Accommodation costs to increase by 4% next year

Rent for those living in University of Bristol halls of residence will increase by 4% next year, 'in line with inflation', according to the University's website.

The cost of accomodation in Bristol will increase once again with inflation for the 2018/19 academic year.

At Wills Hall, an en-suite room will set you back £8215.62 per year - or £195.61 per week. This year, the rent was £184.98 per week. An en-suite in Badock will set you back even more at £8424.36 a year. The most expensive is Chuchill Hall where the top priced en-suite room in The Holmes is £8605.38 per year - or £204.89 per week. This year these rooms were £197.01 per week, which means this the first time standard hall of residence rooms (exluding studio appartments) have crossed the £200 per week threshold.

The cheapest rooms on campus are also increasing in price - a shared self-catered room on St. Michael's Park or Woodland Road is going up to £90.45 per week, an increase from last year's £86.94 per week.

Wills Hall (Epigram/Cameron Scheijde)

The University of Bristol residence team said "In line with inflation (RPI), rents for University residences will be rising by four per cent on average for 2018/19. We appreciate that financial management can be difficult for all students, and that accommodation is one of the most significant costs that must be met.

"To help with this, we are increasing the number of accommodation bursaries on offer, with £200,000 available for the 2018/19 year (from £120,000 in 2017/18) in addition to the range of financial packages available to support students from low-income households. There are also 400 rooms which are capped at a lower level ‘value’ rent.

"We ask students about the size of their budget when they apply for accommodation and last year 95 per cent of people were offered places within these budget limits"

English lecturer John McTague commented on twitter "Bristol University increases student accommodation costs by 4% 'in line with RPI', which happens to be the highest measure of inflation available. Confusingly, RPI is also not 4%: currently 3.3%, mean over last twelve months=3.75%.

"It has been 4% or higher for only three months in last 5 years. Joint pay offer for university staff is currently 1.7%, in line with, umm, a line that someone drew that goes downwards"

These increases come after a report discovered that The University of Bristol is the third worst university to admit an equal balance of rich and poor students.

Bristol SU Student Living Officer Lucky Dube released the following statement: "These increases have been agreed in an environment where students face high fees, and want to get the most out of their education as a result, and in many cases have loans that don't cover their living costs. Some students spend hours working, hours in which they could studying or getting the most out of the student experience, in order to meet the shortfall between their rent and loan. The financial pressure will undoubtedly add to the many worries that students have.

"Unaffordable accommodation also makes the university less accessible to students from lower socioeconomic-economic backgrounds, who will be put off by the high cost of accommodation in comparison to other Russell Group universities. The university may have accommodation bursaries for these students, but there aren't enough available to make a meaningful impact for students from low and middle income families. For middle income students that have limited access to funding, expensive accommodation limits their choices and means they will have to work many hours to make ends meet.

"The university should be seen to be doing more to about the issue of unaffordable rents."

Featured image: Epigram / Cameron Scheijde