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Fighting Against Increased Rents (F.A.I.R)

The college rents campaign

CUSU continues to campaign on rents and to provide support for JCR/MCR representatives in yearly rent negotiations between and College officials.

FAIR (Fighting Against Increased Rents) is an open committee that was set up by CUSU Council in May 2003 in response to concerns at the rising rent levels in Cambridge. FAIR's remit is to:

  • Create a permanent rents and charges database, giving accurate and up to date rents information.
  • Facilitate JCRs, MCRs and college student unions undertaking rents negotiations and rents campaigns.
  • Provide support to JCRs, MCRs and college student unions that are rent striking.
  • Campaign for a university-commissioned Independent Rents Watchdog with responsibility for monitoring college rents and charges, publishing rents data and advising college bursars.

Although FAIR is an open committee that anyone can attend (e.g. representatives from a college may want to attend whilst they are going through negotiations), there is also a Steering Committee that aims to oversee the overall strategy of FAIR and to ensure that FAIR is fulfilling its remit. The Steering Committee consists of a Chair, a Secretary, the CUSU President, the CUSU Access Officer and four other permanent members.

To date, FAIR has focused on supporting individual colleges in their rents negotiations and collating data and information that will be useful to colleges in rents negotiations. It has also aimed to raise awareness of the issue of rents in college open meetings and special meetings and has pushed for student representation on the Bursars' Committee.

Any member of the committee will be prepared to help JCRs, MCRs and student unions during rents negotiations, whether it is looking over college accounts, offering ideas on running campaigns or providing data about comparability with other colleges or universities. Recently, members of FAIR have assisted college student unions in reviews and negotiations on many aspects of student charges, including: rents, bursaries, catering, and network charges.

Members of Fair:

  • Mark Ferguson - CUSU President and Chair
  • Luke Pickering - CUSU Access Officer
  • Liana Wood - CUSU HE Funding Officer
  • Ashley Aarons - CUSU Services Officer and Secretary
  • Jacob Bard-Rosenberg - CUSU Democracy Officer
  • Sam Rose - CUSU Welfare Officer
  • Dan Swain - Kings College
  • Eddy Eccles - Kings College

The FAIR committee can be contacted on fair@cusu.cam.ac.uk

Current FAIR plans/projects

College Data 2006-7

College Data 2005-6

  • College rents (To be replaced by online database) (Updated April 2006) N.B. College rents and charges are subject to much change, so this information may not be accurate. Cambridge has a great range of accommodation, and little or no central co-ordination of fees. Moreover, most of this information is NOT provided by college authorities. Anyone requiring specific information should contact the colleges concerned.

College Data 2004-5

College Data 2003-4

College Data 2002-3

College Data 2001-2

College Data 2000-1

College Data 1999-2000

Miscellaneous

Please do not hesitate to contact us at fair@cusu.cam.ac.uk with any additional information or updates, or if you wish to comment on this website.

Background

Since 1997, the accommodation fees at most Cambridge colleges have been increasing at an average of about 6.5% per year. Many colleges regularly involve undergraduates and graduates in some form of negotiation over proposed increases but in general, it is the Bursars' arguments that Junior Members' charges must be raised to reduce deficit that prevail.

Much of the pressure to increase charges results from the Government's review of funding in 1997 which resulted in declining public funding for colleges. It should be noted that at the same time, students saw their Maintenance Grants removed, and Tuition Fees imposed. Today's students thus find themselves saddled with greatly increased costs (and debts akin to the higher education system of the USA) while public funding for higher education is stagnating at levels far below that of the United States or indeed most other European countries. With top up fees being introduced this year the situation has changed slightly with fees not being charged at the time of taking them. However, it is still detrimental to access to laden students with debt after they leave university and charge them high levels of rent.

It may be argued that standards of living for undergraduates and graduates at the University of Cambridge are superior in some ways to those at many other UK universities; many live in historic or attractive buildings, with elegant gardens and dining halls. This, however, is not the main attraction for potential students. These features and facilities are not instrumental to the excellent education offered by the university. Although it has historically been possible for colleges to provide such finery because of greater levels of subsidy, it is not necessarily reasonable to maintain this level at the expense of today's Junior Members. Students who choose to come to Cambridge for an excellent education should not find themselves forced to pay for extravagant accommodation.