The road to petition: Rent increases cause uproar

The rise will see the uni pocket an extra three million quid


Angry students of “UEA Defend Education” have hit out against proposed rent increases at UEA by setting up a petition.

The petition, which at the time of writing had over 200 signatures, calls on UEA to cancel the planned increase which is due for the next academic year.

Uni chiefs decided to raise accommodation fees in November last year, resulting in outcry from the Student Union, who had not been consulted.

The petition states that an average increase of 3.4 per cent to campus rent will mean that students are paying between £122 and £340 more a year.

Defend Education says that will “result in an additional burden for already indebted students, posing threats to their wellbeing and surely to their academic carreer”.

It also points out the estimated three million pounds that the increase will give the uni will not be invested back into accommodation.

One second year who had signed the petition said: “I don’t think that there should be a rise in accommodation fees if there are not going to be any improvements made.”

He also thought that increased fees could mean “students being put off from higher education, especially when considering student loans are not taking into account these higher prices for accommodation.”