An increase in luxury halls of residence and studio flats that offer broadband internet and gym membership as standard has pushed up student rents by nearly a quarter in two years.

A survey by the National Union of Students has found that many students cannot afford their rents, with the union blaming universities for contracting out accommodation to private companies.

More than half (55 per cent) of student bed spaces are supplied directly by private companies, and 27 per cent by universities and colleges.

According to the NUS/Unipol survey published today, students pay an average of £82 a week in term-time rent, or £3,190 a year, a 23 per cent rise since 2003-04 and 37 per cent in the past five years. Costs vary across Britain: in Wales the average weekly rent is £67 but in London it is £100 a week.

The NUS estimates that a student on a maximum potential income of £4,627 a year (in maintenance grant and loan for living costs), would have £743 to live on after paying for a room in a London hall of residence. “NUS estimates that other living costs in London during the academic year amount to £7,069. This would leave this student with a shortfall of £6,326,” the report says.

“To this must also be added immediate course costs, which NUS estimates at £957, and students will also have to repay the £3,000 (plus interest) top-up fees once they graduate.”

The report says that students face bigger fees because private halls provide luxurious accommodation, with 39 per cent of student housing featuring en-suite bathrooms. At the same time, there are growing numbers of rented studio flats with add-on services such as gym membership or broadband.

Paul King, 19, who studies English and communications at the University of Liverpool, pays £101 a week to live in a catered hall of residence. He said that his friends struggled to find rooms in cheaper student halls and were increasingly being offered luxury flats run by private companies.

“There’s a real pressure for the cheaper places, because the companies are building more and more luxury flats for people who can’t afford them.” He said that universities and private companies should build cheaper flats.

The latest figures estimate that almost a quarter (23 per cent) of students live in either halls of residence provided by the university or accommodation built by corporate providers. A further 22 per cent live with parents, 45 per cent rent privately and 10 per cent own their homes or are taking out a mortgage.

Veronica King, NUS vice- president (welfare), wants the privatisation of university accommodation to stop. She said that rising rents would create a bigger divide between the rich and poor. “For the students for whom luxury is not affordable, there is a significant risk that accommodation costs, coupled with the burden of top-up fees, may reduce the effect of choice of where to go to university.”

A third of working-class students live with their parents, compared with one in five middle-class students.

Bill Rammell, the Higher Education Minister, said: “Graduates earn, on average, substantially more than people with A-levels who did not go to university.”

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