Skip to main content
Struggling students turn to food banks and are allegedly threatened with interest on their rent
Stocks of food at the Trussell Trust Brent Foodbank, Neasden, London

STRUGGLING students are turning to food banks and have allegedly been threatened with interest on their rent by the University of London (UoL) management, rent strikers warned today.

Hundreds of students in UoL intercollegiate halls are officially on rent strike, withholding more than £350,000 from the institution, in protest against being used as “cash cows” during the pandemic.

Strikers claim that they have been bombarded with aggressive emails threatening vulnerable students with interest on their rent, having to pay for a full year upfront, as well as “serious and potentially long-term consequences” to creditworthiness.  

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Pupils in a classroom
Features / 14 April 2026
14 April 2026

Cuts are sweeping campuses as cash-strapped universities slash staff and politicians fail to act on a growing funding emergency. VINCE MILLS reports

'RERUM COGNOSCERE CAUSAS/DISCOVER THE CAUSES OF THINGS’: Fighting departamental closures - the occupation of Jessop West in 2023 at the University of Sheffield / Pic: Sheffield Action Group/CC
Features / 13 November 2025
13 November 2025

JACK DAVIDSON explains the motivation behind the UCU strike action at the University of Sheffield

Generation Rent UK activists
Renters' Rights / 1 July 2025
1 July 2025