85% of students won’t get student accommodation

student housingOslo.Student housing.Photo: Norway Today Media

A recent survey from the Norwegian Student Organisation shows that below 15% of Norwegian students will have an opportunity to live in student residence this year.

 

The country’s student housing venues have only the capacity to accommodate 14.5% of students, according to figures from the Norwegian Student Organisation (NSO) survey. This, despite the fact that one in four students want to live in a student residence, according to Statistics Norway’s (SSB) Living Conditions Survey of 2010.


The student welfare body in South East Norway have the lowest coverage in the country, and are only able to accommodate 12.02% of registered students. In Oslo, there are now 6,551 students waiting in line for student housing. The number is a record high.
Even if new student housing is built, the number of students is increasing, which means that the deficit of affordable housing continues to increase.


‘There are still more than 14,000 accommodations left, even to reach the goal of 20% of students being able to live in student housing.

We hope the government will go even further this autumn, and will meet student requirements of 3,000 new student housing places.

A safe housing situation for students gives a better day of study,’ said Mats Beldo, chairman of the Norwegian Student Organization.


He believes it’s important to invest in student housing, as the private rental market is still under a lot of pressure.


‘We fear that some students have to say no to study because they don’t want to get in over their heads,’ Beldo told Aftenposten
newspaper.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today