Several first-year students were left feeling cheated and abandoned when they were informed last week that they will not be qualifying for refunds on their unwanted 51-week lets.
The start of this academic year saw a number of first-year students being put in the uncomfortable position of agreeing to pay for 12 weeks’ worth of undesired rent of University accommodation. Due to the nature of the University’s batch online application process, which staggers applications for accommodation randomly among students, some students were not given the opportunity to apply for accommodation until all 33-week and 39-week rentals had been filled, leaving them with the unattractive alternative of finding their own accommodation off-campus. This forced many students into agreeing to lets that went beyond their intended stays and financial means.
For those students occupying rooms in the highest rent band, this meant paying an additional £1,300 on a room unlikely to be used during non-term time. One student in this position remarked to Vision that “this seems to me to be a gross exploitation of first-year students who, individually, are in no position to do anything about it.”
In recognition of the situation, Dr David Duncan, Registrar and Secretary of the University of York, issued a statement in a letter to students in September 2010 explaining: “the University’s financial model for student accommodation requires a balance of 39- and 51-week lets in order to fund refurbishment and replacement works”. Duncan then went on to say that “we may be able to offer a partial rebate to those first-year students who accepted a 51-week let length at a time when there was no longer the option to select a let length shorter than this.” Students were subsequently informed they would be contacted later in the year once the situation was clarified.
The issue was not addressed again until earlier this year when occupants of 51-week-let rooms were contacted via email, informing them that they may be entitled for a partial refund if they fulfilled the given criteria. These criteria excluded those who had been given the opportunity of moving into a short-let shared bedroom, but chose to remain in a long-let room. This provided further frustration for those who were, once again, overlooked by a flawed system.
On Friday 3rd June, the University made further “half-hearted” attempts to tackle the problem. One first-year resident of Oliver Sheldon Court, Goodricke informed Vision of an email sent to students in her predicament: “Among the other information it contained the advice for people in my position to put an advert in small ads to transfer our lets. I have been doing this at least twice a term since I got here, and the fact of the matter is that nobody wants an expensive room on the campus extension over the summer holidays. I think this shows that the University is aware of the situation but not willing to help us.”
She then went on to add: “the University is exploiting first-year students who have no real option other than to accept the accommodation available to them – having contacted a number of members of YUSU (including the welfare officer) I havn’t received any support, or even a reply!”
Another first-year resident remarked: “the University is aware of the injustice of this problem, and have come up with a solution for next year’s freshers by giving returning and international students 51-week lets.” She described the decision as unfair, as first-year students “have had no other choice, and are not being heard by either the University and YUSU.” The random sending out of accommodation offers is something that has been a target of criticism in the past. This student suggested that it “should be changed to make it fairer to students who can’t all afford to pay £106/week on a room they won’t be staying in for a quarter of the year.”
YUSU Welfare Officer Laura Borisovaite added: “We have worked very hard together with the University to establish rebates for students who were unable to secure shorter let accommodation.”
She went on, “all students who applied before the guarantee deadline and were unable to have a choice were offered a rebate.” She also urged any students who are unhappy with their 51-week let to contact her directly.