Students at Vic Uni's Katharine Jermyn Hall were told they had to share a bunk room - four days before they were due to move in.

Students who were forced to share bunk-beds at Wellington hall of residence will soon pay $220 per week or be moved to another hall.

In February, first-year students who signed up and paid for private rooms at Katharine Jermyn Hall were shocked to be told – just four days before move-in – that they would now be sharing bunk-bed rooms with strangers.

The accommodation crisis came because the 380-room hall was oversubscribed and found itself 32 single rooms short, meaning 64 students would have to bunk up.

ROBERT KITCHIN Victoria University student accommodation- Katharine Jermyn Hall on Boulcott Street, Wellington.

Originally the hall, on the corner of The Terrace and Boulcott St, told the students they would have to pay $220 per week for the bunk rooms, down from $359 for a private room.

READ MORE: Victoria University offers free bunk rooms at oversubscribed hostel

But after backlash from students and parents, the university offered affected students free accommodation in shared rooms until single rooms became available.

Students in Katharine Jermyn hall in Wellingotn will be soon be paying $220 per week for these bunks.

However in March, the university wrote to the students again, to advise they would have to pay for the bunk rooms from Victoria University's trimester 2, which starts July 11.

Students in the hall said bunking residents had been told they could either start paying or move to another hall.

A resident who did not want to be named said her friend was in a bunk and hating it.

SUPPLIED The original letter from the university.

"It's with people they don't even know and it wasn't their choice and they just hate it. It's inconvenient and there's not enough space and it's not a good time."

She said she wouldn't pay $220 to live in such cramped confines, but the other options were also hard.

"If you moved to another hall you'd have to try and make all new friends again, and that in itself is a hassle.

"It's another stress, especially in the middle of the year with heaps on."

Another resident said the treatment was unfair.

"Quite a few people on my floor are still in bunks and I don't think it's fair they have to pay when they're in the same situation as when they came in."

The Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association agreed a move to another hall would be unsettling for students.

"Establishing good friendships is hard enough in the first year, let alone having to do it over again," president Jonathan Gee said.

He said some students felt uncomfortable about their lack of personal space, but feared losing friendships if they left.

But the university said it had made "significant progress" throughout the year moving students from bunk rooms into private rooms.

"All students sharing rooms at Katharine Jermyn Hall have been offered single rooms either at Katharine Jermyn, or at another of the university's halls," director of campus services Jenny Bentley said.

She said the hall now only needed 11 rooms to come free to accommodate all those who wanted a private room.

"Based on previous years, this is likely to be possible by the end of Trimester One at the end of June," she said.

"There has been no change in how the University is approaching this since March, when parents and students were advised that shared rooms would be free for Trimester One.

"From then, the cost of shared rooms will be $220 per week, compared to $359 for a single."