Students face increased rent bill

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Rent bills for UK students have gone up 23% in two years, a survey by the National Union of Students suggests.

The NUS and Unipol survey of 96 universities and 61 private landlords found weekly rents now averaged £82.

London was the most expensive place for students to live, with a rent of £100 a week, and Wales the cheapest at £67.

The NUS said rent rises would deter students, but the government said graduates enjoyed higher salaries in the long term.

The survey, carried out this summer, found the average deposit for university accommodation was £182 - 21% higher than in the last survey conducted in 2003-04.

And 17 of the 96 universities surveyed (18%) charged a booking fee.

The poll - which covered a total of 270,141 beds - found 55% of university accommodation for the next academic year (2006-07) would be provided by private providers.

The NUS estimates that 23% of students live either in halls of residence or in purpose-built accommodation from corporate providers.

Reducing choice

NUS vice-president for welfare, Veronica King, said: "This is a timely reminder that the increased price and lack of choice of university accommodation will need to be addressed to truly ensure poorer students can access higher education.

"For the students for whom luxury is not affordable, there is a significant risk that accommodation costs, coupled with the burden of top-up fees, may reduce affect their choice of where to go to university."

Ms King said the NUS was concerned that private providers were not as good as universities in providing accommodation for disabled students and in housing dependants and students with caring responsibilities.

"NUS is calling for a halt to the privatization of university accommodation which is now setting the bar for all university accommodation by developing more and more up-market housing, and a start to the widening of the range and choice," she said.

The chief executive officer of the student housing charity Unipol, Martin Blakey, said the survey underlined the importance of ensuring that housing management standards rose in line with increasing rent levels.

He said "real thought" should be given by educational establishments to ensuring some lower cost accommodation was available for poorer students.

Higher wages

But the Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell, said the financial support package introduced this year was better and fairer.

"Students beginning university this year will have nothing to pay until they have finished studying and are earning over £15,000 and in addition they are benefiting from the reintroduction of non repayable grants worth £2,700 a year, as well as from the many generous bursaries offered by universities," he said.

"Graduates earn, on average, substantially more than people with A-levels who did not go to university.

"Graduates continue to earn a substantial return from their degree and we should celebrate this fact."

Students at Durham University staged a protest on Friday over proposed increased rents there.