UNIVERSITY students across Britain are being forced into homelessness amid crippling rent rises, research has found.

A poll by Save the Student, published today, suggests around two in five undergraduates have considered dropping out due to the cost of rent, while 7 per cent have experienced homelessness.

As rents soar, 64 per cent of students who pay rent say they have struggled to keep up with the cost.

An analysis by student housing charity Unipol found that average student accommodation costs have increased by 14.6 per cent over the past two years – nearly £1,000 per academic year.

More than a third of students surveyed by Save the Student said they had issues with damp in their housing, while 29 per cent have been affected by a lack of water or heating.

Students also reported resorting to sofa-surfing while problems were repaired.

One of the students who reported experiencing homelessness said: “I couldn’t pay my rent on time so I had to evacuate the hall.”

Another said: “I was [living] in a YMCA and I was later evicted because I was unable to pay rent whilst at uni.

“I had just [become] estranged from family and was not eligible for student finance.”

The poll surveyed 1,007 undergraduate students between November and January.

Save the Student communications director Tom Allingham said: “Many findings are as bad as – if not worse than – in 2023, highlighting how the intensified difficulties students have faced in recent years have not eased, but instead become entrenched.

“This prolonging of the cost-of-living crisis is largely thanks to below-inflation increases to the maintenance loan in England and with just a 2.5 per cent increase announced for 2024-25, these real-terms cuts are becoming baked into the system.”

A London Renters Union spokesperson said: “Our rigged housing system is interfering with our ability to study, work, and simply live our lives. 

“This sorry state of affairs will only get worse as long as the government views the private rented sector as an easy income stream for the asset-rich, rather than as the place in which people live and build their lives. 

“We urgently need rent controls to take the pressure off millions of people punished by this government’s cost-of-living crisis, and in the long run, we need a shift away from private housing providers towards safe and secure council housing."