Students paying rent of £500 per month for rooms in Highland capital that are no longer required due to coronavirus
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STUDENTS are having to pay rents for accommodation they do not need.
It comes after Inverness College UHI stopped its face-to-face lessons due to coronavirus.
With some students paying more than £500 per month for term-time rooms, one parent is asking why the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is not following in the footsteps of other universities and cancelling the payments.
The student residences are managed by private property development Cityheart Living under a contract with UHI.
One parent, who did not want to be named, said: "Inverness College have confirmed that students remain liable to pay for their third term's accommodation despite courses and exams having been cancelled and regardless of the fact that students are no longer staying in their accommodation.
"It seems Inverness College and UHI are more interested in money than the welfare of their students which is very disappointing. The amount of money we're talking about is in excess of £1500 per student."
Other university accommodation, including that of Unite Students in Aberdeen, have already told students they can withdraw from tenancy contracts.
A spokeswoman for the university said: “Our student residences remain open in line with advice from the Scottish Government and many students continue to live on campus, with guidance and support from Cityheart and our own student support teams.
“The university, along with other universities in Scotland, is working closely with the Scottish Government to explore arrangements for student residency costs during these uncertain times and while current tenancy agreements still apply, these remain under review and we hope to be able to update students this week. This is a matter of concern to many students, our students’ association (HISA) and to the university partnership and we are working closely to address it as soon as we can.
“We understand this is an extremely difficult time for our students and we’re working hard to ensure they are supported and safe. Across the partnership, we have various discretionary funds for students struggling financially, which are being prioritised to help those most in need. We are also working to develop other sources of support, while regularly updating job opportunities on our careers centre website.
“Students who need to extend their tenancy agreement due to the Covid-19 crisis can and will be accommodated.
"In addition, we’re currently in discussions with NHS Highland and NHS Grampian regarding use of our residences for essential workers, should this be required.”
A spokesman for CityHeart Living said: "For the avoidance of doubt, Cityheart are not responsible for decisions relating to the payment or otherwise of a student’s rent.
"The residences do remain open in line with a letter sent to all universities on March 27 from Richard Lochhead MSP, minister for further education, higher education and science. It stated that the advice is that students remaining at college and university accommodation should stay where they are and not attempt to travel home, even if that is to another part of Scotland.
"We can confirm that we do still have some students in all of our residences.
"Our accommodation offices remain open but with reduced staffing levels to continue providing support to our students."
