Galway students face big bill for campus housing

Students AT NUI Galway are paying 30 per cent above the State average for on-campus accommodation, according to figures produced by the students' union. And it seems nothing can be done to change this.

On-campus accommodation at the university is provided by an outside company, Corrib Village, principally owned by Bernard MacNamara, one of the biggest builders in the State.

The cost of a single standard room in the village works out at £59.33 per week. According to the students' union's calculations, the average price for a single standard room in other universities is £45.71 per week. "When I see the price being charged, I have to keep reminding myself this is Galway and not an apartment in Manhattan," says NUIG Galway union president Paddy Jordan. The situation has arisen as a result of Corrib Village raising its prices for a single standard room by nearly 28 per cent last year. While not querying the figures for the other universities, Bernard McNamara cites such additions as the installation of phone and voicemail facilities in every room and the provision of 24hour security as being a reason for some of the increase.

A more immediate cause for the increase is the nature of the development. The land has been leased to two banks, which take advantage of a section-23 tax benefit associated with it. Corrib Village collects rent and manages the accommodation. It is intended that any excess from this is used to buy the buildings from the banks before they revert to the college. Corrib Village would then profit from the rents. According to McNamara, the drop in corporation tax has paradoxically meant that the company is being charged a higher interest rate by the banks, as the tax write-offs associated with the project have lessened in value. This has also acted as a spur to price increases, he says. Jordan is sceptical. "The increase is unreal, and that's what worries us most. There is absolutely no basis for it," he says. "The company is trying to take advantage of the accommodation crisis in Galway."

This crisis is already quite severe, with as many as 1,000 people picking up the accommodation list in the Galway Advertiser every Tuesday and chasing the same flats and houses.

According to Jordan, the rooms in the village are even more expensive than those in Galway city, which are currently running at between £40 and £50.

With students facing such scarcity, Jordan is resigned that, even at the prices it is charging, Corrib Village will have no problem finding tenants. "It will be full," he says.

McNamara is unapologetic about the increase and says that, especially given their situation and facilities, the rooms "still represent value in terms of what you would get in Galway. If the market is too high, it's something I can't control."

Professor Jim Ward, the university's vice president for human and physical resources, shares the union's concerns. "I would expect our students not to be paying more than anybody else. It seems to me they are charging more than other places when we look at it." Ward acknowledges that it is difficult to make exact comparisons between rooms in various universities, but still says there is a case to be answered. "There may be phones and dishwashers there, but what are they really worth? I don't know. On the face of it looks like a very different price and I find it hard to see how we can justify it."

McNamara has no problem justifying the increased price, after an initial period when prices were held down by the market. "Over 20 years you get humps that even out," he says. "This is an uphill hump." He points to the fact that most other student accommodation is cross-subsidised by universities and says that even with the increases in rent he believes "while we are running it (Corrib Village), it looks like we'll get nothing from it, and I am quite happy to open the books to an auditor to prove it."