First-year students are facing the prospect of starting university in just weeks with nowhere to live amid a shortage of university accommodation.
Record-breaking levels of students achieving top grades as well as deferring during the pandemic has led to a backlog of first-year students set to start university in September.
The University of Glasgow has told new students it can no longer guarantee them university accommodation and undergraduates set to start at UWE Bristol have also been told its halls of residence have become “quickly oversubscribed”.
The National Union of Students has accused universities of “washing their hands of their duty towards their own students”.
Ethan Hoban, 19, accepted an unconditional offer to study at UWE Bristol in July this year, however he was recently informed by the university that none of the accommodation options he selected were available.
Mr Hoban said he was offered accommodation in a “tower suite” in Bristol, costing roughly £10,000 a year, or accommodation roughly 45 minutes away in Gloucester or Newport.
As an alternative, UWE also sent Mr Hoban a link to a Facebook group to look for other students to rent a house with in the private sector.
The digital media student has now found three other undergraduate students in the same position as him and they are looking for a flat together, but Mr Hoban is unable to attend viewings as he lives in Leeds.
“I am a little bit upset to be honest because obviously I just want a normal uni experience.” he said, adding that the experience has been “stressful”.
The University of Glasgow has written to students telling them they will not be guaranteed university accommodation ahead of the new term and has automatically denied students who live within commuting distance.
The number of students being accepted onto places at UK higher education institutions through Ucas hit a record high of 570,000 in 2020, up by 17 per cent compared to a decade ago. Last year’s figure was slightly lower at 562,000.
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As student numbers grow, universities have been increasingly relying on private providers to make up bed spaces, however this accommodation can often be more expensive than that owned by universities.
A recent analysis by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield found the private sector owned 38.3 per cent of student bed spaces in 2013/14, compared to 53.3 per cent in 2021/22.
According to the latest annual accommodation cost survey by NUS and Unipol, the average private student accommodation room cost £8,002 in 2021/22, which is £1,775 more than the average university-owned room.
The NUS said the organisation is “very concerned by reports of students being turned away from more affordable, university-owned accommodation, especially during the cost-of-living crisis”.
It said universities are “increasingly selling off their housing stock”, which is allowing “predatory private providers” to “step in to fill the void”.
A spokesperson said: “To tackle this crisis the Government needs to dramatically increase the level of maintenance support on offer for all students, bring back non-repayable grants and step in to take action on spiralling rent, energy and transport costs.
“We also need to see universities, who have sat idly by as landlords reap enormous profits off their own students, to take an active role in securing and negotiating rent that is actually affordable for them.”
A UWE Bristol spokesperson said: “Due to the high volume of expressions of interest received immediately after the opening for applications on 10 June, our on-campus accommodation quickly became oversubscribed. As this application was made slightly later, we were unfortunately not able to offer any of the student’s first preference choices.
“Bristol has become an increasingly popular city to live in. This, combined with the also increasing demand for University places and the rise in the cost of living, has placed additional pressure on our accommodation and the rental market in the city.
“Due to the increase in demand for on-campus living, UWE Bristol is building more accommodation on Frenchay Campus for an additional 2,250 students, with the first 900 rooms available from September 2023. The University has also made an additional 500 bedspaces available for the upcoming academic year.”
A Glasgow University spokesperson said: “Regrettably, due to a significant contraction in the private rental market, demand for rooms continues to be substantially ahead of expectation and we are no longer in a position to provide guaranteed university accommodation.
“Despite having increased the number of rooms under university management by 25 per cent for the new academic year, we are having to prioritise accommodation for students who are unable to travel from home.”