UWI students want subsidised housing

Ardene Sirjoo, Vice President of the UWI Students’ Guild, told Newsday off-campus living accommodation has risen to as much as 40 percent within the past few years and most students were having a difficult time renting apartments. She said students wanted Government to intervene and provide protection for students who were forced to live off-campus.

She noted that off-campus students were paying high rental fees for substandard housing and called for an investigation into the high rents in the area.

Last Friday, students met with UWI’s administration to discuss and negotiate on-campus housing. Among the decisions reached were that Hall Committee members would be allowed to return after the first year; ensuring first-year or first-time international, regional and Tobagonian students receive preference; that a fixed number of returning students be selected by the hall supervisor in consultation with the Hall Committee; and a fixed number of first-year Trinidadian students, who reside outside a 20-mile radius of the campus, be given preference.