While students at South Africa's privileged universities erect mock shacks in protest at the lack of student accommodation, living and studying in a shack is a cold reality for less fortunate ones. Patrick Moleke, 22, a third-year human resources management student at Tshwane University of Technology, has been renting a corrugated-iron shack in the Coronation informal settlement, at Emalahleni (Witbank), since 2013.story_article_left1Moleke, who lives in Limpopo, pays R500 for accommodation. There is no electricity and he is forced to use his neighbour's pit latrine because his shack does not have one.He said his parents could not afford the R1500 a month residence fee that the university wanted when he first applied for a place in a hostel. "I battle to study by candlelight and try as far as possible to study in the campus library. Life in the shack is very difficult."He did not qualify for National Student Financial Aid Scheme funding because both his parents were employed, he said."I wish the university could provide me with free accommodation."Marginally more fortunate are third-year electrical engineering student Sandra Ramushi and her roommate Sophy Phaahla. They can't remember when last they had a good night's sleep.The two Tshwane University of Technology students, also studying at the Emalahleni campus in Mpumalanga, have been living in a rat-infested room in Coronation since January.Ramushi, 22, and Phaahla, 20, whose parents rely on social grants, pay R250 a month rent for the room, which does not have electricity. They are among hundreds of students at the campus who have been forced to rent in informal dwellings and at private homes because the institution's only hostel has space for roughly 213 of 2132 students.The pair sleep on a sponge mattress and bath in a large purple plastic bucket because there is no separate bathroom.They share a pit latrine, which is a few metres outside their room, with 15 other occupants living in 10 other rooms.Several other students, including Thabo Mphahlele, 24, in his third year in electrical engineering, and Mandla Ndlovu, 21, second-year electrical engineering, live in informal housing too.full_story_image_hleft1Zodwa Mabena, 20, forks out R700 a month to share a dingy room with four other students in a private home which is also occupied by prostitutes who ply their trade from the premises.Nine students, including Lesolang Kotelo, 24, each pay R800 to share three rooms in a house where they use a bucket to bath because the drainpipe in the bathroom has been clogged for months.On Friday, Ramushi, Phaahla, Mphahlele, Ndlovu and Mabena moved into a renovated block of flats after the university agreed on Thursday to make it available to students following protests over accommodation, among other things, that have forced the closure of the university since Monday. Hundreds of others have not been so fortunate.full_story_image_hleft2University of Cape Town students pay from R2800 to R3900 a month for shared accommodation in private residences while their peers at the University of the Witwatersrand pay from R2800 to R5000 for single rooms. University of Stellenbosch students pay between R3000 and R7000 for a room.Almost 33000 students from the University of Johannesburg, the University of Limpopo, the Vaal University of Technology, Mangosuthu University of Technology and the Nelson Mandela Metro-politan University are renting accommodation in private homes. These include 13000 from UJ who are living in homes accredited by the university.Said Ramushi: "I found it difficult studying by candlelight in the shack and studied until 6pm at university. You can't study well here but I am very keen to study and complete my diploma."Her mother gives her R330 a month. After paying R125 for rent, she is left with only R205 for groceries.Said Mabena: "People ended up thinking we were also prostitutes because we were staying on the same premises. We were forced to live there because we did not have any other place to go to."full_story_image_hleft3A student at a university in Johannesburg said he shared a house with 17 others in Whitehall Street where the rent was R2200. "There were two toilets and three showers which sometimes broke."A student from the Durban University of Technology's Steve Biko campus said he shared a bathroom and toilet with five students and seven other people. "We do not have time to study in the house because it is always overcrowded. There is no privacy."sub_head_start Campuses spend millions on hostels sub_head_endUniversities are spending millions on the construction of new hostels to address the dire shortage of student accommodation.Several institutions this week confirmed that the building of new residences was in the planning stage or nearing completion.story_article_right2Among these are:• A 205-bed hostel at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University that is expected to be ready for occupation by June;• A 288-bed residence at the University of Zululand that is expected to be completed next year;• A proposal by Rhodes University to build six more residences that would provide an extra 530 beds;• Plans by the Vaal University of Technology to build a 1800-bed residence this year. A 400-bed residence was opened this year, while the construction of a 300-bed hostel at its science park is at an advanced stage;• The completion of a 320-bed facility at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology next year;• The construction of a 200-bed residence at Stellenbosch University's Tygerberg campus that was expected to start soon; and• A 622-bed facility at the Mangosuthu University of Technology that is expected to be completed by June. The construction of a 1 100-bed facility was expected to start before the end of the year.The University of Cape Town said it planned to increase its 6680 beds by 3000.The University of the Witwatersrand said a 114-bed extension to David Webster Hall was approved in 2012, but that funding for new buildings was a problem, "especially given the zero increase in fees for 2016".govenderp@sundaytimes.co.za..