That ICPA (Aust) lobby residential colleges to prioritise rural and remote tertiary students who seek on campus accommodation to pursue their tertiary education.
Rural and remote tertiary students often lack the luxury of choice when it comes to accommodation after relocating to metropolitan areas to pursue their studies. While some universities offer guaranteed accommodation for first-year students—providing much-needed security—not all institutions extend this support. In many cases, residential college places are occupied by city-based students who choose to move out of home, making these colleges a convenient option. Unfortunately, this limits availability for rural and remote students, who are then left to navigate the challenging and often costly process of securing off-campus housing.
Case studies:
UQ/QUT College Applications – College beds going to City kids as an easy and safe way to move them out of home thus depriving country kids of accommodation for their first year out of senior schooling. Our experience with getting our son into a college at UQ for the 2024 cohort was a frustrating experience.
He applied promptly to the college applications once their opening dates came around and in particular, to two of the main colleges in the hope of joining either of his cousins in their chosen Colleges. His great-Grandfather was one of the first students at one of these colleges. He did everything asked to gain an interview which he eventually gained and thought went well. Both Colleges advised us they were full in in September 2023 and that he had not gained a position.
We do understand that Atar results are a big factor as well in gaining access to a college however, our son gained a very good result, both predicted and the final figure.
We were then left with trying to find somewhere for our son to live, for the first time independently of a structured environment. Although at boarding for the whole of his senior years, they are not use/unaware to the everyday needs to live in a rental accommodation i.e. food, power, rent etc and we struggled to find somewhere suitable for a first year as a UQ student. We were very lucky that a friend of a friend was looking for someone to live with their daughter in a house late December and offered us the position and it has worked out very well.
Upon talking to a few friends who live in Brisbane, they mentioned that they had heard from friends that some had sons/daughters that were moving out of home and into college accommodation as it was a safe and easy transition to moving them out of home and to teach them independence.
