Student accommodation on NUS campus is always a hot issue among NUS students. However, students may realize that it is much more difficult to secure a place in anyone of the student hostels than before. The purpose of this research is to give NUS students a better understanding of the current situation in the issue of student accommodation so that they could have a better plan before it is too late to look for alternative sources for accommodation.
There are many reasons for the fact that students in NUS have to put in more effort in their CCA and pay more for the accommodations on campus. For simplicity purpose, I only focus the discussion on the pricing of the stay on campus.
For the supply side of the problem, NUS is not able to create more rooms for the students in the short term. This is due to the limitation of the land around the campus. Also, it will take quite some time to get the job done. So it is not possible to increase the supply in the short term. The number of rooms available for the students is fixed.
However, the demand from the students is increasing more rapidly. Every year, NUS has to provide accommodation for certain groups of people like exchange student, USP students, first year for the local students and first two years of stay for overseas students and so on. So the rooms left are quite limited. In order to get the room, the students have to compete with their CCA points from University or Hall activities. The points needed for a room in the history almost kept unchanged until this year. The increase in the CCA points surprised many students. Many people became homeless in a sudden and need to look for other ways to solve the problem. However, the off-campus rental is also expensive since the property price in Singapore has appreciated a lot since last year. Therefore, more students want to stay on campus. Furthermore, the number of freshmen in NUS this year is a lot more than the past. And this number will keep growing in the future. These factors all make the competition for a room on campus more intense.
The only thing the OSA did to reduce the demand is to increase the price. The price for a room in this academic year has increased 25% based on the previous figures. And it will increase again for the following years. However, this is not very effective as the general price level and the rental for a room outside campus increased much more than the increase in a room on campus.
The OSA also changed the waiting list policy from the first-come-first-serve basis to the balloting approach. The students have less control about the process in this case. However, this did not reduce the demand. The students on the waiting list could not do any planning before knowing the outcome of the process.
To complete the research, I would like to conduct a survey to randomly selected NUS undergraduates to ask their feedbacks on the campus stay and other alternatives. Also, I am interested to know how much effort they are willing to put in for their CCAs to secure a place on campus based on different prices for the room. The purpose of the survey is to illustrate how competitive the situation is. So that the students could plan early in order to avoid any inconvenience caused when they have nowhere to stay in the new semester, if they are not able to meet the requirement.
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6 comments:
Hello Liu Ning.
YES! This is really a major issue in NUS. It is so difficult to qualify for lodging in NUS. With the complicated points system, many of us just get confused. In addition, other schools like NTU have more relaxed rules on their lodging. Most students who apply tend to qualify, and hence most get to stay in the hostels.
However, for NUS, we tend to have to participate in so many CCAs just to get to stay in the halls and residences. For example, my friend who is in the canoe-polo school team didn't meet the CCA points to be able to continue staying in Kent Ridge Hall.
This is a great research topic, and if you manage to find a solution to this problem, many NUS students will be grateful to you! :D
Hi Liu Ning, this is a good topic too! With more and more students coming to NUS but no significant increase in the rooms available, it sure has been getting more crowded and competitive to get accommodation. Living in the eastern side of the island, I spend a lot of time travelling and getting a room in campus would benefit me greatly. Alas, the increase in price made me hesitant. I am sure we can also get good responses from the student population, especially those affected by the increase in price and the larger demand for rooms.
It seems like OSA has not been doing much to curb this problem. Increasing the price simply does not solve the problem at its roots. From this research project, we can ask students for any alternatives they have in mind. We can also infer something about the study-life balance of the students based on the survey results.
Jimmy
ES2007S Group 2
Hey Liu Ning,
You've certainly hit the nail on the head with this topic. Being an international student myself and with no relatives on the island that I can bunk in with, on-campus accommodation is my lifeline. This was and still is a hot issue since the last accommodation exercise at the end of AY 07/08. I do agree many were caught unawares and were hence bewildered by the system. If it has been working fairly well all along, what was the factor that upset this equilibrium?
It is hard enough that many students do not know exactly how many CCAs they will have to join in order to procure a spot. The point system is, at best, confusing to many. Most would not want to jeopardize their studies by biting off more than they can chew. Perhaps by finding out how much students are willing to do to obtain a room, as well as how much they know about the points systems, OSA can come up with new measures increase awareness and resolve this issue before demand skyrockets even higher.
Hey Liu Ning, I have heard of this problem before as many of my friends are staying in halls and residences.I feel the problem lies with OSA. They should take the initiative and try to curb the problem.
There are many local students who stay in hostels in NUS. Maybe its time for them to give up to students who needs it more than them. CCA points is not the way to allocate student accommodation. OSA must give priority to exchange students and foreign students. They must follow the example set by Housing Development Board(HDB). HDB provide rental flats for people who needs it more than others and they have set a number of requirements for the applicants to fulfill before they are pushed to the front of the queue.They need it more than local students as local students still have the benefit of living in their own flats without paying.
I can understand the plight of foreign students as rental has increased in Singapore. Its not fair of them to pay more just because they came to Singapore to study.
You've dropped this idea, haven't you? It seems you aimed to research what lengths people would go to, to secure a place on campus. Do you know if there are plans to build more hostels on campus? You are probably aware of the plans for the 'university town' in Dover Road. Do you think this will be a popular option? I suppose a benefit of living off-campus is that you keep a foot in the real world and avoid the danger of being cocooned in an 'ivory tower.'
Teacher- Fiona
Well, the building of the university town may be a good solution in long term perspectives. However, current students cannot wait for so long to enjoy the new university town. There are certainly pros and cons for both staying on campus or stay outside. However, for foreign students, the convinience is a more important factor. That is why people like to stay on campus. If there is no good way to improve the current system in the short term, I think the OSA had better to keep the system unchaged to avoid any last minutes unconvenience caused to the students. So that for those who cannot stay on campus they can prepare for their other options early.
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