On-campus accommodation will be that much dearer come next term, piling more financial pressure on already hard-pressed students and their financial backers.
Many colleges have confirmed that they will be hiking accommodation costs for the new academic year.
But despite the increases, on-campus facilities are likely to be fully booked well ahead of time.
A spokesman for the Union of Students in Ireland has said that “On-campus accommodation is generally quite handy for first years in particular where people are moving to a place they are not familiar with.
“So it is quite important to make sure there is on-campus accommodation there to allow people to enter college, especially when transitioning from second- to third-level is so important nowadays.
“There is just not enough on-campus accommodation around at the moment, most of the purpose-built accommodation will probably be snapped up before July, before the CAO results have come out even.”