18 September 2008 701 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

Around 160 freshers have been given a hotel room to begin their university lives in after an 18% rise in the number of new students left the halls of residence at Aberystwyth university overbooked.

A late surge in demand for courses after much of the accommodation was allocated meant a group of new students were homeless and had to be re-homed. Ben Hallet, Aberystwth’s Guild of Students President, said “this figure does change from day to day as more students find accommodaion. Freshers are likely to end up in hotels, guest houses or privately-owned property, such as flats.”

The record surge in new students has left the university with problems and Hallet has been in talks with officials to find accommodation as quickly as possibly. “First years are guaranteed accommodation, but a deadline was set. There were then a number of applications after the deadline and these students are without accommodation.

The university is said to be enjoying an “outstanding recruitment year”. Last year, a student survey found that Aberystwyth was the UK’s favourite university town.