Some international students are frustrated by a lack of help from universities as they face ‘mind-blowing’ rents
Universities have failed incoming international students and exacerbated problems for those already struggling to find a place to live by selling off student accommodation to private providers during the Covid period, student advocates say.
In 2021, the University of Wollongong placed three of its assets on the market including Weerona College, now operating as privately owned student accommodation, and Marketview, which is operating as a hotel. Its International College was withdrawn from sale.A spokesperson for the University of Wollongong said the university’s 2,278 student beds were at capacity and demand for accommodation was “extremely high” – in large part due to the tight rental market.
Meanwhile the University of Technology Sydney sold three accommodation buildings with 428-bed capacity to private provider Scape. The price of accommodation in the building increased 15-20% following the sale. In Melbourne, a large studio apartment at a Scape complex on inner-city Swanston Street would set a student back $759 a week – about $300 more than many equivalent current listings on commercial real estate sites, and 57% higher than the city’s median unit rent of $482 a week. A single bed in an eight-person apartment-based Scape dorm would cost a student upwards of $477 a week.
At the bottom end, Scape was charging $369 per person for a twin room in an apartment shared with seven other people.“[Private providers] typically exploit students with higher rents and ridiculous bonds which leave students with a lot of stress and worry,” Riley said.
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