Exeter college have announced that rent will increase, adding controversy to OUSU president David Barclay’s hotly debated ‘rent-freeze’ motion.
The motion, which called for rents for undergraduates at Oxford colleges to remain the same this year in line with frozen student loans, was passed with a large majority in OUCU Council but opposed strongly by certain colleges such as Balliol. Many JCR Presidents who voted in favour of the motion however, feel they are unable to implement it themselves due to the nature of the financial climate and some colleges are hiking up student costs regardless of students’ financial concerns.
It has been revealed that Exeter College has already proposed to increase rents next year by 5.01%, approximately 0.6% above the probable Van Noorden Index figure, an Oxford college costs specific inflation rate. Even more worryingly for students, the college finance authorities hope to raise their fixed termly catering charge by 11.3%, bringing it up to £313 a term while also increasing other food prices by 8%. In theory, the catering charge covers the college’s fixed cost so students are charged a marginal price for each meal. However, under these proposals, students would be paying £4.10 for one main course and either a starter or a pudding for dinner: far more than most other colleges, almost all of which do not have a catering charge.
Such large increases have been calculated to increase the costs of an average Exeter student living in by roughly £332 a year: almost 10% of the standard student loan.
One Exeter student who wished to remain anonymous called the propositions “pretty shocking” and said that the increases, at the current proposed rates, were “terrifyingly large”.
Chris Morgan, a first year Economics and Management student at Exeter told us, “There is an almost unanimous feeling that we have been hard done by with regards to the changes in the Battels, particularly since the charges at Exeter are already amongst the highest in Oxford. The general feeling is that we’re not getting anything more for our money and it seems like there are no grounds for such a large increase.”
A second year lawyer at Exeter, Gabriella Davis, said the increases were “obviously not ideal” and that, “hopefully the JCR Exec will be able to negotiate the charges down a bit because as they are I don’t think many of us will be able to manage very easily.”
When contacted, Exeter declined to comment on the rises.
While negotiators at Exeter have the unenviable challenge of fighting the war on prices on several fronts, other colleges facing rent increases are choosing to combat living costs as a whole in order to get the best all-round deal for their students.
Teddy Hall’s President, Josh Coulson, agreed that their rates would be increasing at a similar rate to Exeter’s saying, “The College has increased rents at RPI(X) for the past 15-20 years and preliminary conversations indicate that a change from this pattern is unlikely.” The Retail Prices Index has recently been published at 5.2% and although this is not a final figure, Coulson stated that in negotiations they will look to cut students’ costs elsewhere rather than haggle over rent.
“Teddy Hall has the highest rent in the University. We are used to be top of league tables…but this is one ranking that is less flattering.” He said he hoped that by making dining and vacation residence more affordable, he could “help [Teddy Hall] to gradually catch up with richer Colleges and hopefully go some small way to furthering inter-collegiate equality”.
Somerville, who have already submitted a proposal to the Finance Committee, are aiming for a rent raise of 3.4% because while David Railton, their JCR President, voted for the rent freeze motion, since he “believed it might prove an effective foil for other Presidents to use in their negotiations with College” he also said, “I think the argument has limited power in Somerville where internal factors such as the loan the College is repaying on our new student accommodation take centre stage.”
Moreover, Railton asserted that in looking at student finances, one must look at much more than simply the rent rates we pay. Of negotiations so far, he said, “Our core premise for the initial proposal is that a student’s ability to support themselves through Oxford extends beyond the headline rent figure. Other costs, such as catering charges and vacation residence can massively eat into your student loan and change what you can afford overall.”
Almost all JCR Presidents who were willing to reveal their bargaining plans to Cherwell have concluded that there will be a raise in rents for students next academic year. For many, the real world increase in costs for colleges means that, despite a lack of increased income for students, a rent freeze is out of the question.
Stephen Dempsey, JCR President of Balliol, told Cherwell, “In negotiations with college authorities, I have no intention of utilising this statement from OUSU, and instead will conduct negotiations (with the best interests of the student body in mind of course) in the context of Balliol’s financial situation, the rising cost of accommodation in Oxford, and the impact of this on students.”
He also slammed the motion as “an idealistic statement” since it is “unclear how effective such a statement would be as an impetus in negotiations given OUSU’s inability to participate directly in negotiations.”
Balliol’s JCR has since voted to aim for a rent raise in line with the Van Noorden Index which is likely to be 4.6% this year.
Kevin Smith, the JCR President at Lincoln emphasized the fact that, “College executives need to have an idea of both their ‘ideal’ agreement, which might be a rent freeze, but also what they’re willing to accept, which might be a rent freeze or might be something less than a rent freeze depending on their College’s circumstances.”
St Peter’s President, Rob Collier, was the only JCR President who responded saying that a rent freeze may be possible. Negotiations have yet to begin at Peter’s, but he told Cherwell, “It’s a little early for me to say what kind of percentage increase I would hope for, although obviously I would like it to be as low as possible, maybe even in line with OUSU’s campaign on a rent freeze.”
“I think OUSU’s campaign for a rent freeze is a productive campaign: it will raise awareness that Oxford rent for students is too damn high and alert more people, both students and staff, to the hardships that some students face when the time comes to pay rent.”
When asked if he was disappointed that most colleges would not be trying to achieve the rent freeze OUSU proposed, David Barclay, OUSU President said, “Even if JCRs don’t want to use the idea of a rent freeze in their negotiations, it’s still helpful for OUSU to be talking about it because it focuses everybody’s attention on the affordability of rent for students. For too long rent rises have been just about College costs – when students can’t afford to pay that’s simply not good enough.”
