I am about to be a 2nd year student, since December I have been looking for housing for next year. Myself and many others, still do not have anywhere to stay. I can tell you that looking for a house has caused me and many other alot of distress, and wasted ALOT of our time.
We have been told by the estate agents that 2010 there was only just enough places for students, they expect not everyone in this year to get one.
Aber Uni completly ignores this issue (except for building a new accommoadation block with a measley 90 beds compared to the hundreds extra needed each year), and are taking on more new students next year than this year! Where will they all go?
The 'Accommodation Office' give next to no help getting a 2nd or 3rd year house. If you are from the UK you have no guarantee you will get somewhere to live in your second year. They have actually been no aid to ANYONE AT ALL. I'm not joking, they are the opposite helpful, giving us false promises just to shoo us away as quickly as possible.
If you are from the UK and thinking of coming to Aberystwyth, I would say don't even bother! It's unspoken, but men generally have it much harder to get a house. Unless your parents are willing to buy a house for your second/ third year, you will spend too much of your free time trying to please Letting Agents, who will smile to your face and stab you in the back, as they casually waste your time.
This is a real issue, the biggest issue Aber should face, but they constantly keep it a quiet as they can, they truly let down their students with this mess. Last year they must of known this problem would reach breaking point this year, but they are prenteding it will solve itself, in the spring of 2012 they will have a catastrophic mess on their hands, it will truly be every student for themselves because the reality will be their will not be enough space.