Nonresident students are provided with a dormitory. Student's right to live in a dormitory

A dorm room is the dream of many students. Unfortunately, it is not given to everyone automatically. You have to seriously fight for the right to live in a hostel.

Four steps to the treasured place

Few get the coveted bed, but everyone who applies for it needs to take several steps towards realizing their dream.

• To obtain a room in a student dormitory, you must write an application addressed to the dean of the faculty. It should indicate why you want a place and name the category of benefits to which you are entitled to benefit (if any). Typically, orphans, refugee students, children from large families, etc. receive housing on preferential terms.

• Take an active part in the educational and social life of the university. Participate in student conferences, interfaculty competitions, university sports competitions - all this can play in your favor when the question of moving into a dormitory is considered. By the way, you can also become a group leader; usually, this category of university activists receives a room first.

• It doesn’t hurt to be interested in the personal lives of your classmates. Often students do not live in the dormitory after marriage or move out after transfer and, of course, after expulsion. In general, you need to be prepared to go straight to the dean at any time with all the certificates and documents. If you are the first to arrive, your request to move into the vacant space may be granted.

• You can, of course, settle in illegally. Any dormitory commandant has several free reserve places at his disposal. If you come to an agreement with him, then you will be allowed to live on “bird rights” for now. However, this does not prevent you from seeking permission to move in at the official level.

Having received a treasured corner in a dorm room, you cannot be sure that this place will be yours for the entire period of study once and for all. The right to live in a dormitory is secured by a contract for one year, so it must be achieved annually. So this is a great incentive for excellent academic performance and active social activities.

Newbie about the hostel

Students applying for a place in a dormitory for the first time need to know what this treasured “island” of student life is like. After all, not everyone can live among many completely different people. For uncommunicative, easily stressed and nervous people, it may bring discomfort and disorder into life.

But if you still decide to move in, you should at least roughly know what a student dormitory is:

• Usually, any hostel has its own established routine and way of life, stipulated by the “Internal Rules”, the Charter or some other documents. It spells out in great detail all the rights and obligations of each tenant, which everyone must strictly observe.

• The hostel has access control, so each room holder must have a pass on hand - either a special magnetic card, or a regular piece of paper with a photo. It is this card that provides you with the right to unhindered entry into the hostel, and if you lose it, it will be difficult to get into your “apartment”.

• Student dormitories are not open 24 hours a day. In most of them, the access regime is valid from 6 to 24 hours. If you stay past midnight, you may not be allowed to go home.

• Quiet and conflict-free living among students is possible with good relations with neighbors. A hostel does not mean that everything around is common. Therefore, it would be nice for each resident to have a separate bedside table with a lock where they can put purely personal items, for example, soap, powder or shampoo. It wouldn’t hurt to have your own separate refrigerator, where you can put food and groceries so as not to conflict with neighbors. Conflicts often occur due to clutter in the room. A duty schedule will help get rid of this; if you strictly adhere to it, then scandals will not arise out of nowhere.

What should you take with you?

Of course, it's good to take a supply of canned food and instant noodles with you. But the most important thing is not to forget to take documents before check-in: passport, medical certificate, two photographs for the pass.

The second most important point is to provide yourself with personal hygiene products. Don't forget to bring toothpaste and brush, washcloth with soap, shampoo, powder with a bowl and other personal hygiene items.

No less important little things are threads and needles. You need to remember about the first aid kit and put all the medicines you need there: colds, poisoning, painkillers, bandages and plasters.

When you check into the hostel, you will be provided with the necessary furniture and bedding. But those who prefer to sleep on their mother’s sheet and cover themselves with their grandmother’s blanket can take them with them.

If you want to bring your computer, microwave, stereo, hair dryer and other electrical appliances, please read the hostel rules before doing so. Sometimes it is prohibited to use many devices.

In general, you can talk about things for an incredibly long time. Remember that you will not be living in a small room alone, so it is better to take only the essentials for a certain period of time.

Are you a student who has come to conquer the big city? We have received a coveted place in the budget department of the university, and now there is very little left to solve the housing issue, namely how to get a room in a dormitory. Well, all the fun is just beginning, get ready to fight with the university authorities, stand in lines, collect documents and many other things that will appear on your way to a small room with old furniture and bunk beds - the main dream of an out-of-town student.

Who has the right to live in the dormitory?

• Well, firstly, actually nonresident students, and according to the law, both those studying on a paid and on a budget basis. Universities are required by law to provide rooms to nonresident students (subject to availability).

• The so-called preferential categories also have this right, that is, orphans, disabled people, children from large and low-income families. Also, people belonging to this category are entitled to receive financial assistance.

• Students who have started their own families may also want to think about how to get a dorm room. Spouses can study at different universities, in which case they themselves must choose which university dormitory they want to live in.

• Russian laws do not prohibit non-resident students from moving into the dormitory even if there are free places, but the same law allows universities to set their own rules for moving in, and most often this category of students, naturally, is not there.

Where to contact?

Contact either the dean himself or a special person, such as the associate dean for social affairs. Alas, the most common answer is: “There are no places, wait.” In this case, get ready to fight for your rights. Surely, there are places in the dormitory, and this is just an excuse, because it’s no secret that these places can be rented out, or one of the university officials wants to receive a “reward for help.” Whether or not to follow their lead is up to you to decide. Remember that the law is on your side.

Be persistent

Be sure to write an application addressed to the dean, attaching the necessary documents. Depending on the situation, these may be certificates about family composition or parents’ income. If the issue with housing is delayed, then visit your dean’s office and find out the status of your application. It is very possible that it was simply lost and forgotten somewhere. Contact the student trade union committee, rector's office, etc. Remember, no one was waiting for you in a foreign city, no one will happily fulfill all your rights. Your future depends only on your activity.

Here are the two most common reasons for refusal:

• no dormitories;
• There is a hostel, but at this stage there are no places in it.

In the first case, everything is very clear - most likely, you will not be provided with a dormitory until the end of your studies, since it is quite rare that universities that do not have dormitories suddenly acquire them.

The second case is the most common, and from the experience of many students, we can say that you will be provided with a hostel as soon as places become available, but this can happen either after a month or after several years of study.

Where can a student live if a hostel is not provided?

There are many options to solve this problem. We present the simplest and most accessible of them.

1. Rent a room. It is quite easy to find several similar students willing to rent a room near the university. This option is quite affordable and convenient, since you choose an apartment as close as possible to the university, while the same university dormitories can be 1-1.5 hours away by public transport to the university campus.
2. Dormitory of another university. Some universities offer the opportunity for students from other universities to live in dormitories. To do this, just call the university and find out about this opportunity. However, you should not expect that you will save on accommodation, since living in a dormitory at another university will not be inferior in cost to renting a room in an apartment.
3. Hostel. An unusual and very youthful option, common in big cities. Quite often, hostels hold promotions for students, allowing them to stay there for a long stay. Constant new acquaintances and vivid impressions are guaranteed to you.

There is another option, but it is not the most convenient for both the student and those with whom he is going to stay, so it is still not worth putting it on the general list. You can try staying with relatives.

According to the law on higher and postgraduate professional education, an educational institution is obliged to provide dormitories for students from other cities, but not for applicants. Thus, the provision or non-provision of a hostel for applicants remains “on the conscience” of the institute. Most often, the university is interested in a large number of applicants and places them in a dormitory. Moreover, most students go home in the summer. But there are also frequent cases when a hostel may be denied. The reasons can be different: lack of free places, renovations in the “dorm” building, or simply wicked thoughts of the management of the educational institution: it happens that rooms are rented out to immigrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus. AiF.ru will tell you how an applicant can get into the hostel and how to behave there.

Trust but verify

After admission, a new student will have to live in Moscow for five years, and during this time you can spend a fortune on renting an apartment. Therefore, an applicant who needs a dormitory should find out whether there are enough free places for new students. The selection committee must provide this information upon request. If the number of places in the hostel is several times less than the number of applicants, then you need to think about whether to enter such a university at all. We must not forget that the hostel should be provided both to students in the budget department and to “paying students”, therefore, an applicant can demand a place regardless of the form of study.

Don't give up

If the applicant is still denied admission to the hostel, the main thing is not to give up. First of all, students belonging to preferential categories of citizens have the right to a hostel: orphans, disabled people of groups I and II, combatants, children from single-parent and low-income families. If an applicant belongs to one of these categories of citizens, he can also write an application to the dean’s office with a request for a place in a dormitory during the entrance exams. The main thing is not to let the rector forget about his existence: the more often an applicant appears at the dean’s office and learns about the fate of his application, the greater the chance that this application will not get lost in the jungle of paperwork.

Few universities accommodate applicants in a dormitory with student rights. If a student must pay about 5% of its cost for a dormitory, then the applicant pays for it in full. The price for a bed in a “dorm” may vary depending on the university, but in Moscow it rarely falls below 300-400 rubles per day. Preferential categories of applicants can count on a reduction in the cost of living in a dormitory, but this decision remains with the management of the institute.

Hostel and hotel

If there is still no place in the hostel, you need to look for an alternative option. Since the applicant does not need permanent housing, and the main thing is cost, most applicants use the services of hostels and inexpensive hotels. A hostel is the same hostel, only created by a private owner. Several people live here in one room, sharing a shared shower and kitchen. In some cases, for the safety of things, each resident is allocated a personal locker, which is locked with a key. Hostels can be very different. Some of them are no different from old hostels, others have been modernly renovated and resemble a large, cozy apartment. If an applicant can afford a hotel, then a large number of hotels of various classes are at his disposal, but their cost is often several times higher.

Dormitory rules for newcomers

Life in a hostel is associated with a set of written and unwritten rules, which the applicant may not know about and end up in an unpleasant situation. First of all, this concerns the curfew. Most often, the doors in the dormitory are closed after 23:00, and if a student who has been on a spree, whose face the security guard has been able to study well for a couple of years, is allowed in even after midnight, then the applicant may have problems with this. Therefore, when going for an evening walk, it is better to warn about a possible delay.

In many educational institutions there is still a tradition: management asks new students to wash the floors and windows in the dorm. This happens on a voluntary basis, and newly admitted young people do not resist this. As for the applicant, no one has the right to force him to scrub the dormitory and wash the toilets. He is obliged to clean only his room and the adjacent corridor.

Applicants, like students, have the right to invite guests to their rooms, but they can stay in the dormitory strictly until the start of the “curfew” and only with the consent of the commandant.

The functioning and procedure for settling into dormitories in Ukraine is regulated by the Housing Code of Ukraine (HCU, Article 127), the Regulations on student dormitories, developed by the educational institution in accordance with the Model Regulations and the Rules and conditions of living in the dormitory.

Housing and communal services establish general requirements for dormitories. For student dormitories, 5 provisions are important:

• Check-in to the dormitory is permitted only after approval by the sanitary-epidemiological service. This means that the residence hall is subject to an annual health inspection.
• Accommodation in the hostel is paid. One of the student's responsibilities is to pay for this housing on time and in full, otherwise the student may be deprived of the right to live.
• The dormitory must be equipped with furniture and the necessary equipment, students must be provided with household services (ironing, washing) and allocated premises for these purposes. The student should not spend his own money on purchasing furniture or equipment for the dormitory.
• Maintenance of the hostel, including cleaning, duty, and administration, is carried out by special full-time personnel, that is, students cannot be involved in this work.
• The internal regulations in the dormitories are established by rules approved by the university administration. It determines the rules for living in dormitories during the summer.

Who has the right to live in a dormitory?

According to the Licensing conditions for the implementation of educational activities of educational institutions, the educational institution must provide students with dormitories at a level of at least 70% of the need. Today, this norm is often not met, and it is impossible to force universities to recruit students based on the number of places in dormitories.

Nonresident students, graduate students, preparatory course students, and cadets can be accommodated in the dormitory. Foreign citizens who are students are accommodated in dormitories on a general basis, unless otherwise provided by the contract.

At the same time, the legislation establishes a number of preferential categories that have a guaranteed or priority right to provision of hostel accommodation.

According to Part 12 of Art. 7 of the Law “On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine”, citizens of Ukraine who live in the temporarily occupied territory have the right to receive or extend the receipt of a certain educational level in other regions of Ukraine at the expense of the state budget with provision of places in dormitories for the duration of training.

In addition, the following have the right of priority settlement:

• disabled students of groups I-III;
• students from large families (three or more children);
• students whose parents have died (died);
• persons whose parents are miners and who have at least 15 years of underground work experience or who died as a result of an industrial accident or who became disabled of group I or II in accordance with the Law “On increasing the prestige of miners’ work.”

This list is not exhaustive and may be supplemented by other groups of beneficiaries.

As for university employees, they can be accommodated in student dormitories only by decision of the head of the university and in agreement with student government bodies. Accommodation of any other unauthorized persons in student dormitories is prohibited.

Preferential categories of students who receive appropriate state assistance and study under state orders, in agreement with the trade union committee, may also be provided with the cost of living in university dormitories. In some cases, this is directly provided for by law, while in this way orphans and children of combatants are exempt from paying for living in hostels.

Procedure for settling into the hostel

There is usually not enough space in student dormitories. In order to prevent corruption in the distribution of these places, universities operate a complex settlement scheme, to which the administration and student government bodies are involved.

The decision on the distribution of places among students of the relevant faculty is made by the leadership of the faculty and approved by the head of the university in agreement with student government bodies.

Based on the decision to provide places in a dormitory, an agreement for accommodation in a dormitory is concluded with the student and a referral (order) is issued, which is the only basis for settlement and residence. The directions indicate the address of the hostel and usually the room number. The condition for moving into a hostel is prepayment, which cannot be less than a month, but in practice you often need to pay a year in advance. The maximum fee for accommodation in student dormitories is 40% of the minimum regular academic scholarship of higher educational institutions of the corresponding level of accreditation. The student is also required to familiarize himself with the internal regulations of the hostel and safety regulations.

Today, students are also often forced to purchase a so-called insurance policy, that is, a property insurance contract. Such a requirement is legal, but a description and assessment of the insured property must be carried out. In practice, the insurance policy often shows signs of corruption between the insurance company and the university management, and sometimes money is even paid directly to the dormitory commandant. Failure to pay the policy cannot be grounds for denial of accommodation in a hostel unless an assessment and description of the property is carried out. If you suspect the existence of a corruption component when concluding an insurance contract, you should contact law enforcement agencies.

Rights of students living in the dormitory

The rights of students are established by the Internal Regulations and the Regulations on Residence in the Dormitory.

Students living in dormitories have the following rights:

• use the premises, devices and equipment of the hostel;
• demand timely repair or replacement of equipment, furniture, and elimination of deficiencies in providing living conditions. A student must repair property at his own expense only when he himself has damaged it. The university administration is also obliged to ensure cleaning and repair of common areas in the dormitory, and students are obliged to maintain cleanliness in these common areas;
• elect student self-government bodies of the hostel and be elected to their composition;
• file complaints about the work of hostel employees and living conditions, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Citizens’ Appeals”;
• invite strangers to the dormitory if they can prove their identity with the appropriate document. Responsibility for the timely exit of visitors from the dormitory and their compliance with internal regulations rests with the students who invited them. Usually visitors have the right to stay in the hostel from 8-00 to 23-00;
• unhindered access to the hostel at any time of the day. The temporary regime of access to dormitories is established by the Internal Regulations. Today, students are usually given access to the hostel at night (from 24-00 to 06-00) - with an entry in a special log of the reasons for being late;
• to the inviolability of the home. Administration representatives can enter the room without the student’s knowledge only when there is a risk of property damage (for example, someone’s room is flooded).

Student responsibility for violating internal regulations and discipline in the dormitory

The following types of penalties may be applied to a student:

• comments;
• rebuke;
• eviction from the hostel;
• refusal to provide a bed for accommodation for the next year;
• expulsion from the educational institution.