Lancaster University Students’ Union fights for rent freeze on student accommodation

Lancaster University Students’ Union (LUSU) has announced that it has fought for a rent freeze for on-campus accommodation.

This rent freeze was announced at the end of January after Lancaster University increased the prices for accommodation on campus for 2024/25 by 7.6 per cent.

The rent freeze intends to cover the most vulnerable students, and some of the cheapest rooms on campus will remain the same price as this year.

This means that some of the cheapest rooms on campus will be frozen at the price they are this year to support the most vulnerable students. The amount of rooms which will have their rent frozen has not yet been specified.

President of the Students’ Union, Cerys Evans, explains that she fought for a rent freeze on accommodation to protect economically vulnerable students. She said “This is an increase that I do not support and have fought against”.

This is the first time since 2015 that a LUSU officer has been able to successfully negotiate with the University on the issue of student accommodation prices.

However, prices for most accommodation on campus this year will rise by 7.6 per cent, while last year prices rose by 14.1 per cent. LUSU said “The decision on how much to increase campus rent by each year is made by the University”. This rise comes during the cost of living crisis, which many students are continuing to struggle with. For many, their Student Finance England maintenance loan does not cover their accommodation cost, and this will be made more difficult with the prices of accommodation on campus rising.

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Lancaster University made a comment to LUSU saying, “The University was pleased to work with the Students’ Union and offer some students accommodation at last year’s rate. In addition, we understand that many people are feeling the challenge of rising costs in daily life and as a result have significantly increased the funding to support students most in need”.

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