Clearing students facing accommodation nightmare

Clearing students going to university this autumn will find themselves paying more for rented lodgings, AccommodationForStudents.com research reveals today.

Up to 38,000 students who go to university through the UCAS clearing system are likely to live further away from campus, pay more and have less choice than those who entered university earlier in the summer.

Whereas 31 per cent of clearing students pay over £90 weekly rent, this falls to only 16 per cent among non-clearing students.

According to further research by AccommodationForStudents the average weekly rent paid by students is now £60.58.

"With growing student debt in the UK, it is unsettling to see that clearing students are being put under further financial pressure, having to pay higher rents at poor value for money," said William Berry, director of AccommodationForStudents.

"First year students should be focusing on their new lives and their studies, not worrying about their accommodation."

When asked how much choice clearing students had with regard to accommodation 46 per cent replied 'little' or 'none'.

And 36 per cent of clearing students have to travel over two-miles to study, compared to just 20 per cent of non-clearing students.

Kate Ellis, 22, from Leicester went through clearing and commented: "It is hard enough to be a new student worrying about your first year at university without having to deal with concerns about your accommodation.

"I was given no choice with regard to my digs: not for location, not for price, not for the kind of accommodation it was," she concluded.