The rental situation has improved in the past 10 years, partly because of the colleges' own building projects, writes Gráinne Faller
People who went to college 10 years ago will remember the scramble. There just wasn't enough accommodation for students in the various colleges throughout the country.
They would search desperately through the Evening Herald, the Galway Advertiser or whatever local paper carried the best classifieds section.
They would traipse from one rundown flat to another before finding a landlord who would allow a group of students - everybody wanted to rent to professionals - to move in. It was fraught, stressful and there was little that could be done if the accommodation was cold or damp.
Luckily, things have improved a lot in the past 10 years, helped in no small way by the universities' and colleges' own building projects. Blocks and blocks of on and near-campus accommodation have come on stream over the past while to the point where UL can now guarantee a place in its student villages to every first year student that wants one. NUIG has increased its capacity from about 760 places 13 years ago to almost 2,700 this year.
Standards of other accommodation have also improved and while reasonable accommodation close to a college will always be snapped up quickly, in most places there is a plentiful supply of high quality rental accommodation for students to choose from.
"There is almost an oversupply of off-campus accommodation in Limerick," says John O'Rourke, Life Services Manager in UL. "Landlords are seeing what's available in on-campus accommodation and the more savvy ones are trying to see if they can match it by providing en-suite bathrooms and internet connections."
Things are looking reasonably healthy on the rental market from a renter's perspective. According to research by the website daft.ie, rents on a national level are rising slightly but they are still well below what they were four years ago when the market was at its peak. The rise is mainly being seen in Dublin and Galway. In Cork rent prices have dropped and Limerick is reasonably stable. The rest of the country is either stable or dropping depending on the area.
However, the consensus among the accommodation officers is if you are a first-year student, you should stick to on-campus accommodation or get yourself one of the few remaining places in digs.
"It is too much to ask a student to go from the protected atmosphere of living at home and doing the Leaving Cert to running a house as well as adapting to college life," says Maura O'Neill of UCC. "In first year, they need a more secure and supervised environment."
On-campus accommodation seems like a good option for most. It is on or close to the campus, all bills are taken care of, first years tend to be living with at least one other first year and there is a level of security in the form of a building manager who will sort out any crises that may occur.
Digs have fallen off the radar as far as most students are concerned. Nonetheless, they do still exist and they are still a good option for first years.
"It's a good way to make friends and it is certainly very good value," says Agnes O'Farrell of NUIG. "It's roughly €100 to €110 per week in Galway, and that includes all your bills and food. That's pretty good."
Whatever you decide, your college accommodation office should really be your first port of call when looking for accommodation. The office will have a list of all types of accommodation. Some offices vet the places listed, others have a "two strikes and you're gone" policy, in that if they get more than one valid complaint from any tenant, the landlord is taken off the list.
The office, as well as being a source of available accommodation, gives support and advice to students throughout the year. In an ideal world, students would have no accommodation problems, but unfortunately things can happen. The best time to protect yourself is now, before you have decided on where to live.
No matter what problems may arise, at least we can be certain that homelessness is not going to be an issue for this year's new crop of students. With a nice place to live, you can really throw yourself into the joys of independence - no curfew, no getting up time, nobody to tell you to tidy up. Then again there is also the cooking, cleaning and laundry to be dealt with which prompts many students to opt for a happy semi-independence.
You stay out all night if you want to in the knowledge that, if you need to do your laundry or eat some decent food, come the weekend, you can always go home.