Freshmen at the University of Ghana face housing difficulties, what is the number 1 best solution?

The perennial challenges that first-year students at the University of Ghana face in securing housing on campus remain.

When the portal for securing accommodation opened yesterday, scores of newly admitted students at the university expressed frustration about their inability to find housing on campus.

The university administration blames the situation on insufficient housing to serve the 16,000 freshmen admitted this year, as available rooms can only accommodate 6,000 students.

In an interview yesterday, Professor Gordon Awandare, the university’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic and Student Affairs, told the Daily Graphic that the problem had persisted over the years due to insufficient accommodation space for the number of admitted students, explaining that this year, for example, the university admitted approximately 16,000 students while only 6,000 students could be accommodated.

“We were only able to upload about 1,500 rooms, but 16,000 students are trying to get accommodation so that’s why within five minutes it’s full. There is no trick involved; it is simply the pressure

He stated that the university was doing everything possible to correct the situation, but that it was hampered by issues such as insufficient financial resources.

“It’s a problem that bothers us, and we’re working very hard to fix it,” he explained.

Students who attempted to register when the portal opened at 9 a.m. said they were unable to access the portal intended to allow them entry into the university’s various halls of residence.

While some students complained about not being able to access the portal, others claimed they were granted access but were locked out of the page where they could choose a hall and then a room.

Those who were fortunate enough to be able to access the page for hall selection said they couldn’t go any further because the system froze and became unresponsive to their selections of hall housing.

Although yesterday was the first day for students to begin their course registration at their various departments, the majority of those who arrived on campus were more concerned about their housing.

When the Daily Graphic visited the university campus yesterday, some students and their parents had come to try to solve their problems.

The majority of the students and parents interviewed by the Daily Graphic appeared anxious, helpless, and angry, as they had no idea what was going to happen next.

It was unclear when the portal closed, but when the Daily Graphic team visited the university campus at 11 a.m., some students and their parents were still attempting to access the portal.

Apart from the traditional halls, almost all of the other halls were packed with students hoping to get a spot.

Some students who have Experience housing difficulties

Some students who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed their dismay at the situation, wondering why the country’s premier university had not been able to find a solution to this recurring problem.

Elizabeth, a Bachelor of Arts student, said she was on campus to complete her manual registration after being unable to secure a room through the portal.

“I came here to finish my manual registration processes because I have accepted that I won’t get into any halls. The portal kept telling me it was full from the moment I opened it.

I don’t know what to do now; I’ll just try to find somewhere to rent and hope I can afford it.” She said.

Mavis, another newcomer, described the process as intimidating and psychologically stressful.

“I’ve been wandering around since the morning, trying to figure out what’s going on. The portal indicated that rooms were full in less than five minutes. “I can’t come from home every day,” she bemoaned.

Collins, who was admitted to the School of Biological Sciences, said he had heard about the university’s housing issues in the past but never imagined it would be this bad.

“I came here thinking that being close to the source would make it easy to find a room, but I was disappointed. “All I can do now is keep doing my manual registration and leave the rest to chance,” he explained.

Last Tuesday, hundreds of students went to Evandy Hostels in the hopes of securing a room as an alternative to the stress of securing one through the portal, but most were disappointed because it turned out to be a venture for “protocol where parents arrived in their big vehicles, jumped the queue, and in no time, secured rooms for their wards,” a group of freshmen told the Daily Graphic.

Concerns of parents about the housing difficulties

When contacted by the Daily Graphic, one parent expressed her utter disappointment. Even though she was aware of the hall issues, she hoped they would be resolved this year.

“At this point, we will wait until the end of the week; if we do not secure a room, my daughter will have to come from home,” she explained.

Others were fortunate, as their application was approved after several attempts.

“My son had to try three times before gaining access to a room. “It’s just one of those things where you get lucky out of thousands,” said a relieved parent whose son gained entry into Commonwealth Hall, though he described the process as hectic.

There are no housing resources to expand.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor stated that inadequate student housing remained the university’s greatest challenge, which he said had persisted for many years.

He stated that, in contrast to other universities where private hostels were easily accessible and less expensive, UG was located in Accra, making accommodation extremely expensive.

“Our colleague universities like KNUST and University of Cape Coast are in areas where there’s vast land for private people to build and develop hostels, but it’s very difficult here due to expensive land, so invariably most students have to be on the main campus.

“Unfortunately, the university cannot meet the demand,” he explained.

Prof. Awandare explained that the government and the university do not have the resources to build enough hostels to accommodate more students, so the private sector must be involved.

To make matters worse, he claims that the cost of building in Accra in comparison to charging reasonable hostel fees for students does not make building hostels economically appealing to investors.

“The reality is that we need more housing, but the government doesn’t have money, and neither do we; what we can do is persuade the private sector to join us,” he said.

Prof. Awandare refuted claims that the authorities were reserving rooms for specific students or students on a “protocol list.”

He explained the process, saying that the halls usually reserve some rooms for sports and disabled students and release the rest, which is then posted online for the rest of the students.

“Each hall has its own requirements for how many rooms it can make available, citing reasons such as sports and rooms for people with disabilities. So they reserve rooms for such people and give us the rest,” he explained.

Solution to Housing Difficulties

Prof. Awandare stated that the university had begun many hostel projects and had also given investors land leases to build private hostels in order to address the problem.

“There’s one the university itself is completing which we thought would be ready by now, but it is not, hopefully next academic year.

“Also, our GUSS, which is our Retirement Fund, is about to build a hostel. Managers are still going through the procurement process to get a contractor to start working on it, which will also supplement campus housing,” he said.

Furthermore, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor announced that the university had annexed a private hostel near the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), bringing 650 beds on board.

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