PROTEST ABOUT ACCOMMODATION FEES RISING

[monkey girl]

The University are taking the piss if they think they can put hall fees up by 27% and for St Andrews students not to make any fuss.
I think it shows a complete lack of respect, the problem is that they know that essentially we very, very, very rarely kick up a fuss about things.

The rises are unacceptable. FULL STOP. And all students should reject them.

If the halls are so expensive for them, then why the hell have they built luxury en suite flats at DRH, instead of providing your average student shared accomodation - essentially what hall life is all about, and a hell of alot cheaper.

The Students should (and I think will)
react.

The university´s press release has been strategically positioned so that it was released in the same week as the Top-up fees saga, so we feel that we have no support - not even from our government.
Also it was very conveniently positioned post-exam time, when most people are out of St Andrews - so we can´t react en masse.

They saw this coming.

There are many other ways the University can make money, their investments can be HEAVILY criticised.
We don´t have to accept this.
----------------
Eloise

[Guest]

What happened in the end? Are the rises going to be staggered or is it happening in one big jump?

[Prophet Tenebrae]

Staggered and returning students get a rebate. History really does repeat itself.

[hr]Ah, I hate how nothing changes. Such a peaceful Earth should just collapse...

[Guest]

There's a table somewhere hidden on the uni website that outlines the rises. For a few halls it's a rise of something like 50 odd% in the next three years - adds over a grand to the current rent.

If you're a soon to be fresher then I advise looking into getting a flat at the very beginning of your second semester if you think money will be a problem.

Fact is though that as usual the uni threatened a rise, as usual there were protests, as usual the university agreed to something that makes them even more money and takes away more of students' money and as usual about a week after it was all agreed everyone gave up. It is the great circle of education, I mean money making at this university.

Once again I say yay for not living in halls next year

[Cain]

and, as usual, they promised to not do it again for a few more years.

Just like they did last year.

by the way - these are the same people that are promising to not sell hamilton hall - that and £1 will buy you a big issue.


[hr]
I will diminish, and go into fourth year, and remain Cain

[Mr Comedy]

I want to investigate the feasibilty of offering a bursary system for those who would like to stay in hall, but find it too financially constricting.
This would have been better negotiated in the initial discussions, but we might still be able to get something done.

[amac]

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 23:24, 17th Jun 2004:
There's a table somewhere hidden on the uni website that outlines the rises.

http://portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/student- ... arges.html

The table is the excel file at the bottom of the page.

Mr Comedy: Its a nice idea but i can't see the university ever agreeing to something like that. I hope i'm wrong though.

[hr]Look left! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I said left you retard

[KateBush]

Yeah, the schmucks got away with it. I was prepared to protest more and do a rent-strike, but no one else seemed eager at the time

[I like my house thanks]

I suggest if you want a Uni that gives a damn about you, try somewhere else. Especially if you want somewhere to live.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

Yes, it's rather amazing the number of people who proclaimed they'd give their lives before slipping quietly into the long night but presumably by that point they'd gained the publicity they desired and didn't feel a real need to fight on.

[Marco Biagi]

Comedy, your best chance would be to get the university to transfer the rebate funding at the end of its use as a rebate into bursaries. Of course, that'll be years away, beyond the student union's institutional memory and will probably be at about the same time as they decide to move from equalling London rents to equalling California rents. In the mean time, alumni fundraising is about the best they'll do, and that £200k per year doesn't stretch that far.

[Anon.]

[s]Unregisted User I like my house thanks wrote on 13:12, 19th Jun 2004:
I suggest if you want a Uni that gives a damn about you, try somewhere else. Especially if you want somewhere to live.

Most universities don't offer places in Hall beyond the first year.

[Pilmour Boy]

[s]Marco Biagi wrote on 11:45, 21st Jun 2004:
Comedy, your best chance would be to get the university to transfer the rebate funding at the end of its use as a rebate into bursaries. Of course, that'll be years away, beyond the student union's institutional memory and will probably be at about the same time as they decide to move from equalling London rents to equalling California rents. In the mean time, alumni fundraising is about the best they'll do, and that �200k per year doesn't stretch that far.


Some California rents aren't too bad.

There's a student-housing co-op at Berkeley that houses many thousands of students, who pay $650 a month, full board.

[Guest]

[s]Prophet Tenebrae wrote on 11:48, 20th Jun 2004:
Yes, it's rather amazing the number of people who proclaimed they'd give their lives before slipping quietly into the long night but presumably by that point they'd gained the publicity they desired and didn't feel a real need to fight on.


With the betrayal of the students association that insured that the uni took even more of our money, I'm not surprised most people simply gave up.

There is no way to win here because universities are answerable to no outside organisation. They can and will get away with whatever they want, and they are now in the ever so enviable position of being a university that many people can now not afford to attend.

[Guest]

[s]Anon. wrote on 13:12, 21st Jun 2004:
[s]Unregisted User I like my house thanks wrote on 13:12, 19th Jun 2004:[i]
I suggest if you want a Uni that gives a damn about you, try somewhere else. Especially if you want somewhere to live.

Most universities don't offer places in Hall beyond the first year.
[/i]

The rent that they charge is low enough to be able to afford private accommodation in the subsequent years, and the low hall rent also does not push up the price of private accommodation.

And St Andrews still does not make it clear to prospective students what the case is nowadays. Add all this to the fact that this is a town not a city and that therefore the rent should be much cheaper anyway - for both the reasons of lack of amenities and lack of private accommodation for student numbers, and you get a very greedy and selfish university.

I'm sure they will appreciate it when the only people who come here are those who can afford it rather than those with only academic ability taken into consideration and the reputation of the university crumbles even further.