You’re a Gozitan? You’re from Gozo? You still rear sheep and goats, don’t you? Questions that assault my ears whenever I en-counter Maltese peers for the first time. Gozo doesn’t offer much opportunity to young people who wish to go to university.

Although there are branches of Mcast and the Institute for Tourism Studies, whoever aims to go to university has little choice apart from signing up as a part-time sailor and crossing the channel to the mainland over and over again.

The university venture offers two options, either to go back and forth between Gozo and Malta or rent an apartment and avoid commuting, with an intermittent bus service between Ċirkewwa and Msida and vice versa.

I chose the latter option, and in my early days at university it felt like I was navigating uncharted waters. Living with friends at the age of 18 for most of the week is a tough one. Looking back at this ‘life-changing’ experience, however, commuting with a quarter of the Gozitan population helped me mature in various ways.

Lectures for Gozitan students don’t stop the minute the lecturer blows the whistle, but continues until we set foot on the ferry.

A storm which has been brewing for a while has now reached landfall. In recent years students who sheltered in apartments close to the university started feeling the needle get sharper as high rents kicked in. The hike is possibly due to the economic boom the country is going through.

But in spite of this bonanza, most Gozitan undergraduates can’t even dream of matching the tough rents. Students have been eliminated from the race to find a decent place to stay, as demand seems to have outpaced supply, particularly with the influx of foreign workers, especially those in the iGaming sector.

But they too have started to feel the waves getting bigger and more difficult to plain sail. The argument that foreigners kicked us (students) out of the rental race is seen from another angle by a real estate agent I sat down with.

Students are calling for a lifeline from Malta’s members of Parliament to help us navigate the tough seas during our educational journey

The agent told me that although it’s a reality that rents are peaking, traditional perceptions about towns like Gżira and Msida being downmarket have fizzled out, because more people are renting or buying in these seaside locations.

Although economic progress is like an oasis in a parched desert, it seems that sustainability has been lost somewhere in Valley Road, Msida, during a bout of torrential rain.

Late last August, when the Gozo University Group (GUG) flew a kite about the fact that students were scratching their heads every summer when they embarked on a scavenger hunt to locate an apartment to rent for the next academic year, public discourse was divided.

Diverse suggestions were put on the table, one of which revolved around building a hostel for this purpose close to the university. A hostel cheek-by-jowl with the university isn’t a bad idea, but Jessica Said, administrative secretary of the GUG, said when contacted: “It’s useless to build a hostel, which will be rented out at the same prices as apartments close by.”

The rental debate ebbed at the start of the new year. The issue was given a short fix in Parliament when Opposition MP David Stellini asked Gozo Minister Justyne Caruana for any developments. I fully understand the importance of question time in Parliament, but Gozitan students shouldn’t be the nuggets that make political speeches shine.

Joshuel Grech, a Gozitan post-graduate student, suggested that instead of building a hostel it would be a more profitable strategy to invest in the Gozo campus and save students the need to cross over to Malta.

Recently, the Planning Authority issued permits for the enlargement of the Gozo campus in Xewkija. But in spite of this, it’s time to seriously consider worthwhile approaches such as video-conferencing.

It’s a pity to shelve such digital initiatives and let them get camouflaged in dust.

A spike in the economy is something one accepts with open arms. The ‘but’ comes when such a bonanza comes at a cost that is being borne by members of society who struggle to keep their heads above water.

I’d be the first to admit such a tough nut cannot be cracked in the blink of an eye.

Students are calling for a lifeline from Malta’s Members of Parliament to help us navigate the tough seas during our educational journey, especially when gale force winds threaten to capsize our dreams.

Josef Cutajar is a final-year student reading for an honours degree in media and communications at the University of Malta.

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