Fourth-year students at Selwyn College are to face new accommodation changes, which, designed to reduce the number of empty rooms in College, have sparked concerns about the limited range and price of rooms.

Starting from this year’s room ballot all students returning for a fourth year will only have the choice of rooms in H and I staircases of Cripps Court, accommodation usually reserved for first-year or Master’s students.

The new accommodation rules will not apply to Modern Linguists, AMES, or academic exchange students who have had a year abroad as their fourth year is only their third year where they are in college accommodation.

Pranay Shah, president of the Selwyn Engineering Society, voiced the concerns of the Engineering students at this change: “The most widely expressed frustrations have been over the removal of choice, financial implications, and the abruptness of the changes, giving us only a week to make a decision about living arrangements, and leaving no room for discussion.”

Among concerns raised by students are the high prices of rooms in the staircases that are to be allocated to fourth-years. These rooms are in the three highest price bands out of eight possible prices. Six rooms cost £159.12 per week, the majority £148.66 and one £139.37.

According to College Council minutes the bursar will be willing to negotiate with students experiencing financial difficulties: “The JCR representatives reported that this proposal had caused concern among some students because it would restrict the rent-codes available to fourth years; the Bursar assured them that individual cases of hardship would be handled through the usual channels and would be looked upon sympathetically.”

The possibility of including a hostel in the accommodation available to fourth-year students in order to widen the price brackets was discussed but this was found to be infeasible. This decision was explained in email sent by Jones and seen by Varsity: “The Dean has vetoed hostels being used by 4th years alongside other undergraduates due to issues that have arisen this year.”

Some students have been discussing moving out of college in order to avoid the extra cost of these rooms. Speaking to Varsity, a current third-year Engineer said that he had explained to Selwyn JCR Accommodation and Services Officer Beatrice Jones: “The potential cost of living in college is a big factor in making this decision, and while most of us currently would prefer to be able to fully remain a part of the college community, if nothing can be done about the options available to us, we may be forced to live out.”

The College has explained that the change is designed to prevent an excess of empty rooms because in previous years a number of students have reserved rooms for a fourth year but not ended up returning. These empty rooms could then not be included in the graduate ballot.

According to JCR minutes, in the 2016-17 academic year eight out of the 30 students who had said they would be returning for fourth year did not.

However, in an email addressed to College, the Secretary of the Selwyn Engineering Society, Christina Ayriss, argued that many students are guaranteed to return in fourth year in order to complete their degree: “For engineers and students who have intermitted, changed subject or taken a year abroad, the probability of not returning is the same as for every other undergraduate student.”

A third-year Engineering student told Varsity that the empty rooms justification does not work for engineers: “The thing that most irks me is that engineering students, who make up the bulk of those who would be balloting for fourth year, have little to nothing to do with the “driving force” behind the move (empty rooms dotted around college), since our fourth year is pretty much mandatory and there’s very little chance of us dropping out after balloting.

“College seem to be either wilfully ignorant or entirely indifferent about the nature of the engineering course, despite the ‘fellow for rooms’ being an engineering fellow!”

Another reason for the change to the accommodation policy is that College would like to concentrate fourth-years into an area with people who are at a similar stage of progression. However, as MML and AMES students will not be included in the new rules, some students worry that this will in fact split up friendship groups.

In an email exchange seen by Varsity, Dr Mike Sewell, the Senior Tutor at Selwyn provided a justification for the decision: “It was felt that the benefits to the entire College outweighed the wishes of a small group of students who will already have had three years in College, two of them with choice of rooms through the ballot.”

He expressed willingness to explain the details but not to renegotiate the decision as College Council has already made a policy on it: “I am happy to talk you through the details if you really wish. But at this stage we are concentrating on the implementation of the decision rather than reopening it.”

Sewell told Varsity that the students are well represented on the committees that made the decision: “This is a matter that has been considered both by the College Accommodation Committee, which includes students, and by the College Council on which JCR and MCR representatives sit.”

However, Shah feels that the engineers were given little choice in the matter: “When we first heard about the changes, it seemed like a decision had already been made on our behalf, and the prospect of negotiating terms was completely off the table, despite several discussions with senior members of the college.

“We hope the current 2nd years will continue to work with college next year to come to a more reasonable agreement.”

Selwyn JCR President Ted Mackey said that the views of the JCR had been presented to college: “We raised the concerns of the JCR in a college council meeting last term (and I have subsequently raised them this term). We will continue to represent the views of the JCR, and I’d encourage anyone who feels they have an issue with this decision to contact me personally.”

Jones told Varsity that the JCR “officially oppose” the decision. However, she stressed that she wants to make the best out of it: “We are trying to work with the fellows to make sure that students really do get the best deal out of this arrangement. I will also be looking into other options that we could make available to 4th years for the ballot next year.”