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ISSUE 716 22 FEB 2021 exepose.com @Exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
Class privilege:
Estate agents condemned amidst empty accommodation crisis
Exeter’s private school proportion growing
EXCLUSIVE Bryony Gooch & Chloe Pumares Editor & News Editor
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ITH a third of the student intake for the past five years being privately educated, the University of Exeter’s proportion of private school students is increasing, while other Russell Group competitors are closing the gap between private and state school attendance.
Pete Syme Deputy Editor
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TUDENTS have spoken to Exeposé about their difficulties leaving housing contracts, while nearly £1 billion has been spent on empty accommodation according to a Save The Student survey. With most students advised not to return to universities before 8 March, the third lockdown has left many living at home and still paying rent in Exeter. St Andrews and LSE have already made the decision for teaching to be online for the rest of the year, with the possibility that other universities will follow suit. At an average of £1,621 paid on each room, the demand for repayments is growing with Former Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn calling for “fee and rent refunds”. Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, the NUS Vice President for Higher Education, said: “Students have been consistently exploited and ignored during this pandemic. We are seen as cash cows, with many stuck paying extortionate rents for properties they either cannot use or cannot afford.” Mental health, financial difficulty and life changes are among the many reasons people have tried to switch or leave contracts, but the process has been far from simple. One undergraduate faced difficulty after a housemate tested positive for COVID-19 while she went home for the
Using data accessed via the Freedom of Information Act and the Higher Education Statistics Agency, Exeposé compared Exeter’s state and private school intake with a sample of competitors. While Durham and Oxford had higher proportional intakes of private school students, both universities had a decreasing trend across the past five years. Birmingham’s private school intake averages 18.6 per cent, far lower than others in the Russell Group. However, it
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