The Australian National University is planning to house nearly 300 students in motels across Canberra in a bid to overcome accommodation shortages besetting institutions nationwide.

For at least six months, the students will live at the City Gateway, Carotel and University Gardens motels in single or twin-share rooms, most with an en-suite, for $164 a week.

Room fridges will be kept, but emptied of their usual temptations, and free bus and meal vouchers added as inducement.

The motel deal, negotiated for an undisclosed sum, is an attempt to meet the university's unique guarantees to provide accommodation for new undergraduate students from outside the Australian Capital Territory, with more than 600 expected.

The vice-chancellor, Ian Chubb, said the housing dilemma arose after the institution offered places to more students than last year. On-campus resident halls filled quickly, and turnover was lower than expected.

The increase followed a decision by the federal government to allow institutions to increase over-enrolment numbers.

From 2012, enrolments are expected to be higher when a cap on Commonwealth-backed places is lifted. Universities will be funded according to how many students they attract.

"The only way to avoid the accommodation squeeze would have been to reduce the number of offers we made,'' Professor Chubb said.

''The university is subsidising these places so that off-campus residential students pay the same weekly rental as their on-campus colleagues. The external sites will be operated along the same lines as ANU residences, maintaining a similar standard of amenity, community, regard for security and cost.''

The newly elected president of the National Union of Students, Carla Drakeford, said a housing crisis was looming nationwide as universities increase enrolments without adequate accommodation and few available options in the tough Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra rental markets.

"This situation [at ANU] is indicative of a growing problem for students faced with relocating to attend university," she said. ''If the government is serious about getting … regional and indigenous students to university, they are going to have to do something about housing.

"Rent assistance is currently at half the average cost of what most students pay and rental properties are becoming harder to find at an affordable price. Governments and universities need to work together to find a solution.''

The ANU Students Association president, Tully Fletcher, inspected rooms at the City Gateway this week. He said the university had done everything it could in a difficult situation.

Professor Chubb said an additional 120 units were scheduled to open on-campus at the Laurus wing of Ursula Hall by midyear, with 420 more beds next year.

（www.eduwo.com, Anna）