins in a college car park with small windows and barely any natural light.
Renovations that have overrun mean undergraduates at Murray Edwards College are living in the cramped rooms which they say lack heating or hot water for showers.
This is despite the fact that some students are paying more than £200 a week to live in the female- only college, whose alumni include Strictly Come Dancing’s Claudia Winkleman and ex-Great British Bake Off star Sue Perkins.
Youngsters have been living in the car park since they arrived for the start of term earlier this month. Any dreams of experiencing Cambridge’s fine dining have been replaced with putting up with kitchens measuring just 10ft by 11ft, shared between 15 stualmost
‘Charging so much is disgraceful’
dents. Usually, up to eight share a kitchen. And angry students have snapped photos of building materials, ladders and paint scattered outside the cabins.
Those living there are being charged £1,375 per term plus £40 for internet charges and £223 for overheads – a total of £1,638 for the eight-week term.
The university says it will waive the £40 charge for anyone complaining of a poor internet connection.
But one undergraduate told student website The Tab: ‘It has been really upsetting because more and more issues just seem to be coming up and the college seem a little fed up with us. We were told that they were “top-of-the-range” – we can’t even seem to have a hot shower or do our work due to a lack of wi-fi.’
Evie Aspinall, the president of Cambridge University Students’ Union, said: ‘It is entirely unacceptable to be housing students in portable cabins that are clearly not fit for purpose. Not only that, but to be charging them well over £1,000 to do so is disgraceful. Those at Murray Edwards are clearly, and understandably, very angry at the college’s housing provision and yet the college fails to recognise the problem.’
University chiefs said students were offered other temporary accommodation inside the college but chose the car park cabins. In a statement, the college said: ‘Some parts of the college require essential work and, although we do our utmost to minimise the impact of this for our students, in this case, we were required to house some students in temporary accommodation for the earlier part of the term. We are sorry that the students have faced additional issues on top of the disruption this has already caused for them and we are working closely to resolve the outstanding issues as soon as possible.
‘We fully expect that the students will be back in their chosen accommodation in November.’