Of the 63 colleges across DU, only 17 offer on-campus hostel facilities for undergraduate students.
Getting admission to the Delhi University (DU) does not put an end to the difficulties of outstation students as it is just the beginning of a new journey altogether. With the lack of an adequate number of hostels in the university, outstation students are forced to look for private accommodations.
Of the 63 colleges across DU, only 17 offer on-campus hostel facilities for undergraduate students.
Besides, there are other 19 hostels for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. These hostels can accommodate a maximum of around 9,000 students whereas 56,000 students take admission to the university every year.
The university has received around 3 lakh applications for the approximately 56,000 undergraduate seats this year, of which nearly 50 per cent are from other states. Because of the extreme paucity of seats, students are forced to opt for expensive private facilities. "There is no hostel for boys in my college as of now. Therefore, I am living in a paying guest accommodation and paying nearly Rs 1.5 lakh each year for very basic amenities. Lack of hostels is a burning a hole in the pocket for students like us who come from middle-class backgrounds," said Ayush, a first-year BCom (Hons) student at the SGTB Khalsa College.
Safety is another concern that haunts students who fail to get university dwelling."Though there is a hostel in my college, seats for general category students are extremely less. I applied but could not qualify.
Hence, I am staying in as a paying guest with additional security features and therefore I have to pay around Rs 2 lakh annually, said Prachi Jaswal, a student from SRCC.
Terming the situation "pitiable", Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) president Rajib Ray said, "Even those colleges that have a hostel, the number of seats are very very low. So what is required is more UG and PG hostels. Most hostels have seats less than 200. (Mainly), it is in the campus colleges you have a hostel. Students who get admissions here still have to pay exorbitant rates, completely at the landlords' wish."
DU Students Union (DUSU) president Rocky Tuseed, who promised for more hostels at the campus before the elections, said, "We have done lots of protests but (there is) no response from the DU administration. We also talked to the Delhi CM to implement Delhi Room Rent Control Act so that students who don't live in hostels and stay in and around can get some relief."
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