These websites help Delhi University students find accommodation

Now young entrepreneurs, some of them past students of the University are going online to help outstation students, find a place to stay if they are unable to get the limited hostel accommodation offered by colleges.

One of such initiative is findyourpg.com, an endeavor of a group from Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).

"A large number of students come to Delhi University from outside; in search for accommodations, they get exploited by the brokers who charge them hefty commission. To help them, we came up with this website after collecting data and information of various paying guest (PG) rooms owners in different areas," says a member of findyourpg.com.

"Many of our own group members had to go through the same plight where they were exploited by the broker, we all have gone through a tough time searching paying guest accommodations in Delhi," adds the group member.

Eight students, all from SRCC, invested about a year in collecting data and information while managing their studies alongside, about all paying the guest accommodations in North Campus.

The website launched two weeks ago has been designed by quintessence technologies, the business partner of the group.

"Registering on the website is absolutely free. After a student makes query regarding paying guest accommodation, we try to match the specifications of the students according to the facilities the student needs and get back to the student as soon as we can," says the group member.

The website has a tie-up with 83 PG owners in different areas of North Campus and some of the most preferred locations are Hudson line, Jawahar Nagar and Kamla Nagar, according to the group.

The response has been average till now, but the group hopes that it will improve in the coming days. "Looking at the first cut-off, the response has been average but this will increase once the admission under the second cut picks up pace," says the group member.

By next year, the site is looking to include PG accommodations in South Campus as well.

Another such site, Homehunter.in, founded by five ex Delhi University students from the College of Vocational studies also provides accommodation information.

"We wanted to help students, mainly those from outside Delhi. We didn't want them to face our struggles while searching for PG accommodations," says Ashish Rana, founder of homehunter.in.

The website was founded about a month ago after research and collection of data for around three months. "The response has been good till now. We have successfully done 20 deals and about 65-70 queries have been answered till the third day of the admission," says Rana.

Paying hefty commissions to the middlemen has been a problem for long with students who end up in accommodation that doesn't justify the rent.

"More than half of the outstation can't get hostel seats, as they are limited. We have no other option but to pay exorbitant fees to brokers in order to secure paying guest accommodations, and most times the broker usually cheats us by making false promises," says Chetan Sharma, who is seeking to move into a place in North Campus.