Friday 20-01-2023 - 16:33

Durham University has announced its accommodation fees will rise by 10.3% next year, while student maintenance loans will only increase 2.8%. By our calculations, the most common Durham University college accommodation package will now cost roughly 150% of the average student maintenance loan. This a shameful decision, especially for those students for whom this announcement will make Durham an unaffordable option, and for those returners who are depending on being able to live in college next year but can’t afford these fees.

A student on an average maintenance loan will need to find around an extra £4k just to cover University accommodation fees. As Durham’s biggest student landlord, the University’s prices will continue to fuel high rents charged to students across the city, exacerbating Durham’s student housing crisis. The University suggested its college accommodation as a solution – given this rise, that plan is completely out of touch with the realities of student affordability. And while the University earlier this year made a small increase to the Durham Grant, even this rise will be mostly wiped out for those living in college accommodation.

This will clearly increase pressure on students during a cost-of-living crisis. Students who are making difficult decisions just to get by - cutting back on wider student experience, food, bills – will know that Durham University has not considered student affordability in making this decision. And they deserve a commitment to affordable University accommodation.

Setting University accommodation fees without reference to what students can afford has to stop. As Student Officers, we’re calling on Durham University to link its accommodation fees to student affordability. Student income should be the guide to prices – at a time of high inflation Durham University needs to prioritise students’ wellbeing and experience, not pass on high costs to them.

Together with student societies, JCRs and student leaders, we are calling on Durham University to:

• Reverse the planned increase in the cost of college accommodation
• Introduce a fee cap for college accommodation which is calculated relevant to the maintenance loan
• Further increase the amount of college accommodation available for returning students
• Host a public meeting with student leaders and student groups about the above issues

It matters enormously that students raise their voices, so that collective ideas can be generated and so the University commits its expertise and resources to solving this ever-growing barrier to the Durham collegiate experience.

You can do this by turning up, and bringing as many friends as possible, to the Cut the Rent protest at 13:00 on Saturday 28 January on Palace Green to show the University that students will not let this happen quietly.