In an email to students registered for on-campus accommodation, UCD Residences Room Booking Team announced that the check-in start date would be postponed from September 10th until September 17th.
The reason cited in the email was that the check-in date would be pushed back ‘in line with the delay with the commencement of the first trimester of teaching’. The email was circulated on Wednesday, September 2nd, eight days before students were due to begin renting their rooms.
It is understood that many international students had already returned to Ireland and have been quarantining in anticipation of the 10th of September. While the email assured students ‘the license fee will be amended to reflect the new later check-in date of September 17th’, it did not account for the students who would be required to source alternative accommodation for the coming week.
According to UCD Residences, accommodation on campus can range from €271.67 to €399 per week. For students due to rent in Belgrove or Merville, which costs the lower €271.67 per week, this would require that the students who were due to begin renting one week from today source alternative accommodation for just €38 a night, if it were to balance with their anticipated cost.
UCDSU Welfare Officer Ruairí Power told The University Observer “UCD Students' Union were made aware yesterday afternoon that the standard check-in date for on campus accommodation has been moved forward a week from the 10th of September to the 17th of September. This is a frustrating announcement for those affected, particularly in light of the fact that only 8 days' notice were given to students.
“We have received assurances that any student who needs to move into campus accommodation as their programme/placement begins before the 17th will be able to do so on the 10th. I have sought a meeting with the head of Residential services and we will update students' as soon as we receive clarity. The Students' Union will work to ensure that no student who needs to move in to campus accommodation on the 10th will be left without a place to stay until the 17th”.