Update: read SCAN’s full coverage of the accommodation situation.
For the second year in succession Lancaster University is oversubscribed, with some 200 new students having to be helped to find accommodation in Lancaster as arrivals weekend looms.
A statement from the University put the problems down to the fact that “the University is more popular than ever, partly due to its league table rankings and more students [meeting] very high entry standards this year.
Due to this unprecedented demand, not all first year students can be housed on campus, although students who put Lancaster down as first choice and applied before the deadline have been offered rooms.”
Since A-Level results were published on August 18th, accommodation teams from the University and Lancaster University Students’ Union (LUSU) have been working to house all the affected students.
Affected students have been provided with “a comprehensive house-hunting pack”, and LUSU have used Facebook to keep them informed. According to the press statement of 8th September, “at the time of writing most students let us know that [they] have already found accommodation.”
Louise Inman, LUSU Communications Manager, explained that support for first-year students having to live off-campus was being established. “Once the students have found houses Accommodation is going to make sure that students in the same area are in the same college and we’ll make sure the college Freshers’ Reps know where they all are,” she said.
Hilary Simmons, Head of Colleges and Student Life said: “We sympathise with the students who could not be placed on campus as it is not easy to find off-campus accommodation. However, our students have responded to the challenge, with many making full use of the information from LUSU and the Facebook network.
I’d like to thank the Accommodation and LUSU teams who have worked hard to try to ensure students had as much information and support as possible.
We will be asking Colleges to try to ensure ongoing support for students living off campus, particularly during the early part of term.”
