STUDENTS used to be known for surviving off a diet of pasta and sleeping in tiny cupboard-like holes with mouldy curtains.

But, after plans to build a second luxury Vita Student complex in Southampton were revealed to help meet what the company claim is a growing demand for high-end, stylish student living in the city it begs the question of whether student poverty is really a myth.

We all have images of The Young Ones – four lazy, noisy students living in a shared, somewhat derelict, grungy and squalid house, off baked beans and lentils -and, the modern-day students to have a much better deal.

READ: Work to start on controversial scheme to house hundreds of students >>>

Vita Student plans t start on a new complex, which will be made up of 435 bedrooms spread across 252 flats in three buildings varying from three to six stories high, on the former Portswood bus depo site, in January.

The development is expected to be like the company’s other complex in the city - Richmond House, in Terminus Terrace, which offers studio flats starting at £159 a week.

This includes utilities bill and a TV licence, a grab-and-go breakfast every weekday, an en-suite bathroom and Egyptian cotton bedding pack as well as smart TVs and fully-fitted kitchens in each apartment.

The complex also includes superfast broadband, a 24-hour gym, a weekly cleaning service, an on-site team available 24-hours a day and a safe and security fob entry - far from the dirty, messy and most-likely smelly squalor Vyvyan, Rick, Neil and Mike would have lived in.

Student Union President Alex Hovden has spoken out about the topic and claimed student poverty was a ‘huge problem’ and one of their ‘primary concerns’, saying he thought it was ‘time for students to be looked after a little bit better’.

He said student poverty not only was a problem in Southampton but also nationally where the cost of rent, over the course of the academic year, was more than students were getting from maintenance loans and bursaries.

Mr Hovden added just this week a panel of judges for this year’s Student Accommodation Awards had rejected all the nominations put forward on the grounds that the price of the accommodation was so high.

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PICTURED: An artist's impression of what the scheme could look like

“Student accommodation providers must recognise students are living on a tight budget which is often dependent on their parents’ income and so they must keep the costs down.

“Students are forced to make sacrifices in other areas of student life, like on proper food and general health and well-being.

“Students are having to be more careful with budgeting, helping to stretch their pennies even further especially with the current economic uncertainty.

“I think a complex providing cheaper accommodation is needed more.”

Mr Hovden said the weekly cost of accommodation at the University of Southampton ranged from about £100 to £150 – ‘a reasonable range’.

He added realistically, to be able to live, students needed to have a part-time job and while it was great that there were lots of opportunities out there for them to do this, having job at university created further problems.

He said it was very hard for students to establish the right balance between academics and work.

“Having a social life is important too. We see numerous cases of students who do not get that balance right, it is very difficult to strike that balance,”Mr Hovden said.

“A lot of students muddle through in the end by whatever means they can. We are quite lucky because there is some decent housing out there for students although equally there are horror stories, like when letting agents do not undertake maintenance in a reasonable amount of time.”

Mr Hovden said in the next couple of weeks they would be launching a student housing campaign for freshers, needing housing for their second year, targeting bad practises within the private sector.

He added there were also plans in the pipeline for a ‘Don’t Rush to Rent’ scheme aimed at raising awareness for students to not feel pressured into signing a letting agent contract.

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PICTURED: The site as it is today

Commenting on the new development, Mr Hovden said they wanted to make sure those attending the university were not being pushed into debt.

And, he was concerned if students could not find accommodation elsewhere they may have no choice but to be forced into the luxury halls or face being, effectively, forced out onto the street.

Nicole Rainbow, who is a second year TV Production student at Solent University, lives in Austin House Student Accommodation Southampton at the Back of the Walls.

The 19-year-old pays £125 a week for a classic en-suite, including bills, in the complex which has nine communal areas including cinema, music and games rooms as well as a canteen, two study rooms and a reading room.

The communal areas feature ping-pong and pool tables as well as TVs and sofas.

Nicole said she thought there was a good mix of high and low end accommodation.

“I know a couple of people that live nearer Solent and catch the bus to the University of Southampton, so I wonder if it will be better for them to live nearer the university so they do not have to commute,” she added.

“I think is should be cheaper though because I definitely wouldn’t go there for that much, it is just too expensive.

“Student loans and bursaries definitely wouldn’t cover it, you would have to get a job or get help from your parents.”

Nicole said she had a friend who was having to consider moving into a shared house because he could not afford to live in a complex.

“I think they would have more people go to those sorts of places if they were cheaper.

“Quite a few people have to get jobs or help from their parents.”