In an open letter written by Vice President Community Isi Williams and co-signed by the rest of the Students’ Association Sabbatical Officer team, they urge university leadership to take decisive action on the cost of living crisis in specific areas affecting students.
They make four core demands:
- Reverse the decision to increase University accommodation rents by almost 6 per cent in the next academic year and instead commit to not increasing rent prices for 2023/24.
- Fully subsidise transport for anyone not covered by the Under-22 travel scheme, and shuttle buses to the Easter Bush and BioQuarter campuses.
- Free breakfast provision for students, available on all campuses.
- Library and Accommodation Conduct Fines eradicated, and to waive all outstanding fines.
The letter cites both UK-wide and Edinburgh-specific survey data on how university students are affected by the cost of living crisis.
This includes that only 1 in 2 students are confident they have enough money to cover their basic living costs.
It also demonstrates how existing measures are insufficient when it comes to effectively alleviating issues that students experience when facing financial hardship.
Speaking to The Student, Isi Williams explains: “We have discussed the Cost of Living in many meetings with the University and have managed to get the Hardship Funding doubled.”
“This was a great success, as the Hardship Fund acts as a lifeline for many students, but there still needs to be more varied financial support.”
“The current scheme only offers funding to those who are currently in financial hardship and have exhausted all other means of support, meaning there is still limited financial help for those who do not meet this criteria and leaves many students to fall through the cracks.”
“This letter will show how desperately students want and need these changes.”
“By gathering student signatures, we will prove to the University that there is a mandate for more change.”
“The more students who sign, the more powerful the message!”
At the time of publication, the open letter had gathered around 800 signatures.
Any student can show their support for the demands through the Students’ Association website, which is collecting signatures until 23 April.
After that, the open letter will be used to lobby the University Senior Leadership Team to implement the proposed measures.
Williams is convinced this is possible to achieve, because many other universities have already implemented similar schemes.
She also commented that “with a university like ours, that had an income growth of 9.3 per cent in 2021/22, they can afford to support their students more.”
Williams also mentions other successful lobbying efforts of the Sabbatical Officer team.
These have led to the doubling of the University’s hardship funding last summer, and made it possible for students to end their University accommodation fixed-term lease early when the covid-19 pandemic started.
This and other achievements demonstrate that despite not always succeeding, the Students’ Association has the potential to represent student voices and push through changes at the University-wide level.
With 80 per cent of Edinburgh undergraduates (of those surveyed by the student group Slurp in their housing research) worrying about where they will live next year and the rising cost of travel forcing students to skip teaching as well as socialising, it is clear these issues warrant an immediate and forceful response.
The open letter reads: “We believe that by [implementing the proposed measures], the University can demonstrate its commitment to supporting its students during these challenging times, and ensure that all students have the opportunity to thrive academically, socially, and mentally.”
Read the open letter in full here: https://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/petitions/view/1
Image: “Edinburgh University Library” by qwghlm is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.