Today, EPI is publishing new analysis looking at trends in
student accommodation in Higher Education (HE).
This analysis offers insights into where and in what type of
accommodation students are living, and the risks fewer affordable
options will have for access to HE. For the government to make
progress on widening participation, it must work to limit the
barriers of affordability for disadvantaged students once they
are in university, and chief among these concerns for students
are the costs of basic accommodation.
Key findings include:
- The share of students in their second year of study or later
housed in private rentals has declined steadily over the last
decade (from 43.7 per cent in 2014/15 to 35.6 per cent in
2023/24). For first year students, there has been a similar fall
in provider maintained accommodation, or 'halls', falling from
41.8 per cent in 2014/15 to 30.5 per cent in 2023/24.
- Across the regions of England, the South West has the
highest proportion of second year or later students living in
private rentals at 54.7 per cent in 2023/24, while the East of
England has the highest proportion of second year or later living
in provider maintained properties (21.3 per cent in 2023/24).
- While most first year students in England live in university
halls, this arrangement is now most prevalent in the North East
(42.6 per cent in 2023/24) and least so in London (18.1 per cent
in 2023/24).
You can read the blog here.
