Campus rents rise significantly
Incoming undergraduate residents have been hit by an average 7% increase in accommodation prices across all types of rooms and let durations.
A 38-week let for a standard room on campus will cost new students £2958.36, an increase of £202.36, or 7.34% on last year’s charge. The rise is similar for 38 and 33-week en-suite rooms.
Following a University committee proposal to raise all rents across campus by 4% for the 2008/09 year, utility prise rises have forced another additional hike of approximately 3%.
Due to the “unprecedented rise” and “escalation in the utility costs over and above that which was forecast when Student Services Committee approved the student rents” in October 2007, the University has levied a charge of 26p per bed per night.
A significant rise in gas prices is the major contributor to the rent increases, with the University’s contracted gas firm charging more than double from 1.719 p/Kwh to 3.881p/Kwh. The University has predicted that electricity prices may also rise by a similar amount when that contract is renewed at the end of this month.
Water and sewerage charges are expected to remain stable and long-term contracts for other utility supplies negotiated in 2007 have protected the University from other increases over the past year.
A Daily Telegraph study found that the average utility bill has risen by 25% over the past year, as energy firms pass on rising supply costs to customers.
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