“Good morning, I am looking for a room to rent for my son near the University of Rome La Sapienza, do you have anything to show me?”. The answer of nearly twenty real estate agencies contacted by phone one morning was always the same: “I’m sorry, but they don’t have anything at the moment.” Maybe because the academic year has started, or maybe because university students prefer other channels to find housing. Word-of-mouth announcements, announcements on university bulletin boards, websites, special groups on social media, in short, the university rental market mainly moves in this direction, because no one is willing to pay commission since rental costs are already very high.
But you should stay away from scams and slaughterhouses with shocking offers like this: 600 euros for a dilapidated studio apartment of 20 square meters without a kitchen, only an electric stove and a microwave oven (see photo below).
Rental Rome
Luckily, that’s not all there is to offer, but they still command very high prices because demand far exceeds supply in tourist and university cities such as Rome, Milan and Bologna. So between landlords opting for short-term rentals, high rents due to inflation, and the lack of university accommodation, we can say goodbye to the right to education, especially for children from poor families.
Scams and shacks: It was a long journey looking for a room to rent for my son
In eight years, a 34 percent increase in rents was recorded in Italy, affecting 11.8 million people (Istat 2021 data), that is, approximately 20 percent of the Italian population. A survey by Immobiliare.it reveals that the average cost per square meter of rental homes in March 2015 was 9.10 euros, reaching 12.20 euros in April 2023. And if you move in time, for example in July, a bed in a double room near the university (San Lorenzo area for those who know Rome) can also be found for 250 euros a month, while a single room with a private bathroom can also be found there. They want 600 euros. However, for a studio apartment of 28 square meters, you need to budget at least 800 euros.
The middle room is 15 square meters, in good condition, 350-400 euros per month. However, once classes start, you will only find on the portals offers from private individuals of €530 for a single room with electric heater included, or fraudulent advertisements forcing you to pay a deposit to secure the apartment. visit it first (see examples here Above and below).
How much does rent cost in the suburbs
What if we move to the suburbs? Even if we venture outside Rome’s Grande Raccordo Anulare, we discover to our great surprise that things haven’t changed much, because people renting houses “would rather keep the house empty than make just a few pennies,” says a real estate agent. Today. In Ostia, rents start at 200 euros per month for a bed in a shared room, and rents go up to 540 euros for a double room near the Ostia Antica Metro leading into the city. In the municipality of Fiumicino, a few kilometers away, only single rooms are rented with prices starting from 300 Euros. Tivoli, a municipality located 30 kilometers from La Sapienza University, is cheaper, starting from 200 euros for a single room.
It might seem like a good compromise, but let’s do the math. Driving from Tivoli to the university takes at least half an hour (or even more than an hour in traffic) and costs 7.48 euros one way, including fuel and tolls. Therefore, the parking problem, which is of no small importance in a chaotic city like Rome, remains to be solved. The only solution is public transport. Getting on the bus and metro takes at least an hour and a half and requires a slightly more expensive public transport ticket (almost 60 euros instead of 35 euros). Taking everything into account, you save 1,500 euros per year, 125 euros per month, compared to a bed near the university.
The story of Giusy, a student away from home in Rome
“Without the scholarship and university accommodation, I would not have had the opportunity to study in Rome,” Giusy De Rosa, 22, from the province of Salerno, a philosophy student at La Sapienza University of Rome, tells Today.it. He has been living in university dormitories in the capital for 5 years and is now very close to the diploma he wants so much. “Fortunately, I have always been a winner and have never needed to look for a bed or a room to rent in Rome,” he explains, but “my cousin spends 450 euros a day for a single room in an apartment with five other people and only one bathroom.” month plus expenses. “My brother, who has been working in Rome for a year, spends 550 euros a month for a room in an apartment with his three colleagues.”
Giusy could have studied at the University of Salerno, but “there was a need to get out of Battipaglia, because it is a small village disguised as a city. There are 50 thousand people living there, but the residents are much less and the chronological age is very high” because everyone is leaving. There is a lack of opportunities both at the business level and at the social and cultural level. It’s a closed and very conservative area.” He chose Rome because “it was a good compromise, both in terms of the quality of Sapienza’s liberal arts faculties and the proximity to my home. “I was only 18 when I left home and I didn’t want to go too far.”
The philosophy student has always found himself “very comfortable in university dormitories” because there are many advantages on a factual, social and economic level. Accommodation fee is paid, but a deduction is made from the scholarship and this is a very bad price. “Compared to the rents in Rome”. For those with very low ISEE, we are talking about just over 200 Euros per month for double rooms and 240 Euros for single rooms. The price of the canteen is between 2.20 and 7 Euros, depending on the economic situation indicator. “We really don’t lack anything here,” said Giusy, adding that in addition to the canteen that is open for lunch and dinner, there is also a library, study rooms and a small garden.
“Then there is a social issue that should not be underestimated – he continues – because there is an advantage in creating interpersonal relationships in university dormitories, especially for those who cannot build them within the university or for those who, like me, cannot build these relationships. I am a student from abroad, when I came to Rome to study, “I remember being lucky to have a daughter at home with me who was in her fifth year of medical studies and who was also a bit of my mentor. I was in Rome and frequently wandering around places”.
“We need to create more university hostels,” Giusy concludes, especially when Italy is being taken over by Europe for not exploiting Pnrr money. Why do so many students have to stay out if there are unused funds? There are people who are not behind these funds. “What’s actually being exploited is incompetent management, the people who have to deal with it don’t have the right skills to do it.”
Bed bleeding in public student dormitories
Giusy knows he is lucky because he is in one of the 40 thousand beds in university dormitories, especially in a city like Rome. Suffice it to say that La Sapienza is the university with the highest number of students enrolled in the EU, and for that reason alone it should have more accommodation, but this is not the case (see chart). The comparison with Europe is painful; 18 percent of university students live in university dormitories, compared to a paltry 5 percent in Italy (Eurostat data).
Hence the protest of university students, who this time returned with tents in front of Montecitorio to demonstrate against high rents, but also one of the highest university taxes in Europe, the increase in textbook prices and extremely expensive transport costs. In fact, a non-resident student spends at least 9 thousand euros per year (ISEE under 20 thousand euros – Federconsumatori data), while the average salary of an employee in Italy is around 27 thousand euros gross per year (Istat), slightly more than 22 thousand net.
Meanwhile, although 15 thousand units were built in 2000, state student dormitories are decreasing year by year. How come? Simone Agutoli, responsible for the housing issue of the University Union (Udu), explains to Today.it: “There is a lack of funds for redevelopment and therefore some public housing has been closed due to lack of investment in terms of maintenance. The student house in L’Aquila was destroyed by the earthquake.” Look at the situation where it was demolished and off-campus students still have no place to stay.” The chart below leaves no room for doubt.
The number of beds allocated for the right to university education peaked in 2018 with a maximum of 43,136 and then started to decline, reaching 40,069 in 2022. However, unfortunately, the number of students who choose to study at a university outside their homes is around 830 thousand (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti data). Therefore, only 5% of them will be able to count on a bed in state student dormitories, all the rest will necessarily have to turn to the private rental market, which is now out of control even in the municipalities scattered throughout the capital.
Agutoli (Udu): “The right to education remains a mirage”
“Nobody expects to have an apartment next to La Sapienza,” comments Agutoli. “Students make a lot of sacrifices, suffice it to say, a survey conducted by us, which we will be publishing shortly, reveals that one in every two students have to work, at least occasionally, to support their education. Yes, an hour is as good as an hour and a half by train, but not always.” “There’s a limit to the thing, because students need to have a life cycle that’s conducive to studying. You can’t expect someone to travel two hours round trip by train, four hours to do everything with all the necessary delays just because housing policies are lacking”.
“Those with low income levels should be able to receive scholarships, there should be 100 percent coverage, but the resources are not enough to meet all demands. The right to education exists on paper, the Constitution recognizes it, but unfortunately in practice, especially the UDU administrator, the responsibility for all this lies with all successive governments in recent years.” “No one can escape, that’s why we find ourselves today in this situation.”
In short, looking for a room to rent for my son was an adventure, also due to the lack of university dormitories, because, faced with excessive demand, some property owners who rent houses take advantage of this, raise prices and offer solutions that they cannot define with certainty. They see themselves as “livable”.
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Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
