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Access to Higher Education: a Room in Lisbon Costs More than Twice that in Braga

9 September 2018

Accommodations are already the most significant costs for students, and the price of housing is increasing throughout Portugal.

Housing is the most significant cost for students pursuing degrees in higher education in Portugal. It is also the one in which price differences between Portugal’s main university cities are most evident. While the cost of a meal may not vary to a great extent in campus canteens or nearby restaurants in Portugal’s cities, the cost of a room in Lisbon is three times what is charged in Vila Real or Covilhã, for example.

Renting a single room in a private house in the capital costs, on average 450 euros per month – more than double the cost in Braga (200 euros). In Porto, the price is 275 euros per month. Room rental costs have grown rapidly in Portugal’s two main cities. “Four years ago, the same room cost 100 euros less,” says the president of the Academic Federation of Porto (FAP), João Pedro Videira. This was also the variation of the costs of living in the capital, according to the Academic Federation of Lisbon (FAL).

The data gathered by FAL and FAP both cite the figures for December of last year. The leaders of both institutions believe that prices have continued to rise in the meantime. “For example, at the beginning of the school year, there are already students paying 550 or 600 euros for rooms,” says João Rodrigues, president of FAL.

The rental market’s adjustment to the new regulations and the “tourism boom” in Lisbon is considered the root of the increases. On the other hand, the number of beds available in university dormitories is small and has not changed in more than 20 years. The result of this “explosive combination,” as Rodrigues calls it, is that many students opt to not study at all in Lisbon. “Who is left out, and how many?” the president of FAL asked.

One answer comes out of Porto, through the president of FAP: “The only people coming to study in Porto are the children of wealthier families or those willing to bear an increased financial effort, some of whom resort to loans so that their children can go the university they desire.”

If in Lisbon and Porto the impact of the cost of housing on the invoice of higher education attendance is more evident, in the other university cities on which Público has focused on this work – Braga, Vila Real, Coimbra and Covilhã – the accommodation also has have experienced successive increases in recent years.

In Braga, a room in a private house costs on average 200 euros per month, 50 euros more than four years ago. The numbers are from the Academic Association of the University of Minho, which this Monday presents a study on this subject.

In Vila Real, the average cost of a room calculated by Público – with the Social Services of the University – stands at 160 euros. This figure was calculated at the beginning of the new school year and is 30 euros higher than the one practised last year. “Landlords, at the time of contract renewal, have always increased between 50 and 100 euros per house,” says António Vasconcelos, president of the Academic Association of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro.

Housing is the most important – and variable – cost of higher education. This was also the conclusion of a study by researchers at the Institute of Education at the University of Lisbon published last year. The report stated that non-resident students spend an average of 781 euros a year more than students who continue to live with their families.

According to the same research, higher education costs families, on average, 6,445 euros per student per year. This calculation includes tuition and other education costs (taxes, books, equipment and materials) and living expenses, such as food, accommodations and transport.

Original Story: Público – Samuel Silva

Photo: Joana Goncalves

Translation: Richard Turner