Our View: Affordable housing is not university students’ inherent right

The University of Cyprus is looking for €91m to build new student housing that will provide rooms for 870 students. This surprised deputies who discussed the matter because there had been a proposal that had won an architectural competition for student housing in 2021, for which the cost was drastically lower. According to the study backing the proposal, 700 rooms would have been built at a cost of €35m, but there were major disagreements between the architects and the university, so the plan was abandoned.

At the same meeting the head of the UCy Technical Services informed deputies that another competition would be declared with a budgeted cost of €91m. This was more than 250 per cent higher than the original estimated cost, for 25 per cent more rooms and a meagre 1,000 square metres of living space. In the original plan, each room would have been 16 sq.m while for the new competition this would be 14sq.m.

There were probably good reasons for UCy choosing not to go with the first plan, but the increase in the estimated cost seems excessive. A representative of the Cyprus Technical Chamber (Etek) backed the cost calculations of the university, although some deputies expressed reservations, saying the cost was too high. A rough estimate that does not take into account communal areas of the halls would put the cost of each room in the region of a staggering €104,600.

This is perfectly in line with the tradition of the university’s authorities to act as if money is no object for their plans. It is a tradition cultivated by the state. Successive governments generously spent the taxpayer’s money on what they resolved should be the island’s hotbed of learning. No expense was spared on the buildings and facilities while its academics are on wages that would be the envy of most of their colleagues in Europe. This has created a strong culture of entitlement which includes the demand to take control of clinics of public hospitals for its medical school.

The culture of entitlement also extends to its students. Their demand for affordable student housing which has led the UCy to be seeking €91m for halls of residence is a case in point. Why should the taxpayer pick up the bill for this as well, when they are offering youths a completely free university education? If housing close to the university is too expensive, they could rent further away, move to poor neighbourhood or they could share with other students to lower the cost as students do in most cities of the world, including Athens where thousands of Cypriots study.

Why should the taxpayers pay for ‘affordable’ housing for students when we are already paying a premium for their tuition? Would they drop out of university because there is no affordable housing for them? Affordable housing is neither an entitlement nor a right of university students. There are poor families with much a greater need for affordable housing that must be given priority by the state, which must stop cultivating the sense of entitlement of the University of Cyprus.