Some students at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have found an easy way to make extra money, auctioning off their own hall rooms while they live at home.
International students, meanwhile, have been having difficulties with finding accommodations.
Many netizens have condemned the students, calling their actions “illegal” instead of viewing them as enterprising.
The hostel rooms are offered for rent in a Telegram chat group for students who have not found rooms on campus, The Straits Times reported on Monday (Jul 11).
ST, which saw some of the rooms listed on the chat group, said that some rooms are being offered for as much as $900 monthly, which is two times the amount the university charges for a single room with no air-conditioning or attached bathroom.
The highest amount, NTU charges is $635 a month, and this is for a single room that has air-conditioning and an attached bathroom.
The university has said that disciplinary action will be taken against students renting out their hall rooms, including eviction or being barred from the halls.
A spokesman for NTU told ST, “The hall rules state that residents should not sublet their rooms or allow another person to take over the room with or without monetary consideration.”
Netizens have not only called out the students but are also calling for the university to investigate the issue.
“By the way this is not entrepreneurial skills. This is an illegal means of making money,” wrote one commenter.
She wrote in another comment that “NTU needs to seriously look into this problem.”
Another commenter characterised it as “our social problem.”
A netizen said that the students renting out their rooms are “Start(ing) life on the wrong foot.”
However, other netizens said that this problem is actually an old one.
“It was already happening 10+ years back,” wrote one.
Others called it “profiteering.”
/TISG
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