1,992 students not offered campus accommodation this year; OSA’s explanation dissatisfying

Hannah Yan | h_y@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication
April. 4, 2008

Story Highlights:

• Statistics of successful and unsuccessful applicants were revealed by OSA.
• Alternative solutions proposed include placing additional beds and factoring in the distance from home to campus.
• Students questioned the fairness of CCA system.
• A committee will be set up to look into RHAPS.

There are 1,992 students with no rooms to stay on Kent Ridge campus after this year’s hostel allocation.

Some went to a dialogue session with the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) held at Prince George’s Park (PGP) Auditorium on April 4 and left with no concrete answers provided.

After the release of results on March 27, many students flocked to the OSA to appeal about the result and ask for an explanation.

However, everyone went back with a different answer and some even received wrong information from the front desk, according to Siddharth Choudhry, a third year mechanical engineering student.

According to the OSA, out of 5,175 applicants, 38 percent are unsuccessful, compared to last year’s 33 percent out of 4,707 applicants, marking a 5 percent rise and the highest ever cut-off level of Co-curricular Activity (CCA) points in history.

As some international students demanded, the OSA offered the breakdown of statistics-among the successful senior applicants, 1,001 are local and 2,182 are international; among the unsuccessful, 848 are local and 1,144 are international.

International students and some permanent residents (PR) whose families do not own housing properties in Singapore are especially worried about a roof over head. Some local students said they also have compelling reason to stay on campus.

Some students recommend placing an additional bed to the single rooms.

Associate Professor Tan Teck Koon, Dean of Students, referred to the proposed three-bed room in Nanyang Technological University, which was met with public objection, to show that it is not practical.

Other students suggested giving priority to those living far away or from overseas.

However, Associate Professor Tan said this is a system riddled with loopholes.

He gave the reasons that the OSA will need to check the accuracy of all addresses, and consider local students who live far away but have convenient means of transport.

Associate Professor Tan repeated his advice to students: “go and find a place.” And he advised the students to find a place before the holiday begins.

But for many international students, it is not a simple thing to do.

With the final exams looming, searching for accommodation now does not seem to be feasible. As some will go back to home countries during the holiday, they may not immediately find accommodation after returning. “When I am back to the airport with my luggage, where do I tell the taxi driver to go?” A student asked.

Shahanah Joomun, a second-year computing student from Mauritus, said if she sources for accommodation now, she has to sign a one- or two- year contract and even though she is not staying during the holidays she still have to pay.

The OSA encourages students with financial difficulties to apply for subsidiary loans from them.

Students did not find this as a viable solution either. Taskeen Edoo is a second-year computing student from Mauritus. Her father works on a plantation and her mother does not work. She said, “We came to Singapore with a worry-free mindset that we can get grants and won’t add burden to our families. But if we have to take up another loan, now it just means more burden.”

A student commented: “how could NUS advertise itself as a global university while it cannot satisfy the needs of its own students?” Another student said students today will become alumnus later and when they look back, they may find that they were not treated fairly.

Students can apply to be on the waiting list for campus accommodation.

In the case where some freshmen do not turn up next semester, places originally reserved to them will be released to the current students. The application for waiting list will be opened in August and will be on a first-come-first-serve basis as well as depending on students’ preference ranking of hostels.

Off-campus accommodation opportunities are in a database on the OSA website but it needed to be updated.

Students also questioned the fairness of CCA points system that determines the hostel allocation results.

Dilesh Weerasuriya, a second-year computing student from Sri Lanka, said the residents of PGP are disadvantaged in competing with hall residents for accommodation as halls offer more activities and higher points.

“I was a group leader of orientation camp and I got only one point for it. People staying in hall get eight points out of this. It is unfair because we work equally hard,” he explained.

Students on Industrial Attachment also expressed their concerns. Though they are physically in Singapore, they do not have time to participate in campus activities becausing of work and are not getting the same priority as students on exchange.

The fact that some presidents of clubs abuse the use of points to reward their friends or to import players to participate in inter-hall games has been brought to the Dean’s attention.

According to OSA, in lieu of the increasing demand for student accommodation, they built Prince George’s Park, Ridge View Residence Tower Block, Kuok Foundation House in the 1990s and block leased Boon Lay hostel to house more students in 2007.

After receiving students’ feedback, they also increased the number of shuttle buses from Boon Lay and vamped up the internet system to ensure students residing there have internet access.

Associate Professor Tan said that it is not easy to get a large number of rooms with a reasonable price off campus. With the University Town hostel due to open in 2010, he said: “I’m confident that in 2010 the university can accommodate all international students for their duration of study.”

Near the end of the session, Choudhry said: “we came here to find a solution, but after two and a half hours we are still hopeless.”

The Vice-Dean of students, Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser, said a solution cannot be found overnight and a committee including members of the OSA and NUSSU will be set up to look into Revised Hall Allocation Point System.

Updated on April 14 with clarification from NUSSU that in 2010 the University Town hostel will be able to accommodate all international students instead of all students. NUSSU and OSA will do further studies on room sharing.