Photo courtesy of Grace-Mary Rudken

In December, Nathan’s on-campus accommodation informed residents that starting trimester one 2025, weekly rental rates will increase across all of their college buildings.

Kinaba, Barakula, Girraween college flats (KBG) weekly rent for a two-trimester contract rose to $185 while Bellenden Ker (BK) College rose to $195.

For Single trimester contracts the KBG College rooms now cost $200 per week and the BK rooms $210.

The four-bedroom Carnarvon flats are reserved for postgraduate students and charge the same rate as the BK dormitories.

In a statement a Griffith University spokesperson said that the increase was in line with budget objectives.

On-campus rental contracts were increased in 2025 to meet budget objectives and to keep up with cost increases. This was a conservative rise, and well below recommendations which were determined through an annual market analysis review process. – Griffith University Spokesperson.

Residents have had mixed reactions to the news with some discussing on the Uni Crushes’ Facebook page that the increase was not comparable to the service quality of on-campus accommodation.

One resident we spoke to said that they were thinking of not returning next year as the price of rent was not reflected in the quality of the on-campus colleges.

“I don’t know if I’ll be on campus next year. I can afford it, but I don’t think the quality is there for $200+ per week. You have to pay a nonrefundable fee of $260 per trimester on top of that and about $450 a year for parking. I calculated that if you need to park your car as well the weekly rental rate goes up to $220 a week,” the BK resident said.

Other residents who do not live on-campus over trimester three were not informed of the increase. Aniq Pannila who is a BK resident from regional Queensland said that it would have been nice to know before he returns to on-campus accommodation next year.

“It’s completely understandable that they need to increase costs with inflation pressures but inflation this year was recorded at 2.8% while rent went up by 7.7%,” said Aniq.

Nathan’s on-campus colleges have been home to regional and international students needing affordable accommodation for decades but with ever increasing costs will this continue into the future?

Let us know what you think of the rental rate increases in the comments below!