Student Housing Preferences

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32392, 3 September 1970, Page 6

Student Housing Preferences

Student demand for flat-type accommodation was between three and four times as. great as the net demand for accommodation in halls of residence, the president of the University of Canterbury Students’ Association (Mr D. Cuthbert) said on Tuesday.

Commenting on the remarks of the president of the New Zealand Federation of University Women (Mrs C. H. Perkins), regarding

student accommodation, Mr Cuthbert said he felt the need to give the actual situation about student accommodation preferences. “The two most recent and widely circulated studies of student housing preferences conducted in recent years are those of Gray and Croy (Research Project 12, department of psychology and sociology, University of Canterbury, 1966) and the Lincoln College Students’ Association (accommodation survey—The Housing Preferences of Lincoln College Students, 1970). “Both of these show that

students prefer flat-type accommodation to that of halls of residence. The GrayCroy project discovered that whereas 22.1 per cent of the sample population preferred a university flat, 5.8 per cent wanted a place in a university hall of residence and only 0.3 per cent a place in a church hall of residence.

“The Lincoln survey showed a similar result with 35.5 per cent of the sample population wanting a university flat, 36.2 per cent a private flat and only 17.7 per cent a place in a hall of residence,” said Mr Cuthbert.

“Mrs Perkins in her reported statements gave the impression that students ‘were desperately anxious to attend such institutions as university halls of residence.’ “Present Government policy shares a similar view of student housing preference as that of Mrs Perkins. Government subsidy money is at present directed solely towards the hall of residence accommodation," he said. “While the Students’ Association recognises the need for some hall of residence accommodation it hopes that the Government will adopt a policy more in line with student preferences.” Flat-type accommodation was also cheaper to construct than the hall of residence accommodation, Mr Cuthbert added.