Rent

Can I pay my rent late this month?

Can I pay my rent late this month?

Jun 11, 2019 – by Fenton Christmas

Fenton Christmas explains what it’s like being a student from a low income background and how the university fails to address the impacts inequality can have on less affluent students’ studies.

With the end of year celebrations approaching, there might be one person who sticks to just one drink, says they’re not hungry when everyone orders food, and goes home rather than joining in as the group moves on to the next bar. You might think they’re tired, unwell or just plain boring. But the reality could be a little more sobering – they might just not have the money. Students from lower income backgrounds are everywhere and are in need of help that all too often evades them. Every day becomes a struggle as they try to function as a student whilst having real money worries and troubles. I know, because I’m one of those people who deals with it on a daily basis. Can I afford another drink tonight? What excuse can I use to get out of this dinner out? What more can I cut back on to allow me to afford a Grad Ball ticket? It’s a genuine problem that affects so many people at the top universities in the UK, and so often it’s never addressed in the right way.

In a city with some of the highest rents outside of London and some of the highest monthly parental contributions in the country, having to pay your own rent and having no help from parents can have a monumental effect on not just your finances, but also your mental health. In my second year, I was given the same student loan as someone I knew whose parents paid all their rent and also gave them a substantial amount of money each month. In contrast, my loan covered just over half my rent for the academic year. I had to find the money to pay not only that, but also my bills, food shopping, and then have some money on top of that to have some degree of a social life. I know many people at this university and elsewhere who have not been able to join the societies they wanted, struggled to make friends, or even go on dates because of financial strain.

Whilst no-one in this world is entitled to those things without money, the disparity is so large for two students at the same university it’s scary. The level of stress and pressure I was under was too big to cope with, I fell into a bad depression and would often just break down in tears. I couldn’t sleep, wasn’t eating and barely left my room. I was, however, very fortunate to have a landlord who was understanding of my situation and moved my rent payments around as I scrambled money from various sources just to cover myself.

The somewhat obvious rebuttal to any cry for financial support is “well, go and get a job.” There’s nothing wrong with having a job alongside studies by any means; I have one and I would implore everyone to get one. It teaches invaluable life skills, integrates you with a diverse range of people and gets you used to the working world. But the problem emerges when the need for money ekes too far into your studies. For some, they take up summer jobs to earn enough to live off over the course of the year so their studies are not impacted so much. I did that, however on minimum wage, I found myself working nearly every day over the summer to earn enough to try and live off over the following year. One summer I worked two months straight, eight hours a day and not one day off, as I tried to pay off the debt I had accumulated over the previous year. It led to me losing substantial weight as I ended up not eating or sleeping properly to work more hours.

the disparity is so large for two students at the same university it’s scary

But I had no other choice without a large impact on my studies. Some can only get a job during term time, but it makes things so much more complicated. How can two degrees be comparable, when one person who works, hypothetically, three days a week then only has the potential to work on their degree four days a week, whilst another who doesn’t need a job theoretically has a full seven days? That’s almost double the amount of time. Imagine sitting an exam in which all the lower-income students have half the time to complete it as everyone else – there would be public outcry. However, this sort of difference occurs at almost every top university in the country, and nobody seems to notice.

Moreover, not all degrees have the time allowance for students to work during the week: medicine, law, etc. have such full-on timetables that lower-income students with jobs are constantly playing catch-up or just missing out on teaching altogether. I’m not suggesting that money should just be handed out to lower-income background students, but at least level the playing field in terms of their academic pressures.

However, universities seemingly reject this approach and leave lower-income students out to dry. Take the recent University post of an “inspirational” video to reassure students about working alongside their studies. In the video, EU student Anna discussed managing her studies around her five jobs. FIVE JOBS. I for one do not find Anna’s story inspiring – I actually feel so sorry for her. Nobody, student or otherwise, should have five jobs. Let alone alongside a full-time qualification. For the University to endorse this level of over-working is simply outrageous. Rather than help students with the vast sums of money the University has, they instead suggest that students go out and simply work themselves to the point of exhaustion before they even come around to studying. EU students aren’t entitled to any maintenance loans, so to ask them to work five jobs alongside a degree is apparently the University’s preferred option.

There’s this very dangerous rhetoric that’s aimed at lower-income students from UK, EU and non-EU backgrounds to simply just “work harder” to keep up with the crowds. Rather than put things in place to actively help these students better, to take those pressures off them, universities instead hold up people who work unrealistic and unhealthy amounts as some sort of aspirational goal. It’s detrimental and disturbing, and I hope at some point universities reach out to offer better financial and academic support to those who need it.

The Student Loan Debate

When applying to University, I was astonished to discover that as a 20-year-old woman I would still have to be financially dependent on my parents for three more years due to the means tested maintenance loans. Legally I could drive, drink alcohol, and get married, yet for the next three years I would be treated as a child myself, relying on my parents for pocket money. It seems unfair that students from wealthier backgrounds are entitled to a lesser loan because of their parents’ earnings. As Deuteronomy states: “fathers shall not be killed because of their children, children shall not be killed because of their fathers.”

While the comparison between death and student loans may seem melodramatic, it aptly makes the point. We are all over 18 and in the eyes of the law fully fledged adults. While there are parents who can afford to send their children to university, does it mean that they should be obligated to spend money to secure their adult children’s future? Perhaps we should extend this to requiring wealthier parents to provide a deposit and guarantee mortgage payments of their adult offspring to ease the congested rental market? Where does government say in how private wealth should be applied end? However, this article is not the lament of the wealthy. Instead it focuses on the failure of the loan system to address the issue it was introduced to deal with.

Philip Hammond’s “back of the envelope” calculations leave much to be desired and fail to provide equal opportunities for able but less wealthy students

Since the abolition of the maintenance grant, the number of students from less economically well-off backgrounds taking up university places has fallen to record lows. The maximum maintenance loan received by students is £8430 per year, which is offered to those whose parents’ yearly income was less than £25,000. Let’s now put the “lucky” recipient of this largesse at Exeter University. With £8430 pounds per year and living in the cheapest self catered accommodation, which would cost them £3680 per year, it would leave £4750. This equates to roughly £105 per week. At first this seems to be a reasonable sum of money. However, after buying essentials such as food, clothes, books and toiletries, there are still train journeys home (Mummy and Daddy’s £25,000 per annum didn’t stretch to a Fiat 500), nights out, joining societies or sports teams.

While it is possible to survive on £105 a week in accommodation 15 minutes from campus, never going out and eating cheap food, it is hardly a compelling way to spend 3 years, whilst watching your affluent peers living the dream! While I’m not suggesting unlimited funds for students, Philip Hammond’s “back of the envelope” calculations leave much to be desired and fail to provide equal opportunities for able but less wealthy students.

So the next time the alarm rings at some ungodly hour as you step over empty vodka bottles to grab your designer backpack to make that 11am lecture (the first you’ve attended this term) spare a thought for those who would gladly change places with you but cannot afford to, loan or not.

Tales from the houses of horror

Before I moved into my first student house, I was expecting the experience to mirror a less blow-dried episode of Friends. But what I got was a slice of Addams Family with a side of Bugs Life.

My first house crawled with dirt- literally: bugs on the floor, bugs on mattresses, the stench of rot welcoming me home. The only area of warmth was the inside of the fridge, while the shower was glacial. We’ve all been there: screaming at shower heads, blaming them for our end-of-term breakdowns.

Moreover, I didn’t really get on with my housemates. Freshers, be warned: in second year you discover who your friends are. The first-year me was caught up in the apocalyptic wind of the housing agreement rush. But I learnt valuable lessons at this student house, such as the deadly sins of student housing which include: clipping toe-nails on the communal sofa and clogging sinks with porridge. With the falling of the plaster, so my love of student-housing declined (much like my bank account that was suffering the punch of £110 a week for a stingy box-room 45 minutes from campus.)

Vic Street is the Hollywood Boulevard of Exeter accommodation.

The only option was escape. I’d go on nights out purely to camp (complete in clubbing attire) on my friend’s leather sofa on Vic Street. Vic Street is the Hollywood Boulevard of Exeter accommodation, the social-elite of Exeter need a place to call home, and Vic street is that domino-box scattered road to success. It was here where I saw how amazingly supportive a house can be, and how they would help each other through personal hardships. Living together, if it works, forms a bond akin to siblings, and that’s something to really treasure. I loved the community at Vic Street, but the sofa was stiff and I was technically illegally squatting.

Needing mercy, I spent a lot of time at my boyfriend’s house; yup I was ‘that girl’. At the boyf’s, I experienced the crème de la crème of Exeter accommodation, the cheese on the pile of soggy chips of Exeter accommodation. This house had a gardener and three spare bedrooms…need I go on? Here, nabbing a kitchen hob and resisting social all-nighters at the kitchen table were the only challenges I faced. But, I didn’t have a room to hide out in and pretend to be ‘working’ whilst bingeing hard on Netflix. I have no ‘house nights’, no familial bonds and with no funds left to find another housing spot, I can feel pretty ‘home’ less.

clean kitchen surfaces are but a sweet memory.

Housing can be a nightmare, water becomes mythological and clean kitchen surfaces are but a sweet memory. But it’s a time where rules don’t exist, where we are surrounded by our friends and we can indulge in home-ware shopping (I don’t know about you, but I’m seeking help for my addiction to TK Maxx Home). At the end of the day, housing makes our parents’ place seem like a luxury hotel, and if we choose the right people, it can be one of the most valuable and exciting times of our lives.

Students refuse to name award winner in protest over rising rent prices

A category from Property Week’s Student Accommodation Awards has been withdrawn, after a handpicked panel of student judges refused to choose a winner in protest over increasing rent prices.

The ten students had been invited to judge a shortlist of providers in the “student experience” category of the inaugural Student Accommodation Awards. However, the judges instead criticised the entrants for their high rent costs and for pricing out poorer students, which they said was driving “the social cleansing of education”.

A study by the NUS, published in 2015 and which was cited by the panel, shows that university rent in the UK has increased by 18% over the past two years, to an average of £146 per week, which equates to a cost of £5,110 for a 35-week tenancy.

The decision was made public through an open letter released through Twitter by Jenny Killin, one of the panel judges and a welfare officer at the University of Aberdeen students’ association. The letter also pointed out that many entrants priced their cheapest rooms at £146 per week, and that many charged rents of more than £300 per week.

For the forthcoming 2017/18 academic year, a 40-Week Standard Self-Catered room in Lafrowda will cost £4,318.92, or £107.97 per week. Back in 2012/13, the same room would cost £97.86 per week, or £3,918.40, which accounts for an increase of almost 10%, or £400.52. Meanwhile, catered en-suite accommodation in Holland Hall has seen an increase of over 13%, or £944.64, (£6,298.88 to £7,266.48) across the same timespan. Whilst this is lower than the national average, it nonetheless represents a price inflation that is noticeably larger than the CPI increase of 9.47% which the UK economy has experienced over the last five years.

https://twitter.com/Jenny_Killin/status/790628919842107392

Speaking to The Guardian, a spokesperson for the Student Accommodation Awards stated that the judges “have sent a clear message that the industry needs to do better. In light of this, we have taken the decision to remove this category for this, our inaugural event, and review it for 2017.” The rest of the categories are to be awarded later this year, at the 9th Annual Student Student Accommodation Conference on the 7th December.

Hayden Cooper, a third-year Archaeology & Anthropology student at the University Exeter, and who had also been selected for the panel, provided us with the following statement:

The NUS’ estimates say that 85% of student maintenance payments are spent on rent. This is symptomatic of the failing of the private sector to recognise student needs. Rent prices continually rise, despite students having less money and the cost of living increasing. This is especially prevalent at Exeter given our high accommodation prices in both the uni and private sector. At Exeter Socialist students we have a clear stance on issues like this, students must come first and petty awards and trophies can be dealt with once students can afford both rent and food. This is not the case. This is also why I’m heavily involved in the campaign for a housing cooperative on campus, a campaign currently meeting a large amount of success.

Nationally we are making serious head ways with the fight for decent student rent prices, rent strikes, such as the ones kicked off by the successful ones at UCL, are sweeping across the country, and student-led housing cooperatives are gaining traction. The fight back is stronger than ever.

Earlier this year, over 1,000 students protested across London in response to the rising cost of student accommodation and the poor quality of the accommodation which is currently available. Last year, UCL paid out £400,000 in compensation for what was described “noisy, rat-infested accommodation”.

Meanwhile, Exeter students have attempted to tackle the problem of affordable housing by setting up the Exeter Student Housing Cooperative, which builds on the ideas put forward by pre-existing co-ops at other universities (such as Sheffield, Birmingham and Edinburgh) to provide cheaper costs for students, and increase links between students and the local community.

Alec James, VP Welfare & Diversity, praised the boycott, telling Exeposé that:

“The average cost of student accommodation is unacceptably high and I commend the students involved for taking a brave step in highlighting this. The cost, and quality of accommodation should not be a worry to students during their studies. I represent students on University rent-setting groups to highlight issues of affordability, whilst the Advice Unit is available for anyone having problems with accommodation” .

Alongside this, the NUS and the University College Union (UCU) are set to protest the rising cost of education through a national demonstration, which is to be held in London on the 19th November.

Could new “co-op” solve Exeter’s student housing troubles?

As fears grow about the lack of affordable housing in Exeter, one group of students has put forward a “vibrant and viable alternative” to expensive rented accommodation: a student housing cooperative.

Set up by Sean Porter, Will Vasey and Sherv Cheung, Exeter Student Housing Cooperative (ESHCO) aims to “bring cheaper housing to Exeter” through a community-owned scheme.

“It’s a non-profit entity, which means we can charge below-market rates to students,” Sean Porter told Exeposé on behalf of the group.

“Any surplus made on the house will be used for expansion, house repairs/improvements and community schemes – whatever the members decide is best.”

Taking inspiration from existing housing co-ops in Sheffield, Edinburgh and Birmingham, ESHCO plans to be a “fully-mutual cooperative” Porter said, “which means all tenants are members and all members are potential tenants.”

Currently the team are raising funds to cover legal fees and registration of the co-op. The crowdfunding page went live on 31 May, and has so far raised over £520 in pledges – including support from City Councillor and former Exeter student Stephen Brimble.

“I have been trying to push for support for cooperatives since I have been an Exeter City Councillor,” Brimble wrote on the page. Wishing the team “good luck” with the scheme, he added: “this is a project that is close to my heart as an Exeter graduate.”

The next task is actually purchasing a property – but the team has already made some headway with this.

“There are many cooperative funding organisations that loan housing deposits to cooperatives,” Porter explained. “We have been in contact with some already, and the feedback has been great.”

Once the cooperative is up and running, ESHCO hopes it will give students a viable alternative to expensive accommodation – both privately-rented and in University halls.

“We would love for the cooperative to be a serious alternative for freshers’ in the future,” Porter said.

“We are deeply concerned about the extent to which affordable student housing is being replaced by a new brand of luxury accommodation that is beyond the financial reach of most prospective students,” he explained, adding: “We want to provide affordable housing that also opens up opportunities to develop community projects that enrich the city.”

Being strapped for cash at university

Whack ‘student make money quick’ or the like into Google, and the countless articles that spring up will make it clear that many students are indeed searching out ways to make extra cash whilst studying. However, these are more than just Del boy-esque ‘get rich quick schemes’: they’re a very real indication of the ﬁnancial pressures students face with the cost of university.

When I say “the cost of university”, I’m not really talking about tuition. That ever-elusive £9000 a year never actually graces our bank accounts, and besides, the cost of attending university hasn’t changed in ﬁve years now (which, I don’t know about you, makes me feel old). It is living expenses — meeting the costs of steep rent, stacks of textbooks, a religious commitment to Cheesy Tuesdays and the copious amounts of coﬀee needed thereafter — where students struggle.

Image credit: www.commons.wikimedia.org — Image: commons.wikimedia.org

Indeed, the cost of living in some cities — London being an obvious example, but ‘Exetah’ too — is comparatively high
anyway. Without turning this into some frenzied anti-Tory rant, it can hardly be said that Cameron’s scrapping of maintenance grants has helped. University life is less aﬀordable than ever before, so it’s no surprise that many of us have to tighten our belts whilst some are forced to resort to more desperate measures to fund their studies.

It was revealed in the latest edition of Exeposé that some 400 Exeter students are registered ‘sugar babies’, pursuing “mutually beneﬁcial relationships” through the website Seeking Arrangment. That’s a sharp increase from the 122 students from the University reported to use the site just two years ago, but when wealthy benefactors are able to oﬀer their ‘sugar babies’ a couple of thousand pounds a month, is this trend really so surprising?

Image credit: www.en.wikipedia.org — Image: www.en.wikipedia.org

Whilst there are plenty of less controversial ways for a student to supplement their loan, from part-time jobs to paid online surveys, few of these promise to be quite so lucrative. That’s not to assume that all students that do become ‘sugar babies’ are unwillingly driven to it out of desperation. However, you can’t help but feel that it’s no longer the case that students just want to earn a little on the side and add to the money they already have. The increasingly extreme measures that students resort to in exchange for greater sums of cash seems to suggest a need for money; for enough money to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of living as a student.

Yes, university is expensive for everyone, but for some it has become unaffordable. Under the current government, that’s not about to change. It’d be perfectly easy to say “don’t go if you can’t aﬀord it”, but then what would that do for social mobility? Conclusion: the system is pretty crap. And, cynical as it sounds, although it’s upsetting to hear about the extremities that some are driven to, we shouldn’t be surprised. Unfortunately, students are just doing what they have to do.

2015: A year in review (January – June)

Ah, the dawn of a new year. Always slightly troubling, isn’t it? Whilst we’re all suffering from Christmas hat syndrome (“is there still one on my head? I genuinely can’t tell anymore”), we’re simultaneously shock-stricken that summer wasn’t yesterday… and when did Halloween happen? Did I even have a birthday? Seriously, where did all my memories go?

Perhaps Exeposé News can assist you the recuperation process via our handy 2015 recap. Sabbs, Uni scrutiny, student life, Syria protests and scandals a-plenty all await…

January

Students may have had a merry Christmas, but a not-so-happy new year awaited, as January brought news that they would be hit with record rent rises the following year.

According to the front-page report, some private properties had increased their prices by as much as £26 per week. Back on campus, it was revealed that the 2015/16 cohort would have to spend almost £7,000 for a 32-week letting period in the most expensive rooms – tough news to swallow following a Huffington Post report published the previous year ranking Exeter as the third most expensive university in the UK in which to live and study.

Meanwhile, a controversial Student Idea that would have changed campus procrastination forever was issued: banning Facebook in the Forum Library. Procrastination won over productivity, however, as the Idea was defeated.

February

In February, we learned that University staff had claimed £3 million in expenses, with the top 10 earners having claimed up to £12,000 each.

The Freedom of Information request behind the findings also showed that the University had forked out £10,000 on first class rail tickets for the 10 highest paid members of staff. Despite their six-figure salary, however, Exeposé revealed that one person earning £142,800 per year had made a subsistence claim for just 87 pence.

Later in the month, it transpired that perhaps Exe doesn’t bleed as green as originally thought, as the University dropped 23 places in the ‘Green League’.

Finally, a record-breaking Sabbatical election saw Laura-Jane Tiley crowned Guild President, alongside an all-female team. Meanwhile, Jack Bristow was named AU President, beating the competition in the tightest category of the elections.

March

It wasn’t the first time the sport society’s conduct had been called into question that academic year, as the team had already been sanctioned following revelations of an initiation-style ceremony the previous year. The event, which broke the AU code of conduct, saw freshers forced to drink alcohol and to kiss a dead eel.

Oh, and, er, a man broke into Queen’s Building and covered himself in ink…

Queen's Building, University of Exeter. Photo: Geograph — Queen’s Building, University of Exeter. Photo: Geograph

April

Article about the original Student Idea published in Exeposé 16 March 2015. Photo: Exeposé

Amid the national Tampon Tax controversy, April brought victory for student feminists on campus, with both Guild and University retail outlets agreed to cover the the cost of the five per cent VAT on female sanitary products.

As the #Milifandom came to the fore with election fever running high, one Exeter student came to regret jokily starting the jokey #Cameronettes trend after receiving “appalling” hate mail. Currently run by a group of A-Level Politics students, there is now a Twitter account with over 1,000 followers inspired by the trend, which is blocked by Diane Abbott, George Galloway, Owen Jones and founder of the #Milifandom, Abby Tomlinson.

To round off the rather varied month, Exeter was proudly ranked top of the UK for international student experience in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards, beating off competition from Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews.

May

In May, the shocking revelation came to light that Exeter bleeds… blue.

Following a University-wide poll, Exeposé discovered that 30.2 per cent of students would vote Conservative in the May elections. Among students, Green party support was found to be more than four times higher than in the national polls.

The investigation also showed links between student voters’ subjects and their voting intentions, with the Business School’s support for Conservatives the highest across campus at 49.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, Chief Operating Officer Geoff Pringle stepped down after six years in the role, and a commendable 35-year career.

The man behind the construction of the the Forum, Exeter’s £48 million student services development, Pringle ranked 43rd in the prestigious Out at Work list for being among the most influential LGBT executive role models.

Geoff Pringle, former Chief Operating Officer, who oversaw the construction of the Forum. Photo: University of Exeter

June

With one in 18 young people in and around Exeter facing homelessness during their youth, Exeposé was proud to lend its support to the University of Exeter’s YMCA society’s #Selfieless campaign to promote awareness of homelessness in the city.

The initiative saw students upload self portrait photos with their faces concealed onto social media, in an effort to raise £5,000 in order to fund nine months of accommodation for one young person.

Ending the month with a literal bang, Exeter was shaken by a bomb scare after two suspicious packages were found on York Road and King William Street.

Following the establishment of a 200-metre cordon around the area and the controlled detonation of the suitcases by the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal team, police found the man responsible.

Described as a “local hoarder”, the man who had left the suitcases filled with wires on local streets was said to have “no malicious intent”.

Exeter needs more student accommodation, housing report suggests

According to a recent housing report from Citizens Advice, Exeter requires more student accommodation spread out across the city in order to tackle the limited supply of student housing.

The report, named ‘Dispatches’, emphasises the growing student population as one of the causes of this housing issue and highlights “the need to offer student accommodation options more widely across the city by improving transport links, introducing planning policies to dis-incentivise property developers and incentivise students to live further away from the university.”

Steve Barriball, Chief Executive of Exeter CAB, stated: “In Exeter we have seen the city and the university grow. We were interested in the impact of this growth on streets around the university and how large numbers of students renting properties affected families looking to rent in the same areas.”

“We found a need for the management of this growth and we would recommend further consideration of how to restore the residential balance in certain areas in a manner which encourages social mixing, rather than segregation, as in the case with the purpose-built student housing.”

Other recommendations from the report consist of the need to “develop an alternative model of landlord accreditation” and “give consideration to the use of a specialised lettings agency that could manage the types of tenants taking on properties in certain streets to regain a balance within the community.”

As one of eight local Citizens Advice units across England and Wales, Exeter contributed considerably to the ‘Dispatches’ report.

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of National Citizens Advice concluded: “Exeter has raised an important issue as one of the many facets of the housing debate. Across the country too many people are living in homes that don’t meet their needs – from private renters in a damp property or homeowners who can’t afford to move. It is really important there is a wide debate about the housing challenges facing the nation.”

Citizens Advice charity claims to help three people every minute with a housing issue, touching over two million of lives nationally every year.

Elizabeth Menshikova, Online News Editor