A SERIOUS lack of accommodation in Letterkenny coupled with the ongoing Covid-19 situation is leaving students scrambling for places to rent ahead of the new college term.

Speaking to the Donegal News this week President of the Students’ Union at Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) Adam O’Flaherty said landlords are “iffy and wary” about providing accommodation to students because of the pandemic.

He said they have received a lot of calls in recent weeks from students struggling to find accommodation and the Union is appealing to landlords to be flexible when it comes to contracts.

“A lot of students have contacted us asking about accommodation and all we can do is give them out the accommodation list. It’s first come first serve so you have to be very fast,” said Mr O’Flaherty.

“There is a lack of accommodation. We have similar numbers to last year, maybe a little less but because of the Covid situation landlords are iffy and weary.”

He said they have been reaching out to landlords and letting agencies in the hope of increasing the amount of beds available.

Last year an agreement was reached with landlords on the LYIT accommodation list to cap the costs of rent for the academic year at €320. This agreement is currently being revised but Mr O’Flaherty said a lot of landlords are “flat out refusing to lower prices”.

He said some landlords are also refusing to be flexible in terms of students only needing accommodation for a maximum of three or four nights per week if some of their lessons remain online.

It is presenting a real challenge for students as they prepare to return to lecture halls after a long wait.

Mr O’Flaherty said landlords need to remember that “students are still students” and are not earning a weekly wage but instead are just about surviving  on the SUSI grant (Student Universal Support Ireland).

Both students and staff are eager to get back to face-to-face learning and not having the social side of college has been a very difficult part of the transition from post primary to third level.

“There are a lot of students and even a lot of staff that are fed up with online classes,” said Mr O’Flaherty.

“Obviously we have to do it with the Covid situation but we are all looking forward to getting back to college, to chat with eachother and have that personal connection with lecturers and that is a key element of it. Students feel that they are missing out.”