As first semester gets under way, the biggest lesson for many University of Newcastle students has been learning to live with the housing affordability and availability crisis engulfing the Hunter.
With the university's 1800 beds at the Callaghan site full and about 100 people on the waiting list for campus accommodation, some students have "trained" themselves to "barely eat", while others are couch surfing and living out of suitcases.
Many others have been desperately applying for places in the private rental market without success for over 12 weeks.
The figures come as housing instability in the Hunter continues and residents are lining up in droves for food and essential items as they struggle to stay afloat.
"I've trained myself not to eat much," first year student Lucy, whose surname has been withheld, said.
"[I work] late nights and during the day I barely eat."
As one of many students living in short-term housing, she spent just $50 on groceries each week in a bid to save money while she searched for a more stable place.
Lucy believed she would need to spend almost 40 per cent of her weekly income on rent to remain in Newcastle.
University of Newcastle (UON) fourth year student Isabel said she had "been living out of the same suitcase for three months and it [was] horrible."
Isabel said she had applied for over 50 houses through real estate agents since November last year.
She had hoped to live with friends but was now considering other options.
"Each of us have previous rental history, jobs and significant savings," Isabel, who did not want her surname used, said.
"Since we have been searching for so long, we have started looking [individually] for accommodation in existing share houses, as we have had no success [signing] a new lease."
Isabel said she was "lucky" friends and cousins had allowed her to couch surf.
Without them, she would not have had a place to stay.
Vacancy rates
Despite the university's campus accommodation being full, Pippa Rose, the lead investment services manager at property company LeahJay, said vacancy rates in the private rental sector were not the issue.
In January 2023, Shortland vacancy rates sat at 2.8 per cent and North Lambton at 2.9 per cent.
Jesmond was at 3.6 per cent while Waratah sat at 1.1 per cent and Birmingham Gardens at 7.0 per cent (CoreLogic).
Records did not show the average asking price of vacant properties and Isabel felt she "hasn't been given a chance" to secure a rental on the cheaper end of the market.
"I think there are so many applications for each property that uni students aren't even considered ... This is probably due to misconceptions associated with being a uni student - like being unreliable - but that's just not the case." Isabel said.
Rising costs
Median weekly rental values in the five suburbs closest to the university (excluding Callaghan) have risen an average of 8.25 per cent over the last annum.
A place in Jesmond cost $425 on average per week last January. In January 2023, the suburb's weekly average sat at $463 (CoreLogic).
Ms Rose said rent rise saw students in share houses paying about $20 more each week compared to a year ago. This increase comes as other cost of living expenses climb significantly.
"People's affordability isn't where it was," Ms Rose said. "Groceries are costing more, petrol is costing more, everything is costing more, so there's not as much to allocate to rent."
Some students were spending outside of their means to guarantee safe accommodation. Lucy felt it was "incredibly hard" to find reasonable housing within her budget.
"The rent that I'm paying at the moment is $250 a week, which for me is very difficult while trying to balance other things," Lucy said.
"I'm [working] two jobs .. and [money] is tight."
Lucy said she earned about $600 per week. She spent $190 on fuel and paying off her car and $50 on groceries.
Lucy was living in temporary accommodation in Adamstown with people she did not know before moving in.
Like Isabel, she had been searching for a rental property since November and had limited time to move out of her current place. She relocated to Newcastle from Mudgee alone.
"I think I have a certain standard," Lucy said. "I've [looked at] some places and thought 'that's cheap, but I can't live there' ... "[some had] overgrown gardens, cat litter and pet fur."
Lucy was offered a room on campus, but declined the offer as the room was "way out of her budget".
"I applied for lots of types of [rooms on campus]," she said. "I was trying to spread out and get anything that I could."
According to UON's website, the university offered at least seven accommodation options this semester, from $183.00 to $403.50 per week.
"Our accommodation is below market price. We seek to recover costs ... but we're not doing it to generate revenue. We're doing it to provide a learning experience for students," UON Vice Chancellor Alex Zelinsky said.
Future-proofing
Professor Zelinsky said the student housing crisis was impacting people "right across the nation" but measures implemented by the university were working.
"Earlier this year, we had about 800-900 students on the wait list, however that's dropped down to current about a wait list of 100," he said.
The university was working "very closely" with private providers to mitigate housing issues.
"We'd appointed some accommodation support officers to actively help try to secure off-campus accommodation," Professor Zelinksy said.
The vice chancellor said UON's home stay programs, which generally allow international students to stay with local families, now included some domestic students.
He believed the program gave a financial boost to host families while providing safe accommodation for recipients.
The university also wanted to build new accommodation of 500-600 beds in the city and Central Coast. Professor Zelinsky said he hoped these residences would be fast-tracked for approval.
"One of the challenges that we've got here ... is that there's a lot of red tape," he said.
"These are buildings of significance.
"The state government needs to approve them."
Other private housing for students is planned for Newcastle, including on the current site of The Cambridge Hotel.
