King's College, Cambridge

Rent for Undergraduate[1] Student Accommodation

Purpose of this Paper

This paper is intended to address the issues raised in connection with the rent rises in King's and Cambridge, suggested by the Bursars' Report Addressing the Room Rent Subsidy.
This paper is also intended to resolve the current rent strike. Various members of the Access Alliance, and several students not on rent strike, have spent many hours over the past few months discussing their concerns with the Senior Tutor and the First Bursar, and more recently with the Financial Tutor and the Assistant Tutor. While some progress has been made, the Alliance feels that the key issues have not been resolved. The purpose of this paper is briefly to summarise these issues, outline the concerns of the Access Alliance and offer a possible solution.

Notes

It is important to distinguish "access" from "hardship". Cambridge has a low drop-out rate, suggesting that it is already good at dealing with cases of financial hardship through bursary schemes and other arrangements. However, the access issue persists - that is, the problem of attracting applicants from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. If Cambridge as a whole does not make significant progress in changing its access profile, the College Fee is likely to be cut still further. Moreover, the University arguably has a positive duty to address the access issue if it is to retain its status as a place of academic excellence, open to the most able students regardless of their background.
The Access Alliance[2] was formed following the apparent acceptance in King's and elsewhere[3] of the recommendations of the Bursars' Report. Many students and some Fellows felt that there had not been proper consideration of the consequences for access that could arise from the significant rent increases proposed by the Report. The Alliance believes that neither King's College nor Cambridge as a whole should be much more expensive than other institutions considered by potential applicants, because this would have a significant negative impact on access.
Following the completion of the Bursars' Report, Cambridge University Access Steering Committee issued the following statement: "Were the fixed costs of studying at the University of Cambridge to become greater than at comparable universities then the access implications would be severe."
Subsequent research by the Alliance into student charges at other universities has reinforced the opinion that following the recommendations of the Bursars' Report would make King's and Cambridge significantly more expensive than comparable universities. A report was compiled, Comparable Universities and Student Charges, taking data on the top 20 ex-London[4] universities in the UK. The data was taken from two sources - The PUSH Guide to Which University 2000, and the prospectuses of the universities. (The Alliance would welcome independent verification of this data.) The report is annexed. CUSU conducted separate research and arrived at similar results and conclusions. (Their report is available on the web here)
The Access Alliance recognises that more work needs to be done in order meaningfully to assess the impact on access of the rent rises proposed in the Bursars' Report.
There is a strong case for elimination of any subsidy in room rent. However, since clear accounts are not yet available, the Alliance is not convinced that subsidisation is taking place. It is further unclear why it should cost so much more to run a room in Cambridge than in other universities, especially those (such as Oxford and Durham) that also have historic buildings, and especially given the lucrative conference trade in Cambridge unavailable to many institutions. The Alliance feels further that the College operates well below optimum efficiency, and that its expenditure in some areas is extravagant or ill-considered. Real improvements in this area are both feasible and desirable.

Proposals for Immediate Action Within King's

Rents for all accommodation for 2000/01 should be re-assessed on the following basis:
1. New rents should be set for all rooms for 2000/01, so that:
  1. the rent chargeable per week rises in line with inflation this year[5];
  2. rent will be re-based to apply to a 71-day term, running from the Saturday before full term starts to the Sunday 9 days after full term ends[6] (64 days in the Easter term); this excludes days which students currently have rights to use and which are used by relatively few students; to reflect this change, the rents per term will be reduced pro rata;
  3. when an undergraduate wishes to stay in College the rent chargeable should not be significantly higher than the term time rent, on the assumption that the Assistant and Senior Tutors are satisfied that the case is one of genuine need;
  4. it should be made clear to undergraduates what circumstances would and would not constitute a case of "genuine need" (this is clearly subject to review and discussion over time);
  5. the option of longer contracts on rooms not used for conferences should be seriously considered, as it may offer significant benefits, both financial and Tutorial;
  6. heating charges, including estimates for individual metered electricity and gas, will be included in rents and not itemised or charged separately;
  7. the rents so proposed will be for 2000/01 only - rents for subsequent years will be reviewed when more detailed accounts are available and after thorough consideration of the access implications (see paragraph 10);
  8. final figures will be available before room choices are made in the ballot.
2. Taking account of the changes in paragraphs a.i and a.ii above, the average weekly rent in 2000/01 at 1999/00 prices will be some Ł45 per week including heating, or Ł54 including the College Charge. This will be slightly below the Cambridge average, but presently comparable to the national average (see annex).
3. There will be a review at the end of the winter 2000/01 of the individual room electricity and gas meters, to see if the practice of not itemising or charging for heating has led to any serious over-use. The result will inform the system for 2001/02[7].
King's will set up an Access and Student Charges Working Party.[8] (See also paragraph 13.)
1. The Working Party shall gather more data to supplement that annexed, and assess the implications for access student fixed charges in King's and the University, and particularly of the room rent band suggested by the Bursars' Report.
2. The Working Party shall be fairly constituted, and set up in consultation with students. It is likely to comprise a small number of people with expertise in the fields of access and of data analysis. The membership shall include significant student representation.
3. The Working Party should aim to produce an initial report for Council shortly after the start of Easter Term, although it may wish to continue its work after this date.
4. All the data, reports and workings of the Working Party should be transparent and openly published.
The Bursar will work at producing accounts for the College that are reliable and more closely hypothecated, in particular to identify the true revenue from and costs of student accommodation, and how the College Charge is used.
The Finance Committee will continue to review costs within the College in order to effect savings where possible, especially those associated with student accommodation. Council will consider setting up a specific Cost-cutting Committee or Working Party, as has happened at Fitzwilliam College, in order to suggest more far-reaching and fundamental alterations to the workings of the College. This may be useful to examine efficiency and cost-cutting in a long-term strategic way.

Proposals for Immediate Action Within the University

King's will contact other colleges to see whether they wish to provide assistance to the Access And Student Charges Working Party.
The College will support the establishment of a sabbatical CUSU Access Officer providing an appropriate case for this is prepared by students (KCSU and/or CUSU).

Junior Members
Tuesday, 08 February 2000

[1] The Access Alliance is concerned mainly with undergraduate room rents, as these are the concern of the Bursars' Report. However, the Alliance believes that principles very similar to those outlined in this paper should be applied to the rents paid by graduate students at King's.

[2] "The Access Alliance" is the collective name of the King's students on rent strike. At the time of writing it has 276 members, and is withholding a total of over £157 000 of unpaid College Bills from Michaelmas Term 1999. The term "Access Alliance" refers in this paper to the King's Access Alliance; there are others in some other colleges.

[3] Other colleges either on strike or pledging to do so are: Trinity, Emmanuel, Jesus, Pembroke, New Hall, Selwyn and Corpus Christi.

[4] London was not included because it is a different case - extra loans are available from the government. It also has an access issue related to the high living costs in London. Inclusion of London in a more comprehensive report may be possible, but the Alliance has not had sufficient time or expertise to devise a way of doing so fairly.

[5] The rent for graduate accommodation should also be increased in line with inflation this year, and before grdauate rents are increased, a similar process of consultation and research (as outlined in paragraph 10) should taken place with respect to graduate accommodation.

[6] First year students will arrive a day earlier in the Michaelmas term and those in Keynes accommodation will be asked to leave by the Sunday after full term ends. The rent for that term will be reduced pro rata for such students.

[7] There will be no retroactive effect unless an individual's heating use is considerably above the assumed average (eg double).

[8] The cost of this project is likely to be negligible. If funding problems do arise, KCSU may be willing to help provide funding if necessary, as it supports any of its members who are currently on rent strike over the access issue.