Today Keele University announced their decision to revise the precedent of a guarantee of accommodation for final year undergraduate students.

The background of this review lies in the significant number of first year students that continue to be displaced into off campus accommodation, by the lack of on-campus accommodation,  that may not be as suitable due to the lack of time they often find themselves with. This is often because they are either Insurance or Clearing Students.

Throughout the University’s review process KUSU has recognised the needs of these students but have also appreciated that as a Students’ Union we could not support this review due to the potential impact on other students within our membership.  KUSU and the KPA have, therefore, been heavily involved in negotiations and have been the key drivers of the review to insure that students are rightfully compensated for the change in precedent. Both Students’ Unions are firm in their the belief that if Keele is to remain a true campus University then that campus should be accessible to every student regardless of where they live. This means the same access to services and provisions and the same community feel.

Please note that the accommodation guarantee remains unchanged for International Students, Disabled Students and Post-graduate students.

As a result of the review KUSU and KPA have negotiated a significant number of commitments from the University to compensate these students. These will be announced in the next few days by the University.

There will be a number of rooms that will still be available for third year students and these will be balloted in the interested of fairness. Students who have not yet had the opportunity to live on-campus will be given priority in this ballot.

KUSU will endeavour to make sure we support you through this transition and will be happy to discuss any aspects if you want clarity or further explanation on.

We have the biggest ever Housing Fair planned in January which will help you to find quality off-campus accommodation and local amenities. For all of KUSU’s information about living off-campus please pop in to the IAU( located on the top floor of KUSU) or access our webpages www.kusu.net/offcampus

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch,

Rosie, Matt, Sam, Alex and Adam (KUSU Sabbatical Team) and Oliver Wakefield (KPA President)