NEW DELHI: The Satya Niketan building collapse has yet again brought Delhi University’s long-standing student housing crisis into focus, with accommodation demand far outstripping the university’s hostel capacity.
DU’s 2024-25 annual report records more than 2.45 lakh regular students, while the university has only 18 hostels, highlighting the sharp mismatch between the number of students and available campus accommodation. The university acknowledges that hostels cannot be guaranteed to all applicants, leaving a vast majority of students to find housing outside the campus.
Over the years, student accommodation clusters have expanded in areas such as Satya Niketan, Munirka and Moti Bagh, out of necessity rather than choice. For students, renting an independent apartment, often costing `20,000 or more a month, is unaffordable.
They instead opt for shared PG rooms costing around `5,000-6,000 per bed, per month. The situation is stark in South Campus. Of the 18 colleges in the area, only three, including Lady Shri Ram College, Sri Venkateswara College and Maitreyi College, provide hostel accommodation on campus.
Students from the remaining South Campus colleges are largely dependent on private facilities. For outstation students, finding accommodation close to college is a challenge and hence they choose any shared accommodation simply to remain within walking distance of their colleges.