According to the group, the University has not been “clear” about the situation: “They tell us they have to carry out a study that may or may not find aluminosis, and whether the building can be adapted to the needs or not.” The students also criticize the fact that rental prices for a room in Zaragoza are close to or exceed 400 euros. “They do not meet students’ financial expectations,” they say.
In addition to calling for the residence to reopen, they are also asking for the prices charged in 2021 to be maintained, when a double room cost around 270 euros and a single room cost between 400 and 500 euros. “That seems reasonable to us, considering that the MEC housing grant is a maximum of around 2,700 euros. That is 270 euros per month, bearing in mind that a student lives for ten months in the place where they are studying away from home,” the coordinator said.
Students call for the residence to reopen. Photo: Pilar Álvarez
Jorge García, head of the Students’ Front, has called for solutions to the rising cost of housing and university accommodation. “Prices are skyrocketing,” he said. According to García, the situation is even influencing some families’ choice of university because of the cost of sending their children to study in Huesca or Teruel. “We are asking for solutions; we are asking for housing to be affordable for students,” he said. García considers it insufficient to respond that work is being done and has called for immediate action: “What we are asking for are answers now, not promises.”
UNIVERSITY OF ZARAGOZA PLANS TO REOPEN THE RESIDENCE
The rector of the University of Zaragoza, Rosa Bolea, responded to the students’ demands regarding the Santa Isabel residence by assuring them that her team’s objective is for it to once again be used as university accommodation. Bolea recalled that the facility closed five years ago and said that the previous project to convert it into a research institute was abandoned when the current governing team took office. “It has to be a student residence,” she said, stressing the importance of this type of accommodation being located on campus.
The rector explained that she is seeking a formula to carry out the reopening together with the Government of Aragon, although she warned of budgetary constraints. “Money is not infinite,” she said, recalling that the University plans to allocate almost 37 million euros to renovate the Faculty of Medicine. Nevertheless, she insisted that the objective remains to restore the Santa Isabel residence and reopen it “as soon as possible.”
