Race for hostel seat begins

CHANDIGARH: If you thought securing a place in that coveted department was a task difficult enough, you just might have another tough one ahead: of finding a seat in a hostel.
The start of a new academic session brings in hundreds of new admissions to the city each year, highlighting the shortage of space to accommodate outstation students at Panjab University and its affiliated colleges.With hostel seats allotted on merit basis and far too many applicants, there are many who have to resort to alternatives like paying guest (PG) or rented accommodations.
Last year, the university opened its newly-constructed hostel number 9 to students. But even with the additional 180 rooms, around 400-500 students might have to seek shelter elsewhere this year. According to dean student welfare (DSW) Navdeep Goyal, there are around 14,000 students enrolled with the university. Of these, hostels accommodate 6,800. "No other university provides such a large hostel space. To counter the remaining accommodation problems, we have also started planning a new hostel no 10," he added.
The estimated number of new seats available every year is 700 for girls and 830 for boys. These seats are filled according to the merit cut-off set by the departments. The cut-off varies with departments, but this year, it has been reported to be around 75-80% on an average. Even with merit being the criteria, there is always an excess in the number of applications.
Apart from the fact that there are not enough rooms, there is also space crunch in the rooms of existing hostels. On an average, a hostel room clearly meant just for one person is shared by 2 students. Some hostels that were initially constructed with the idea of accommodating one post-graduate student in each room are now being occupied by 2 - at times even 3 - undergraduate students due to the lack of housing space.
"The space in one room is not enough to accommodate 2 people comfortably. We have to struggle when it comes to ventilation and maintaining privacy during exams," said Shivani Sharma, a student of microbiology.
However, students are even willing to live there just to stay close to where they study and at an affordable rate.