28.09.2020
The pandemic did not deter applicants for dormitories. Only 2 out of 10 students are looking for a private apartment, "Monitor" learned. "To make it cheaper, students prefer to rent three- and four-room apartments and accommodate more people in them to share costs. They avoid renting a studio or a two-room apartment where only one or two people would live. Such cases account for eight out of ten, or only two out of ten students prefer and have the opportunity to live in a private apartment," explains Diana Petrova from the "Yavlena" agency. According to Konstantin Pandov from EPPi, at least half of the students prefer to rent accommodation with at least two roommates so that their individual costs are lower. He stated that rents have dropped by at least 20% compared to last year, due to the collapse at the beginning of the pandemic when many tenants left the capital. Daniela Grozeva from "Veda Korekt" confirmed that in April and May, due to the pandemic, many people from the provinces vacated their apartments and returned to their hometowns. "There is no increase in rents and there is slightly more supply than last year," she explains, adding that there are two new trends in the market. "One is that landlords now demand more than one month's rent as a deposit (usually two), because they fear that tenants will leave the rented property early due to new strict restrictions caused by the pandemic. The other novelty is that a significant portion of new tenants are students enrolled in universities abroad, who will study remotely from their home country at least until the end of the year. Diana Petrova further clarifies that demand is increasing but is still 5-6% lower than last year. "One of the reasons is the transition of some students to remote learning. However, there are also Bulgarian students who have returned to study here in this way and are looking for work in Sofia," she added. According to her, those enrolled at NBU are usually interested in apartments in the neighborhoods of "Ovcha Kupel", "Bukston", "Krasno Selo", and in extreme cases "Krasna Polyana". For students at Sofia University, preferred neighborhoods are the five parts of "Mladost", "Musagenitsa", "Dianabad", "Vitosha". "A furnished two-room apartment in "Ovcha Kupel" with a parking space costs around 400 euros. In "Student City", the rent for a furnished studio is 550-600 BGN. For three- and four-room apartments, the prices are around 600 euros," explained the broker. These prices lead students to first try to arrange accommodation in dormitories. "There is increased interest in dormitories, especially in large universities where education is hybrid," shared Daniel Parushev, Chairman of the National Representation of Student Councils. This year, there will also be students who do not get placed, but they will be only about 5% of all applicants. The main reason for this, however, is that they have low grades or missed the deadlines and are currently rewriting their applications," explained Parushev. "There is no serious shortage of places this year, as happened in the previous accommodation campaign," predicted the Rector of SU, Prof. Anastas Gerdzhikov. He assured that measures were taken early this year. The ranking rules have been changed, and repairs were also done on time. "As a result, no student will be left without a dormitory. After the first ranking, only 60 people were not placed, but they will also be accommodated," assured Prof. Gerdzhikov. The Technical University - Sofia also boasted that places would be provided for all applicants. There is no exodus there either. "About 940 first-year students are accommodated," said Asst. Eng. Vasil Tsanov - Head of "Student Dormitories and Canteens" at the university. However, a problem seems to be emerging for students at UNSS. "There are 4,700 beds for bachelors and masters," explained Assoc. Prof. Dragomir Stefanov, Chief Secretary for Social and Household Issues of Students. "However, 5,500 applications have been submitted. Of those ranked, 4,350 people have enrolled, which means that 350 have withdrawn. For some of the unplaced, the problem has also been resolved, as they have found an apartment or a place in another university. "A second ranking will be held, and by the end of next week, the capacity will be filled. By our calculations, there will be about 200 people waiting for accommodation from UNSS - either not in an apartment or in another university," explained Assoc. Prof. Stefanov. For 100 of them, there are talks with the Music Academy to be accommodated in their dormitories with exchange letters. For the rest, they will talk at MGU or UASG. According to him, the main problem is that the bed base has not been redistributed for more than 20 years. In Varna. A double room costs 100 leva. In Varna, there continues to be a shortage of places in student dormitories. The rent is 60 BGN per month for someone accommodated in a double or triple room and 70 BGN for a person in a single room, excluding electricity and water costs. The situation and prices are similar in other dormitories, while rents on the free market are almost twice as high. The dormitories of the University of Economics in Varna, for example, have rooms for about a thousand students. All rooms have individual service facilities. Student dormitories have central heating with natural gas, and for financial reasons, some students who are not from Varna prefer to study remotely. In Burgas. Only one university with cheap shelter for future higher education students. In Burgas, the only university with dormitories is the Chemical University "Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov". In the three 17-story blocks with a total of 1,317 beds, occupancy is up to 45%. Most of the rooms in the dormitories have been renovated, with replaced windows and have very good insulation. A single room costs 100 BGN per month, and those accommodated two per room pay 78 BGN each. If the room has three beds, the rent drops to 60 BGN per person. For those following master's programs after "bachelor", the fee is 120 BGN. All costs for electricity, water, and heating are included in the rent. The dormitories have 20 rooms per floor, and during the academic year, about 600-700 students were accommodated there.In the Old Capital, the application process has not yet concluded. In the three blocks of student dormitories in Veliko Tarnovo, the application for rooms has not yet concluded. However, according to observations, the coronavirus will not have an impact on renting, as the academic year will start normally and in-person for all regular students, in the first days of October. For the summer period from May to September inclusive, the price of a bed is 65 BGN, and for the winter period covering the rest of the year, the price is 70 BGN. Additionally, a 15 BGN semester deposit is paid as a one-time payment. In Shumen, occupancy in the campus is only 40%. 40% is the occupancy of the only operating student dormitory in Shumen at the moment, its head Vasil Todorov told "Monitor". By order of the rector of Shumen University, first-year students are in in-person classes, while second to fourth-year students are studying remotely. In this situation, from the beginning of the academic year, there are 140 tenants, of whom about 110 are first-year students. There are places available, but this is a trend over the last few years. "We do not make a ranking, as the number of applicants is smaller than the number of places in the operating dormitory," Todorov explained. According to him, this is due to poor conditions, and things will change after the completion of the renovation of Block 3. Students pay 85 BGN for a place in the dormitory during the summer, and 90 BGN during the winter months.
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Monitor.bg, 28.09.2020
