King's College, Cambridge

Rent for Undergraduate Student Accommodation

Introduction

The enclosed paper is a redraft of the paper submitted by us to Council at its previous meeting. The earlier version had been subject to extensive discussion with students, and there has been further discussion on this draft.
The Junior Members on Council have submitted their own proposals on this subject. We disagree with their approach in three important respects:
1. Access is a far wider issue than just average rent and fixed charges. The agreed aim is that students from all backgrounds and income groups should feel encouraged, willing and able to come to Cambridge if they are of sufficient ability. Average rent and fixed costs are just one element of this. Other elements are the perceived (and actual) availability of financial assistance after a student has matriculated if s/he has financial problems; the spread of fixed costs around the average and the availability of cheaper rooms for students who wish to have them (noting that in many cases these cheaper rooms are of similar quality to the average or premium rooms in other institutions); the guarantee of accommodation for undergraduates in Cambridge; additional factors such as travel costs and time in other institutions. There are even wider issues such as the degree of preparation provided in schools and sixth-form colleges (and what Cambridge can do to supplement this where necessary) and perceived elitism at Cambridge.
2. Assessing how well our access policy is working at any time is difficult and requires further work. Financial considerations are not the sole measure but available College funds for those who need will generally be better used selectively than in subsidies to all students on the average rent. This would need review if rents substantially exceeded those in comparable universities.
3. The Bursar believes that existing rents do not cover costs. This was also the belief of his predecessor and is consistent with the views of other Colleges. The present Bursar has included data in the paper on this at students' request and believes it strongly supports his view. He considers that the College should set rents on the basis of the information currently available, which indicates a need for a substantial increase. In contrast, the students seem to accept that the proposed rents for 2000/01 are probably reasonable, but argue for a zero real increase on the grounds that the data should be improved and because of possible problems with access in later years. This seems to us unrealistic at a time when it is believed that the College is running a significant deficit on its accommodation.
The proposed Vote is based on the Council's existing policies for students in arrears on their bills.

Proposed Vote

It is proposed that the Vote should read:
1. Agreed to adopt the policy on undergraduate rents submitted to Council by the Senior Tutor and Bursar;
2. Re-affirmed the College policies that students who are in arrears in payment of College bills shall not be allocated rooms in the ballot and shall not be allowed to graduate; and that fines may be levied in addition.

Rob Wallach
Roger Salmon
9 February 2000