In February, the University announced an 8.3% increase in cost per term for the halls of residence. These prices are reviewed each year, and the decision is made by the Director of Residential and Business Services with the approval of the Students’ Association President, Juan Pablo Rodriguez.
This is particularly upsetting, given the new Scottish legislation which highlights the severity of the current cost of living crisis. The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Act, which will go into effect on the first of April, prevents private landlords from increasing rent by over 3%. Student accommodation is not covered by this policy.
To illustrate this, when I lived in McIntosh Hall from 2021-2022, it was £6,705 for a shared, catered room, for the full term. For the 2023-2024 term, it will cost £7,526. The university determined this increase from the UK’s Retail Price Index (a measurement of inflation), which, in September 2022 was 12%. However, the UK government doesn’t formally recognize the RPI rate, due to its outdated and exaggerated inflation calculati;rjklons, according to The Sunday TimesFor each of the 9 months that halls are open (including the two-week December break during which many residents are expected to vacate) this will cost £836. While in Mcintosh this includes catering, self-catered DRA residents will have to pay 32 more pounds a month, with the added bonus of a 20-minute walk to town.
This news is particularly upsetting, given the cost of living crisis in which we are currently enduring. This means that the cost of essential goods and utilities is increasing much faster than income. Many full-time students are unemployed and now are faced with the additional rise in accommodation cost, despite the fact that St Andrews already had the most expensive university accommodation in the UK in 2022 outside of London.
The approval of this decision by the Students’ Association President was a wake up call for many students, my friends and I included. The response from different student groups on campus was immediate, the Campaign for Affordable Housing or ‘C.A.S.H.’ at the forefront. Soon after, candidates for the next Association President announced their campaigns, with C.A.S.H’s own Barry Will running on the promise of not endorsing any significant rent increases for halls. He won the election by more than a thousand votes, the largest turnout in recent years, revealing more than anything the true discontent of the student body with their current representation and the university.