Tertiary Students’ Accommodation Affordability in Ghana

Purpose: The rental values of student housing are becoming a significant issue for tertiary institutions in Ghana as private developers are heavily investing in hostels due to the inability of the government to meet accommodation demand in the various public universities. This study aimed to do a comparative analysis among selected tertiary institutions in Ghana concerning accommodation affordability. Design/Methodology/approach: A quantitative research approach was used to collect data from 626 off-campus and on-campus tertiary students randomly selected. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data collected. Research Limitation/Implications: Data was collected from all the tertiary universities in Ghana. However, the findings may apply to other universities. Findings: The findings show that both main and technical universities perceived their rental values as expensive. Again, both on-campus and off-campus students at various tertiary consider the rental values expensive. However, whilst a significant number of the on-campus students believe their rent to be not too expensive, many off-campus students consider the rent to be too expensive. Practical Implication university institutions should provide more on-campus accommodation as students perceive that to be cheaper than off-campus accommodation. Social Implication: There is an urgent need for the government and tertiary institution managers to institute an arrangement with private student housing developers to subsidise or regulate the rental amount to make it more affordable. Originality/Value: The paper provides an analysis of students’ perceptions concerning the affordability of their houses, thus guiding the university authorities on the accommodation provision model to meet the student's means.