UT Austin students Isabel Webb Carey, Kayla Quilantang, Grant Gilker and Namratha Thrikutam are organizing what they say is the university's first student tenants' union.The third-year architecture student at UT Austin should have had her own place. At least on paper. Thrikutam had signed a lease for a two-bedroom apartment in a brand-new building in West Campus, but construction was running behind schedule.
“It puts you in a weird situation where your friends become your landlords,” she said. “No one should ever have to do that.” While there is some university housing available for UT Austin students, there's no guarantee. Many students end up living in privately owned apartments. Wherever they end up, students face issues common to many tenants in the city, such as escalating rent prices and delayed repairs.