Stormont urged to cover uni students’ rent
An SU rep says Executive 'ignorance and inaction' has aggravated problems for students.
University students have called on the Executive to fork out to cover rented accommodation, that most are not able to live in due to the lockdown restrictions.
For the President of the Queen’s Students Union, the onus is on Stormont to foot the bill for students’ rent.
Grian Ní Dhaimhín says she thinks the stress has been caused, in part, by “Executive inaction and ignorance to some degree, of how universities work and the realities that some students face.”
However, the Department for the Economy has said Minister Diane Dodds has always made it clear that Northern Ireland’s Higher Institutions “must do everything possible” to support students, while the Department has also put forward proposals for “significant additional funding for student hardship.”
Grian told Downtown Cool FM news of additional hardship money. is very welcome, but doesn’t go far enough, and that a specific fund to settle rent is necessary.
“Students will normally sign up for their tenancies for the next academic year earlier on in the year, maybe February, March-time,” she said, adding that in March 2020, it was not generally felt that lock-down would continue into 2021,” she said.
“There are so many other areas in which students need supported.
"For us, we have students who maybe aren’t living in the private rented sector, who are paying for their houses in the private rented sector. Their student hardship fund should be used as a student hardship fund, not a landlord hardship fund.
“We would like to see designated, targeted funding to pay for students’ rents. So long as the Executive is telling students not to come up to campus, they should be paying for students’ rent.”
The SU President said the hardship fund is desperately needed to cover other additional costs which have increased amid the pandemic.
She said: “They students need extra support because they have been laid off, and we really do welcome that money, but there are also additional costs linked to living and working and studying from home, like having to pay for increased WiFi packages, having to share a family computer if you don’t have your own laptop to work off, even paying for more heat and electric.”
Responding, a Department for the Economy spokesperson said: “The Minister has been clear that Northern Ireland’s higher education institutions must do everything possible to support students. The Minister has put forward proposals for significant additional funding for student hardship, to be allocated between the institutions on a pro rata basis.
“If approved, the Minister will ask the universities to take a highly proactive approach to the publication and promotion of these funds to their students, and in particular vulnerable students, to ensure it reaches them as quickly as possible.
“The Minister has also asked the institutions, when considering financial hardship cases, to take account of students being trapped in accommodation contracts which they can no longer use, and to take action such as providing rental holidays or release from contracts for halls of residence. Furthermore, the Minister is continuing to explore as an urgent priority all options available to her for providing further support to students at this time.”