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the paralympic paradox
Issue 8.7
23rd November 2012
review: assassin’s creed III the last days of bbc cefax great british food revival
comment - page 7
iq entertainment - page 18
iq culture - page 20
iq features - page 14
Krystle Appiah
increase. Pete Mercer, NUS Vice President (Welfare) states that “The responsibility of universities to support their students does not begin and end at the doors of the lecture hall.” There is a need for universities to plan accommodation better and cap prices. Prices vary between different rental categories. Private rentals outside of universities averaged £140.07 a week for 2012/13. Whereas for university accommodation costs are on average £118.49. In recent years the divide between costs of accommodation in the private and university-owned accommodation has narrowed. At the University of Kent, on-campus
accommodation ranges from £3,865.68 a year for a room in a five bedroom house, sharing a bathroom and kitchen, to £6,479.62 for a large en-suite room in Becket Court that is part-catered. For postgraduates, the cost can be as high as £9,763.04 to stay in either an en suite single room or double room in Keynes for 51 weeks. Second year students don’t seem as worried about the rise. Ruth Greenhalgh states that “the cost of housing in general always goes up so naturally university accommodation would too”. Abigail Smith also comments on off-campus accommodation, saying there is “variation in price ranges for accommodation, but the cheaper houses
do tend to be further away from campus.” The quality of university rooms also varies tremendously. Elizabeth Martyn, a University of Kent student living in Darwin flats, says that “when we do have problems everything gets fixed fairly quickly” and that “we could do a lot worse and it seems to be good value for money”. In light of this cost, increasing numbers of students are choosing to live at home whilst studying. Of 1,000 students surveyed in 2009 by The Telegraph, 36% reported to be choosing universities "on financial grounds" and choosing to live at home to save money. This figure is expected to have increased with accommodation costs.
student accommodation prices double
STUDENT Accommodation prices have doubled in the last ten years, a study has shown. The NUS/Unipole study showed that average rent for a university-owned room rose from £59.17 in 2001/2 to £117.67 in 2011/12. This 97% increase is disproportionate to inflation which is at 2.0%, 0.4% lower than 2001 levels. Many students were dissatisfied or angered at the news. Dorothea Abbey, a first year living on campus asked: “What's changed for prices to double?” She is just one of many residents who note that students are being provided with the same sized rooms and same furniture so cannot see the cause for the