Cape Vars students stranded

More than 1,600 first year students who expected to be accommodated under the University of Cape Coast (UCC) new residential policy, have become stranded.

The students, who have paid between 1,246,000 cedis and 1,148.000 cedis for accommodation for the first academic year, are yet to be given rooms by the UCC authorities.

This has resulted in their putting up with friends on campus or in the surrounding communities. Mr Michael Ampong, President of the Students' Representative Council (SRC), told the GNA that the policy "is not the best solution to the acute accommodation facing the university", and that all efforts by the SRC to bring this to the notice of the authorities have been futile.

Under the new residential policy, which is among others, geared towards reducing the exploitation of fresh students by landlords on campus, they are to be allocated 50 per cent of vacant beds in the various halls of residence.

It is expected that by 2005, all fresh students would be accommodated on campus. According to Mr. Ampong, less than 400 out of about 4,000 students admitted this academic year, had secured accommodation on campus. The number represents below 20 per cent of the 2,000 fresh students expected to lodge on campus.

He was also of the view that the policy would "affect the quality of student leadership", as only first and final year students would be resident on campus at a given time, and urged university authorities to source more funds for additional halls of residence for the students.

"The four years that the university authorities wish to accommodate 100 percent of fresh students on campus is long enough for them to source funds from all angles to provide for the accommodation needs of the institution, if they really have the welfare of students at heart, instead of seeking measures that are inoperative", he said.

On the 25 per cent increment in the students' loan scheme announced by the government, Mr. Ampong said the students appreciated the gesture, adding it would go a long way to mitigate their financial problems.

However, students of the university were yet to receive their money and he appealed to government and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to expedite action on the disbursement.

He also appealed to the government to increase the 13,000 cedis subsidy it was paying on utility-user-fees to non-residential students, to about 200,000 cedis to ease the burden on them.

On resorting to demonstrations to back their demands, he said the students' leadership "is now of age" and would no longer resort to this, but appealed to government and school authorities not to "push them to the wall," when dealing with their grievances.

When contacted, Mr. Isaac Ohene, assistant registrar in-charge of academics, expressed regret that the students had "misinterpreted" the new residential policy, and explained that the 50 per cent vacant beds earmarked under the policy, was not meant to accommodate 50 percent of first-year students.

He said at present, 320 of the students have been accommodated at the halls, and this represents 50 per cent of the vacant beds as required, and that his office was not aware that some students were stranded.

He said the situation could be due to the fact that they had misunderstood the policy and had assumed that they would be admitted into the halls and went ahead to pay their monies to the banks without verifying.

In this regard, he asked all such students to report to their various faculties for their monies to be refunded to them. Mr. Ohene said the university was still encouraging more estate developers to put up more halls of residence to ease congestion.

"The university does not gain anything in instituting punitive policies for its students," he re-stated, adding that as a new policy, there was bound to be difficulties, which would be corrected with time.