Student dormitories are almost full. Also because of apartment prices

The demand for dormitory housing often exceeds capacity by tens of percent, and although some places may still become available, students who cannot get into dormitories will have no choice but to look for rental housing.
Despite the fact that Charles University and Masaryk University in Brno have slightly increased the price of dormitories this year, dormitory accommodation is still thousands of crowns cheaper than rent. Even in the case of rental housing, according to real estate agent Tomáš Kučera, demand is also rising.
Where is there still room?
In Prague, the dormitories of Charles University with a capacity of 11,000 beds and the Czech Technical University with a capacity of 7,350 beds are reported to be full. The dormitories of the Czech University of Applied Sciences are also almost full. “The capacity for student accommodation is approximately 2,100 beds. The vast majority of beds for the upcoming academic year are already occupied and we expect full occupancy of the dormitories from the second half of September,” said Bold News, spokesman for the University of Agriculture Jakub Kotalík.
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It is also full in Brno at BUT, which manages 6,300 beds, Masaryk University, whose dormitories can accommodate 4,034 students, reports full capacity for first-year students. There are no more places in the dormitories of the University of Ostrava or the local University of Mining. Of the universities approached, students have the best chance of getting a place at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, where around 40 to 30 percent of the capacity of 2,500 beds remains.
Demand exceeds supply
As confirmed by university spokespeople, interest in accommodation in dormitories is high and demand often exceeds capacity.
In Prague, the number of applicants at the Czech Technical University (CTU) has increased by about 15 percent year-on-year, while 40 percent of applicants at the Czech University of Life Sciences (CULS) cannot get in, in Brno, BUT applications exceed capacity by 31.7 percent, and at the University of Ostrava, for example, this year they recorded a higher demand than capacity by 13.7 percent. However, students who have not yet been able to get into dormitories do not have to completely despair.
ADVERTISEMENT "The capacity of the Czech Technical University dormitories is currently full, but the process of allocating accommodation is currently still ongoing. We are continuously filling places for students who do not move in or do not properly confirm their allocated accommodation," said Bold News spokesman Martin Churavý.
"Students still have a chance to get accommodation. Unfulfilled reservations are gradually released and beds are offered to other applicants from the waiting list. Places also become available later, for example if someone does not sign a contract, does not pay a deposit, cancels a reservation or leaves the dormitory during the year. Therefore, we recommend that applicants monitor the waiting list and the continuously published free capacities," advises Gabriela Peringerová from Masaryk University in Brno.
Students are also looking for rentals
Those students who ultimately do not get a place will have to look for rental housing. However, according to real estate agent Tomáš Kučera, there has been a higher interest in this among young people recently.
"The interest is mainly in shared housing. In addition, this year the search began approximately a month earlier than last year. One of the reasons is the higher interest of foreign students, for example, the number of Slovaks looking for shared housing increased by 13 percent year-on-year. Full dormitories then naturally move other students to the regular rental market. But it is not just about the number of applicants. Rising rents force students to look earlier, share an apartment with more people or commute from cheaper surroundings," Kučera told Bold News.
You can't live without support
Although, according to Kučera, the total number of apartments in some cities has increased, for example in Prague by 3.5 percent year-on-year and in Brno by a fifth, this does not mean that there is enough affordable student housing.
“The most expensive is clearly Prague, followed by Brno, Pilsen and Ostrava. Owning a studio apartment or a 1+kk apartment remains attractive due to its privacy, but it is financially difficult for most students to achieve without parental support. For example, in Brno, a separate room in a shared apartment can cost approximately four thousand crowns cheaper than a studio apartment,” says Kučera.
Prague is the most expensive
According to Kučera, the median offer rent for a smaller separate apartment is 20 thousand crowns in Prague, 15,500 in Brno, 12,500 in Pilsen and 9,675 crowns in Ostrava per month.
“At the beginning of the summer, a bed in a four-person shared apartment, including utilities, cost approximately 10 thousand crowns, 7,600 crowns in Brno, 5,900 crowns in Pilsen and 900 crowns less in Ostrava,” adds the real estate agent.
Dormitories are much cheaper
Despite the fact that Charles University and Masaryk University increased their dormitory fees by about 2.5 percent this year due to inflation, living in a dormitory is still much cheaper than renting. For the cheapest single rooms in Prague dormitories, students pay an average of 6,720 crowns, and for double rooms, it is an average of 4,657 crowns per month.
In Brno, the average is 5,055 crowns for a single room and 4,605 ​​crowns for a double room. In Ostrava, students pay an average of 4,950 crowns for a single room and 3,750 crowns for a double room. The cheapest single room in Pilsen dormitories costs 5,400 crowns per month, and a double room costs 3,600.