University life: bunk beds, night lectures, late loans

University life: bunk beds, night lectures, late loans | Education | The Guardian

Students doubling up in bunk beds, night-time lectures and overflowing seminars are set to be a feature of the new academic term as universities stretch themselves to the limit in preparation for the biggest ever intake of freshers next week.

The "no vacancies" signs have gone up at university halls and students are being farmed out to private flats to ensure everyone has a bed for freshers' week. Exeter University has had to convert single bedrooms into double accommodation. About 200 students will spend their first year sleeping in bunk beds, with rent discounted from £170 a week to £110.

Other universities have scheduled extra lectures at night and increased class sizes to accommodate the boom in numbers. The record-breaking year comes after a 10% rise in applications and a decision by the government to expand the number of places by 13,000, fuelled in part by more people wanting to study in the recession.

But the lure of a degree has put unprecedented pressure on the system, with a massive backlog in loan payments, and thousands of students will have to wait at least a month for their money after a 17% rise in applications for financial support.

The extra demand for loans could also put a strain on the public purse because the proportion of freshers applying has shot up as their parents have been hit by the declining economy.

Freshers' week at most universities starts on Monday. But at several institutions not all students have been allocated a place in halls of residence. They include Southampton Solent University, Exeter, Derby, Teesside and Lincoln.

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said: "There is a real pressure on accommodation, particularly on halls of residence. Where in previous years [students] have been guaranteed a place, this year they are turning to the private rented sector."

James Greenhalgh, 19, from Staffordshire, will start a politics degree at Leeds on Monday. Last week he was told he could either move into temporary accommodation – a hall on campus that would be closed down in December for refurbishment – or digs four miles out of the city.

"I've taken the temporary accommodation, but I'm not happy with it. Apart from the added stress of having to move all my stuff again, I will miss out socially," he said. Greenhalgh has also been hit by this year's delays to student loan payments and has only just had funding confirmed.

Michael Ball, chair of the Association for Student Residential Accommodation and residential services manager at Lincoln, said: "Our waiting list for accommodation has 60 people on it. That is the most it has been for about six years. There could be some universities that might use temporary accommodation, such as guest homes or hotels.

"We have had a 20% rise in applications for accommodation. Many international students will arrive without having registered with the accommodation office. They could turn up at midnight."

The situation is particularly uncertain this year because there has also been a rise in applications from international students, prompted partly by the weak pound making it cheaper to study. But universities are unsure how many will arrive at the beginning of term after a new visa system threatened delays.

Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire, said his university was running extra induction weeks in anticipation of international students being delayed. "The big fear vice-chancellors have is that they will arrive late because of the visa problems."

Hertfordshire said it was accommodating students in halls and private housing. A spokeswoman said: "We have increased the capacity of our large lecture theatres by 10%, and some schools have opted to split up their groups and duplicate lectures in the evenings." Sheffield Hallam, Kingston and London South Bank universities all said they had increased teaching space in anticipation of the rising numbers.

Paul Marshall, executive director of the 1994 group, which represents 19 research-intensive institutions, including Bath, Essex and Sussex, said that the situation at most universities would be manageable.

"Accommodation is the biggest potential for difficulty," he said. "It may be classes end up being slightly bigger than in the past. Universities will respond flexibly.

"They could use postgraduate teachers, you could pack more students into larger lecture theatres, or you could have a lecture given by faculty members supplemented by doctoral students. That's one way universities will try to deal with the increase in numbers."

Most universities are promising emergency funding to help students affected by delayed student loans. Thames Valley said that some students had deferred their place until next year because they could not afford to attend

Ralph Seymour-Jackson, chief executive of the Student Loans Company, said: "We are prioritising so that as many people [as possible] get the basic entitlement when they start. But we are saying, you will have to be patient."