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Afternoon. temperatures tomorrow getting up to high of 20. next month, thousands of students across the uk will be heading to university and, for many, one of the biggest priorities is having somewhere suitable to live. a housing charity is warning that accommodation shortages in some cities are bad, and are only going to get worse as our education editor branwen jeffreys has been finding out. manchester, one of the biggest university cities, attracting students from home and abroad, creating huge demand for housing. they really haven t given us any information about it. so i ve been following one new student heading to uni. her mum graine has been trying to help aisling. over the summer, manchester uni s housing site has been down. how much does it mean to you to have the kind of accommodation you want to start university? i mean, that s going
To be like my home base. it s obviously really important. and i know there are often like facebook groups for, you know, the accommodation. so it d be nice to have a bit of time to talk to people i m going to be living with. aisling is worried because last year there weren t enough rooms. in several cities, including manchester, some first years had to commute. the university of manchester said its accommodation site was back up after a cyberattack and it s making every effort to help first years find somewhere. in those cities where you ve got a serious problem, the idea that all students are going to live next to the university in a reasonable rent is a thing of the past. unipol keeps a record of the rooms built and planned. the numbers are falling. things are not going to get any better in the areas of shortage. it s slightly worse than it looks, as well. to all intents and purposes, supply
Keeping up with prices. i ve had panic attacks walking around the shop before, seeing how much food s going up and up and up. and the knowledge that if i didn t have to spend all of this money on just having a roof over my head. you know, it s about two thirds of my student loan go straight to rent. i don t see a penny of it. if i didn t have to spend that much, then, actually, i wouldn t be worrying about using a food bank. the national union of students told us many other students are struggling as rents are rising faster than loans. ok, so quick update. i got assigned my accommodation. it s in a place i m really happy with. i ve done my deposit. now all i can focus on is just packing for university. while aisling is sorted, some other students are still going through clearing. some universities, but not all, say