New Delhi: For thousands of students coming to Delhi University from outside the city, securing admission does not necessarily mean securing a place to stay.
In a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question in Nov 2016, Union human resource development ministry, citing DU, said the university had 19 hostels with a combined capacity of 3,580 students. Including accommodation provided by some colleges, estimates put hostel availability at 6,000 seats, while DU admitted at least 60,000 students annually. In 2026, DU has 91 colleges, with 69 colleges and departments participating in undergraduate admissions. Around 71,600 new UG students were admitted in 2026-27, while about half of DU students are from outside Delhi, as per college estimates. Against this, there are around 7,000 hostel seats. The university has 20 main hostels across its North and South campuses, while 20 colleges have hostel facilities and 71 do not, according to officials. Its 2024-25 annual report, the latest available on its website, records 2.1 lakh undergraduate students and 34,520 postgraduate students, including PhD scholars — nearly 2.5 lakh in all. Miranda House, for example, has an overall student strength of 5,375, but its hostel accomodates only about 370 students. For 2026-27, the college has offered just 90 hostel seats to first-year students. Sri Venkateswara College, with an overall student strength of around 4,600, has hostel capacity for 150 students, with just 50 seats available to first-year students.
Section 33 of Delhi University Act, 1922, says every student, other than one studying through correspondence, “shall reside in a college or a hall, or under such conditions as may be prescribed by the ordinances”. A university official, however, said the provision “in today’s times should not be read as a guarantee of a university hostel room to every student”. Only a handful of colleges have hostels and admission into them is harder than getting into university to begin with. The gap has fuelled a thriving private PG economy around college clusters. The shortage is not new. A decade later, the gap remains substantial. The numbers become starker against DU’s overall student population. Residence has, in fact, figured in DU’s governing framework since its early years. In Manchester in the UK, Manchester Student Homes, a university-run service, helps students navigate private accommodation through listings and an accreditation scheme requiring participating landlords and agents to follow a Code of Standards. It also offers housing advice and assistance with disputes. In Australia, universities, including University of Melbourne, similarly provide off-campus housing platforms and guidance on the private rental market, including students’ rights and responsibilities as tenants.