DCU students will be able to book flexible campus accommodation for as little as one night

Students attending Dublin City University (DCU) in the autumn are being offered a flexible approach to campus accommodation including booking for specific days, weeks or months for the academic year ahead.

The unprecedented approach to renting out rooms in campus residences reflects the dramatic change to college life anticipated because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Like all other third-level colleges, DCU is planning for a situation where not all students will be on campus at the same time, with a hybrid tuition model combining online and face to face classes.

DCU has announced that lectures will be primarily online with students attending campus for face-to-face laboratory classes, practical sessions, and small group interactions, where possible.

“In these circumstances, it is clear that all students will not be on campus at the same time, and that it is highly unlikely that any given student would need to be on campus more than a small number of days per week,“ the college stated today.

As a consequence, DCU added, the accommodation requirements of students in the coming year will be very different from normal.

The university’s plans are guided by public health advice and the constraints of social distancing, which is currently based on individuals being separated by two metres, although that may change.

DCU is encouraging existing and prospective students to book accommodation as normal but described the arrangements for this year as highly flexible.

The allocation of on-campus residences will take place in early June through the normal lottery process for all students who have applied for rooms and any student who receives an offer of a room will be able to secure it by means of a fully refundable deposit.

Then, once degree programme timetables have been issued, students with room offers will have two weeks to confirm whether or not they need accommodation for the full semester or for specific dates (e.g. specific days, weeks or months), and their deposit will be applied accordingly.

If their timetable is such that they decide that they no longer require any accommodation, then their deposit will be refunded in full.

Any student, who is not successful in the lottery for the allocation of rooms, will have the opportunity to book short-term stays through DCU Campus Residences, subject to the availability of rooms over the course of the academic year.

DCU President Professor Brian MacCraith said it was a radically different model for on-campus university accommodation, but reflected “the new circumstances for students and, from our discussions with them, we are confident that it addresses their needs in an adaptable fashion.”

Meanwhile, the board of University of Limerick (UL) subsidiary company Plassey Campus Centre Ltd. (PCC), which manages UL’s on-campus student residences, has approved the return of rental income to the students who left their accommodation on foot of the government’s decision to close the University campus in March.

Each student will be refunded rent from the date they vacated their student residence to the end of their semester licence term. The full amount being refunded is €3.45 million.

All other universities had previously agreed to a refund of rental income to students, who left their campus accommodation because of the Covid-19 crisis.