A criticism of universities during the current crisis is they are rentiers who have created this mess. A rentier is someone who makes all their income from monopolizing property assets. The argument is, universities rely so much on rental income from halls they were forcing...

...students to go back. I know quite a bit about property finance (I am on the board of a housing association) and have a fairly good understanding of my own institution's accounts, which will be similar to other institutions who own their own halls of residence...

...Universities basically get no public money to build halls. They have to raise money through private finance. Over the past three decades universities have been forced to expand due to public policy decisions that under-funded them and told them to make up the difference...

...in "unregulated income" (particularly international students). This is true across the UK. Also, many universities had to renew their halls which were built 50+ years ago as they were just not fit for purpose anymore. The only way this could be paid for was through...

...bank borrowing. Universities can *still* borrow on ridiculously good terms. Very low interest rates, with a very long term (25+ years). But once the loan has been taken out and the halls are built, universities need the rental income to pay the banks...

...(chances are, they'll just be paying the interest, not the capital. Loans like this are usually "bullet" loans where you pay the full lot off at the end of the term. You actually just refinance at that point). The buildings will also be being depreciated...

...to pay for ongoing, planned maintenance. The rents have to cover the loan payments, and the depreciation costs. They won't be making "profits" from students. If they do, it's by accident. Some institutions do make a healthy profit from the conference market...

...but as halls are usually owned by wholly-owned subsidiaries, there's a chance this might be used to reduce rents for students. This is how a housing association works too. The difference for a HA is that (not-in-England) we get a hefty grant which reduces the amount we...

...have to borrow making the rents more affordable. Universities don't have this. Therefore universities have to have high occupation in halls otherwise that financial edifice will collapse. The only way they could manage otherwise is if government did provide grants...

...for the construction of halls, or if they secured the rental income for universities. So, we're in this utter mess of students being imprisoned in halls of residence because universities have been forced into a financial position by five-decades of public policy decisions...

...Universities are not rentiers. They don't survive solely on the rental income from halls. They do need the rental income from halls because halls are meant to be self-financing.

Private student accommodation companies? Now they *are* rentiers.