Students are paying 60% more to live in halls of residence than a decade ago, according to a new report.
The average annual cost of purpose-built student accommodation in the UK is £7,347, the report by the National University of Students (NUS) and housing charity Unipol found.
This means that accommodation costs now exceed the average student maintenance loan of £6,900, forcing more students to take on part-time work, live at home or ask for financial support from their parents. It also increases the likelihood that students will fall into rent debt.
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In London, the average annual cost of purpose-built student accommodation is even higher at £10,857. Even if a London student receives the maximum possible maintenance loan, they can expect to see 88% of it eaten up by accommodation costs. This leaves them with just £38 per week to spend on anything else.
Outside of London, accommodation costs account for 72% of the maximum loan, leaving students with just £70 to spend on anything else.
Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, the vice-president for higher education at the NUS, said of the findings: "The affordability of student accommodation affects students’ educational experience, and also has a major impact on access and widening participation. It's disgraceful that so many young people are priced out, either deterred or unable to apply to university, or have their options severely limited by where they can afford to live."
Gyebi-Ababio called on the government to "urgently rethink how much students are being expected to pay for accommodation", adding that "maintenance grants must be re-introduced".
With the Support Students Now campaign, R29 and Vice joined the NUS to call for all students to be offered rent rebates during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many were forced to pay for rooms they couldn't even live in. The campaign also calls on the government to bring back maintenance grants for students from low income backgrounds.