Student

‘Fewer first-years leaving home’

Student housing provider Idealis has received five percent fewer applications from first-years than one year ago. To date, 1305 newly arriving first-years have applied for a room, as opposed to 1379 last year. A striking figure, given than there were nine percent more provisional registrations at the university.
Nicolette Meerstadt

Idealis puts the discrepancy down to the introduction of the loan system, which they believe is leading students to stay at home longer. According to the housing provider, this trend is being seen in other university towns as well. Good news for those who are looking for a room. Idealis expects to be able to house all the newcomers by 1 May 2015 at the latest: the same deadline as last year. On 1 July all 261 first-years had a room through Idealis. All foreign students get rooms when they come to Wageningen: the university offers this guarantee. In previous years foreign students sometimes had to share rooms temporarily, but there seems to be no question of that this year.

Peak moments

At the HousingDesk, a broker for private accommodation, it is a ‘peak moment as usual’. Tenants are usually found for rooms within a week. It is hectic, but there is not the panic there was a couple of years ago, says a member of staff. In 2011 the rapid growth of the university led to an extremely tight housing market. In recent years, both the university and Idealis have created new accommodation. The number of private rooms on the market has increased a lot in recent years too, says the HousingDesk. Nine percent more provisional registrations does not automatically mean a nine percent rise in the number of first-years. The number of participants in this year’s Introduction Days is the same as last year. The university will publish the hard figures on first-year numbers at the beginning of September.

Leave a Reply


You must be logged in to write a comment.