Are Student Halls Having A Negative Impact On Students During Covid-19?

When you’re living in student halls of residence, you’re not offered five-star service, instead you’re provided with bins that are in desperate need of being emptied and unexplained stains in suspicious places. Students can put up with this in normal times but during the Covid-19 pandemic, these almost feel like minor issues when you compare it to being told to not leave your room for weeks and to not socialise. A recent Twitter poll highlights that 56% of students who answered believe that living in student halls during the pandemic has had a negative impact on their mental health.

Research from The Insight Network found that one in five students suffer from a mental health issue, with anxiety and depression being the most common. As well as this, 33% of students are often or always lonely.

When students across the UK returned to college and university in August and September last year, many of them believed that they would be on campus in some form and it would be done in the way of blended learning. However, due to cases beginning to rise, courses started teaching remotely. It is no surprise that this could lead to students having to deal with loneliness and isolation after moving into a room on their own.

Following a survey, young people were asked whether they found living in student halls to be an enjoyable experience, to which 57% of people answered with no.

Some of the students who answered the survey left comments as to why they believe living in student halls wasn't an enjoyable experience and one student said: "Isolating away from home with little to no social interaction has not been enjoyable."

Another student said: "It's better than staying at home if you get on with your flatmates because it's more sociable however, it's much harder to work as you are stuck in a small room and there is no where really to go so it's hard to motivate yourself."

Many students found themselves in a situation of whether or not staying in their accommodation or moving home would be better for their mental state, but many universities haven’t made that easy. Students were told that if they wish to return home, they wouldn’t be able to cancel their tenancy and some students were even told they would have to drop out in order to cancel their rent payments. This pressure has put a lot of strain on students to decide what is best for them financially and mentally.

However, a recent twitter poll found that 86% of students who answered believe that living within their home surroundings instead of their student residence during the Covid-19 pandemic was not the better option for their mental health.

The media have reported over the past few months that international students have especially been worried about returning home and putting their families at risk. This has led many people across the UK to believe that universities are prioritising the profits that students provide instead of the students themselves by the lack of guidance and support they are providing whilst living in their halls of residence.

One student said via a survey that living in student halls during a pandemic put stress on friendships that otherwise would not have been under stress, for example trusting their friends about who they've seen, if they've been to any parties and overall, how careful they are being.

Following a survey, 85% of students said that they were not offered enough support whilst being in their student residence during Covid-19.

The University of Manchester rent strike last year is a prime example of action that students decided to take over lack of support and poor living conditions whilst living in student accommodation. The students were also angry about the tuition and accommodation fees that they were expected to pay. On November 5, students found themselves locked into their accommodation and surrounded by fencing. This came as a shock as there had been no warning which resulted in students tearing down the fencing in protest that night and accusing the university of treating them like animals in a cage.

Following a report by The Tab, between October and November last year, eight students died since the beginning of the first term. One of these students includes Finn Kitson, a University of Manchester student.

The students' father, Michael Kitson wrote on Twitter that Finns death was not due to coronavirus, he wrote: “If you lockdown young people because of Covid-19 with little support, then you should expect that they suffer severe anxiety.”

Following the outcry for support for students, some changes have been made across the UK. For example, £40m will be given to Welsh universities to support students struggling during the pandemic. The Scottish government are also aware that help needs to be offered but are yet to announce any further information on student accommodation rent agreements.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “We encourage accommodation providers to come to an appropriate resolution of issues around tenancy agreements and rent payments.”

So, where is the situation at now? Colleges and universities are keen to resume face-to-face teaching but the new Covid-19 variant across the UK means that this may not be able to happen fully for quite some time. Following the recent government guidance in Scotland, students will resume with online teaching for the time being with a small amount of exceptions. Students on industry-critical courses were able to return to their campus following a full risk assessment from 15 March. Each home nation government are working to ensure that students are well looked after during this time and discussions are ongoing surrounding pressure and confusion regarding student accommodation payments too.