The launch took place at Westminster University on Monday, with a panel debate with speakers including Bill Rammell, Boris Johnson, Martin Blakey of UNIPOL, the VC of Westminster, and me.

We presented the findings, had some heated debate and generated plenty of media coverage, including this:

NUS/Unipol Accommodation Costs Survey

Students face increased rent bill BBC Online, 4/12/06 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6200156.stm

Students live life of luxury in costly halls of residence Times, 4/12/06 - www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2485151.html

High rents forcing students to stay at home Daily Telegraph, 4/12/06

Rent bills for UK students have gone up 23% in two years, a survey by the National Union of Students suggests. NUS blames universities for this rise as they contract out accommodation to private companies. Veronica King, NUS vice-president for welfare wants the privatisation of university accommodation to stop. She said that rising rents would create a bigger divide between the rich and poor.

Cost of student accommodation rising, survey shows Education Guardian, 4/12/06 - http://education.guardian.co.uk/students/housing/story/0,,1963585,00.html

Veronica King - Radio 5, Independent Radio News and Adfero

More coverage of the NUS/Unipol Accommodation Costs Survey.

For a copy of the report, you can e-mail agnes.gautier@nus.org.uk

Thank you to everyone involved with both the survey and launch for all their hard work and help.

Below is the speech I made on the day:

Can I start by thanking you all for coming along today, for the launch of the 2006 NUS Unipol Accommodation Costs Survey?

We’re proud to be unveiling this report - our most extensive, comprehensive and revealing Accommodation Costs Survey to date. We’re confident student unions up and down the country will use it as a key tool in their local fights and campaigns about their student’s accommodation. And I can assure here and now NUS will be acting on the back of our findings, as we represent the accommodation interests of over 5 million students in this country.

Before I highlight some of the most shocking findings in the report, I think there are a few things I should acknowledge. Firstly, now is such an important and exciting time in the world of student accommodation. With the implementation of the Housing Act in April, students, in both halls of residences and the private rented sector have more rights, and can demand a better standard than ever before. NUS campaigned long and hard around the act, and for us it is so important as it challenges the long held view that living in sub-standard accommodation is a rite of passage, and in fact acceptable for students. Though NUS and the government may disagree on plenty of things, I think now is a fitting time for us to acknowledge and pay tribute to the current government’s willingness to implement a student friendly housing act.

Secondly, in a moment as I go on to drawn on the report’s findings, inevitably many of our concerns relate to privately owned halls of residences and those in PFI-partnerships. I make no apologies for this. But what I must point out is that we work with private providers on a regular basis, because we realise that so many of the students NUS represents live in these properties, and on the whole we have decent, co-operative and productive relationships.

But now, to the survey!

So, over 3 thousand pounds a year, four and a half thousand pounds if you’re studying in London- a 23 % rise in the last 3 years and the biggest single expenditure for students….You’d be forgiven for thinking I’m talking about top-up fees, but no, this is what students can expect in terms of the cost of accommodation today.

And if that’s not shocking enough, the worry trend of increased ‘hidden costs’ and other add-on charges must send a wake up call to all of us.

£200 here as a ‘utility charge’, £250 there for internet access, plus £115 in unsubstantiated booking fees, not to mention gym membership, personal contents insurance, the list goes on and on.

In my view this is one of the crucial issues the survey has highlighted, and it is a trend that we must do all we can to curb, now.

The bottom line is that every one of these hidden costs means in real terms, students having to work more hours in part-time jobs alongside their degrees, to meet these fees. It means over the course of their studies, thousands of pounds of additional debt for students. And lets face it, this is a debt that students could well do with out, given this year’s advent of top-up fees, and the fact that most students will have £9000 worth of debt merely for signing on to a course, let alone thinking about where they’re going to live.

But you know, the impact of the high cost of accommodation that this survey illustrates is far, far reaching. At the moment, about 22% of students are choosing to stay at home. We know that for many of those students, that is a finance-based decision. A 23% rise in rent prices in 2 years, which shows no sign of a-baiting, surely means this home-student trend is set to continue. For many students or would-be student this means they don’t chose the institution which is right for them, or the course they have always aspired to study – instead they must chose from a handful of courses available locally. All too often, these are widening participation students who may never reach their full educational potential, if they still opt to enter higher education. Ultimately students are being priced out of the student accommodation market, at a high cost to both students, but also society as a whole.

When we see that it costs an average £85 a week in university accommodation in the south compared to £67 a week in Wales, yet students are receiving the same level of loan, we have to ask ourselves how many students, who are planning to leave home, will rule out even looking at universities in certain areas of the country because of the financial discrepancies? And what as a movement can we do to campaign around this? Because in order to address this inequality, change must be made.

Above all, I believe the biggest concern for us in terms of emerging trends though, is the move towards ensuite, luxury accommodation as ‘standard’, with less cheaper alternatives being provided. For every student who covets a state of the art, high-tech, en-suite facility, there will be many who given the choice would opt for a cheaper alternative, considering the long-term financial differences. However as those more basic rooms disappear from the market, students will have no alternative but to compound their huge debt because ensuites are all that’s available.

Earlier this year, I was at a housing fair in Sheffield Students Union, where various private providers were present, showcasing their palatial new student builds in the city, the kind of builds which are in no small part responsible for the surge in accommodation prices. I was informed by an employee of one company, as she proudly showed me models of their new, entirely en-suite accommodation that “students had never had it so good”.

An average of £22 thousand pounds worth of debt on graduating? Actually, I think they’ve had it much better in the past!

It is imperative that potential students have the choices that they need in terms of accommodation. But the 31% increase in the number of en-suite rooms built over the last 3 years, proves that our biggest fight is ensuring the availiablity of affordable accommodation options for our members.

The final point I want to make today is this: there is no such thing as a typical student any more, and it’s about time that halls of residence, in particular those provided by private companies started to recognise this. There are more disabled students, and more students with caring responsibilities than ever before. Every student should be entitled to the experience of living in halls of residence if they desire, because it is an experience like no other, and today we implore all accommodation providers to consider non-tradition students in their future plans.

I’m proud to present today’s report on behalf of NUS, I know the findings will certainly compel me into action and I hope many of you will join the NUS welfare campaign as we take our fight for a fairer accommodation deal for students forward.

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