Czech university students to face yet another rise in dormitory fees

Current and prospective students around the country face the worrisome news that prices of university dormitories will increase in 2023, Seznam Zprávy reports.

It had been announced at the start of the academic year in autumn that dormitory prices would rise by up to 50 percent. Now, however, students are faced with new price rises from the beginning of the next academic semester in January or February, following recent announcements from the nation’s universities.

Masaryk University in Brno has, for example, confirmed that prices of its dormitories will increase at a similar rate to inflation: by 15 percent. Mendel University will do the same.

The University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (VŠCHT Praze) has similarly announced that “the price of dormitories will be increased [in line with] year-on-year inflation, announced by the Czech Statistical Office usually in mid-January,” according to Seznam Zprávy.

Similar to students at Masaryk University, this will be the second price rise students will face in a short period of time – the university had upped prices by 11 percent for the start of the 2022/23 academic semester. 

Institutions such as Charles Univesity and Palacký University, which also plan to hike rents early next year, blame energy costs. Charles University last summer increased its dormitory fees by 9 percent on average and expects a similar hike for the spring semester. 

The Czech University of Agriculture will increase its dormitory fees by about 50 percent on average; from CZK 4,600 monthly to CZK 6,700.

Not all universities will raise rents, however. Following increases at the start of the 2022/23 academic year that ranged from 15 to 25 percent, the Technical University of Ostrava (VŠB-TUO), the University of West Bohemia (ZČU), and Czech Technical University (ČVUT) will not bump up their dormitory fees.

With surging rent prices in the private sector, however, dormitories will likely expect full capacities in their dormitories despite their price growth. Housing prices grew about 25 percent annually in the second quarter of 2022, with rental inflation rising by about one-third in September.

A good illustration of rental increases is shown by Realitymix.cz: Rents in Prague in December 2022 are 18 percent higher year on year. In Brno, the corresponding figure is 15 percent.

Demand often outstrips supply within universities’ dormitories, with approximately one bed for every 15 enrolled students at the University of Ostrava. 

Czech students, of which there are around 300,000 in the whole country, may therefore be "forced" into a position of working while studying to stay afloat.

A recent study found that 92 percent of students in Czechia work alongside their studies, often to the detriment of their degrees. With inflation forecast to stabilize only in the second half of 2023 (but still remaining at a high level), Czech students may need to take into consideration the risk of further rent increases in the semesters ahead.