Twenty-five billion for student accommodation and schools. The students retort: “Crumbs”

Between national funds and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), a total of around 25 billion has been allocated in recent years to build new halls of residence for university students and renovate school buildings, as well as to create new sports halls, nurseries and school canteens. “An exceptional result,” the government exults. “Just crumbs,” retort the students from the Rete and the University Students’ Union, who argue that the funding has been spread too thinly across too many expenditure categories, whilst the money invested by the ministries has been far too little.

In particular, for schools, between PNRR and national funds, around 23 billion has been allocated, whilst for new university halls of residence, the PNRR has earmarked 1.2 billion, to which national funds have been added, bringing the total to just over one billion, with the final 200 million due to arrive in the coming days. The target of 60,000 places has been exceeded – 63,200 will be built – but at present, as the students point out, only 33,000 places have been completed, whilst the remaining 30,000 will be available in the new academic year on the basis of binding agreements that have already been signed. “The problem is that only 3.8 per cent are state-funded places,” explains Giulia Papandrea of the Udu, “all the others are privately run facilities with price caps, but only for 12 years; after that, the operator is under no obligation to continue running the facility as student accommodation. Furthermore, the costs are around 800 euros for a single room, but in some locations they can reach 1,200 euros.” This claim has been firmly refuted by the Ministry of Universities, which states that the cost is 500–550 euros for twin rooms, including utilities, and a maximum of 800 euros for single rooms. Of the total, the Ministry of Universities points out, around 20,000 beds are allocated under the ‘right to study’ scheme, which students can access free of charge.

“The allocation of places that the Ministry of Universities had identified,” the UDU representative continues, “has not been met in 47 provinces, where the number of places available amounts to less than a third of the required number. The provinces where the target has been met do not have high numbers of students but rather of tourists, as in Sassari, whilst a student residence has been built on the Rimini seafront that will undoubtedly become a hotel. In short, there has been speculation with PNRR funds.” This claim is also refuted by the Regional Ministry of Education (MUR), which points out that new facilities could not be built using PNRR funds; instead, only existing ones could be converted and refurbished. As regards schools, the criticism is that the 23 billion has funded too many projects – from nurseries to canteens – whilst, for example, metropolitan cities are unable to cover the costs of refurbishing school buildings. “We have spent 220 million on safety measures, addressing structural issues, removing asbestos, and refurbishing and restoring abandoned school complexes. Now, to complete the most important works, we would need a further 80 million for at least 70 schools, 60 of which are in Rome.”

“For the past four years we have been asking the government and the regional authorities to give us a hand; Minister Valditara himself once promised us 3.8 million, which has never been paid out,” Daniele Parrucci, the mayor’s representative for the Metropolitan City of Rome, told ANSA. “We are calling for 5 per cent of GDP to be allocated to education,” says Antonio Masini of the Students’ Network. “Over 170 billion has gone towards building grants and the 100 per cent Superbonus over six years, but schools have received only crumbs.”