Students Struggle to Find Accommodation in Dublin by Sinead Agbons
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hloe Pearl, a second-year student of UCD, finds it difficult to make a decision when it comes to accommodation hunting. She thinks of the accommodation features, amenities and location when trying out different accommodations. In the meantime, she stays in Highlight Thomas Street Student Accommodation ever since her first year of college. Highlight Thomas Street Student Accommodation is located in Dublin 8. This is where most students from Trinity college and UCD stay. The accommodation is close to the city centre where you will be well located to some shops and it is close to the Guinness storehouse. Students reflect about academic quality, post study career chance, and life connections while deciding where to study. However, their parents consider the realities. What are their options for housing? What is the price range? Is public transportation available in the area? What safety precautions are in place during their studies? These non-academic factors are very influential for students weighing pros and cons of studying at one institution versus another. When it comes to relocating to college, the most difficult task is finding a place to live. According to Daft.ie’s quarterly Irish Rental Price Report, lodging in Dublin is presently at €1,824. People in Dublin are now spending 30% more yearly than they were before the last rent peak in 2008. The first concern about learner’s studying and living outside home is how far is college from the accommodation. According to Pearl, from her leaving the student accommodation it is approximately 45 minutes without the traffic, but she doesn’t know how far the walking distance is. “You can easily get the Bus 38A straight to UCD with no problem at all. I just don’t like the distance,” she said. What are the advantages of staying on campus instead of renting outside of campus? “There are several benefits of living on campus. The obvious one is that being among so many other students will make it much easier to make friends, but there will also be significant distractions because everyone will be going out on college night outs, so temptation will constantly be around”, Chloe Pearl said.
Features and Amenities Highlight Thomas Street Student Accommodation is a good living environment which caters to student needs. However, Chloe doesn’t like a few things about the accommodation. All apartments allocated to residents are too small for four people to live in, and she feels the cost of the accommodation is too high for the living standard. The goal is to identify the characteristics that will influence visitors’ decision to rent a place close to college with the facilities they desire. In addition, it is necessary to assess the importance of prospective visitors’ choices for renting an apartment outside of campus. A questionnaire survey was done online to determine respondents’ opinions of the aspects that will impact their decision to rent an apartment. The data from the questionnaire survey is analysed using frequency analysis and the relative relevance index in this study. As a result, among the other factors with high relative importance index values, such as: safety/security, price, service quality, functional attributes, amenities, cleanliness and hygiene of the accommodation appeared to be the most significant factor that will affect guests’ decision-making in renting an accommodation. The least important aspect was friendliness, followed by the warmth and responsiveness of the host and employees.
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Students’ mental health/ well-being is hugely improved if they can feel able to engage with other students who reside in the same accommodation.
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