Accommodation for future students and current students at Falmouth University has become a major stressor for the university. As Falmouth University accepts more students each academic year, the crisis surrounding accommodation becomes a pressing issue that none of us can no longer ignore. There’s one question we’re all thinking: what will Falmouth University do to solve this problem?
Because of the yearly increase in the student population, the demand for housing has skyrocketed—often leaving enrolled students in a state of panic when looking for accommodation for their second and third years and, unfortunately, leaving some first years without a place to stay. Oftentimes, second and third year students feel immense pressure to settle for the first house they view regardless of the current condition due to the fear that they might end up houseless if they are too picky; a recurring stress that lingers above their heads like a dark cloud ready to rain down on them.
Currently, Falmouth University’s cap for the maximum number of students on Penryn campus is 5,000; the University also allegedly wants to extend that cap to 7,500 students (ThePacket, 2016). In response to this demand, Falmouth University’s accommodation team has designated more houses in residential neighbourhoods as student friendly accommodation. This, in addition to rapidly building new, larger, and expensive student resident halls (like the plans to turn the Rosslyn Hotel into a 125 bedded student accommodation), only adds fuel to the raging fire between students and the local Cornish community.
Local Cornish residents stereotype students as loud, rude, uncaring outsiders who are unappreciative and disrespectful to the seaside towns they temporarily inhabit. On the other hand, students believe that locals are narrow-minded people unaccustomed and unwelcoming to change that would largely benefit the Cornish economy. Local non-student residents of Falmouth and Penryn complain of landlords ‘snapping up all available properties to rent to students’ (DailyMail, 2016), while long-time residents of Falmouth and Penryn feel as though they’re being forced out of the housing market. Some locals also complain that the surplus of student halls of residence will ‘devalue property’ and suggest that an influx of students would not make Falmouth and Penryn desirable places to live (ThePacket, 2016).
Many students take offence to the blame placed on them for this housing scarcity; they feel as though the financial contribution that they’ve brought along with them is completely overlooked since Cornwall, a historically poor county, is incredibly dependent on tourism and money spent by students. Both students and locals are affected by this growing housing crisis, but is there anything that we can do to strengthen the bond between university students and the local community? Some students suggest hosting their graduation ceremonies in Truro Cathedral, a landmark largely important to the surrounding Cornish community. Having a graduation ceremony would include the rich and historic Cornish culture that Falmouth University students engage with everyday. Both the students and the locals are undoubtedly vocal about how they feel in relation to the housing crisis—both sides feeling the effects of the scarcity of livable space.