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Irish universities earned more than €830m from student housing since 2015
Irish universities have made more than €830 million from
student accommodation
over the last 10 years.
An analysis of the financial accounts for Ireland's main universities shows the income from student accommodation has nearly doubled since 2015 as third-level institutions have hiked fees and invested in new accommodation blocks.
The analysis assessed accounts from University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick (UL), University of Galway, Dublin City University (DCU), Maynooth University and University College Cork (UCC).
Universities made €117.6 million from student accommodation in 2023. In 2024, excluding DCU which has yet to publish its 2024 accounts, universities made €113.5 million from their residences. If DCU maintained the same level of income from its residences as in 2023, the figure would surpass €125 million.
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UCD made the most from student accommodation during the 10-year period, bringing in €288.5 million. Ireland's largest university made €42.8 million in its financial year ending September 30th, 2024, slightly down from its record income of €43.98 million the year prior.
The south Dublin college, which has accommodation at both of its campuses, made €20.15 million from residences in 2015. It has since significantly increased the number of student beds it offers. It had around 2,500 beds available to students in 2015, but expanded that to 4,070 by 2023 as part of its residential masterplan.
UCD
shelved plans to build 1,254 student apartments
on its campus in 2022. The development was deemed no longer viable due to inflation in construction costs, The Irish Times reported. The project will be partially constructed due to funding from the State, which will allow
493 of those beds to be developed.
At the same time, UCD has increased its on-campus rental fees on an annual basis, with costs at the university's Merville accommodation increasing from €6,358 in 2015 to €7,843 last September.
Universities also point out that their accommodation is now being used as summer accommodation for tourists and international students.
A spokesman for DCU said a significant portion of the revenue from its student residences is generated 'during the summer months, when undergraduate beds are not occupied, when we charge full commercial rates' to visiting students, academics and tourists.
The full set of data is not available for DCU, which took in €12.45 million from its student accommodation in 2023. The north Dublin college is planning to add an additional 405 new beds with Government funding.
UL has nearly 3,000 student beds across eight student villages on campus. In terms of finances, it takes in the second highest of any university from its student accommodation. Its consolidated accounts record UL as having taken in €23.5 million from its student accommodation in its 2024 financial year. In the past decade, it has generated close to €160 million from student accommodation.
Trinity has recorded income in excess of €117 million from its student residences over the decade-long period.
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UCC's revenue from student accommodation stood at €12.8 million last year, with €81.6 million coming in the past decade. University of Galway recorded €14.5 million last September, from a total of nearly €74 million since 2015.
Maynooth University recorded the lowest income of the universities in the 2023-24 financial year, at €6 million. This was also the case in the multi-year period, when it took in just over €47 million. Maynooth combined income from residences and catering in its 2015 and 2016 accounts.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, university income from student accommodation was hit heavily. Across the board, revenue dropped nearly 30 per cent, from €93.7 million in 2019 to €67.4 million in 2020.
Revenue fell further the next year, dropping to €54.6 million in 2021 before it rebounded to more than €100 million for the first time as university students returned to campus.
