Vol. XXV • Edition 1
Best Campus Coffee
September 2016
First Seven Weeks
President’s Welcome
Hundreds of Students Still Waiting for Accommodation By Evie Kearney
Hundreds of incoming first years had to seek accommodation off campus this year after failing to secure a place from the University accommodation’s waitlist before the beginning of term. An unusually short time frame between CAO day and college orientation meant that some students did not know if they had accommodation until just two days before checkin – and many are still waiting. 2,700 beds on campus were filled this year, with initial applications opening and closing in February. An additional 1,400 student bedrooms in purpose built student accommodation complexes off campus in the Castletroy area are also fully subscribed for the upcoming year. Incoming first year students that had not booked in February were given the option to join a waitlist free of
charge that opened on CAO offers day at 9am. Over 600 first years joined the waitlist on Monday alone. The accommodation office made and received close to 5,000 calls over the course of CAO week to answer queries and offer available rooms from the waiting list. Students will now have to search off campus for private accommodation, although some landlords have also been full since early 2016. The challenge is even greater for students coming from abroad who are strongly advised to view accommodation before paying deposits. However, this means they have to stay in hotels or B&Bs in hopes of finding a suitable house. Ellen Fitzmaurice, Manager Student Residences, believes the lack of suitable off campus accommodation in recent years is due to private landlords choosing
to rent their properties to families and professionals where they are guaranteed 12 month contracts. “We recommend at this stage that they consider the option of staying in digs or lodgings with families,” she said. “Our primary aim is to ensure that incoming students at UL have safe, clean affordable accommodation options while they study here.” During the summer, the University listed 250 extra student spaces from a cam-
paign targeting homeowners in the UL area to avail of the Rent a Room scheme that allows those with a vacant room to earn up to €12,000 in student rent tax-free. John O’Rourke, General Manager, Campus Life Services said: “We are calling on homeowners in the area and city environs to consider renting an available room. There may be some families in the local area where sons and daughters may have moved to
other cities for work or are living abroad and homeowners might consider renting a vacant room.” UL offers 1,200 of its 2,700 on campus beds to first year students across six different villages– one of the highest allocations in the country. The cheapest room available in UL costs €3,900 for the year, with prices rising to €5,265 for double en-suite rooms. The college experienced the smallest increase in price from
2015 compared to Ireland’s other universities. UL continues to offer rooms from its waitlist as cancellations arise, but strongly recommends that students seek alternative accommodation with PRTB (Private Residential Tenancies Board) registered landlords on sites such as daft.ie. Students are also advised to never pay large sums of cash to a prospective landlord during a property viewing and to request a receipt for any deposit given.