The Marquês 24 Academy features 24 beds distributed across six rooms measuring 26 square meters, two rooms with 16 square meters, and two rooms with 10 square meters. The facility includes two fully equipped kitchens, two living rooms, communal workspaces, two bathrooms, and a games room, stated the president of the Academic Federation of Porto, Francisco Fernandes.
In an interview regarding the opening of the new student residence in Porto for the upcoming academic year, Francisco Porto explained that the project, housed on a floor of the Instituto Profissional do Terço, a Private Institution of Social Solidarity, cost “150,000 euros,” financed by the students for the students, sourced exclusively from the Queima das Fitas festival in Porto.
“It does not involve a single euro from the central government or from European funds. All the revenue comes from students, for students, through the Queima das Fitas in Porto,” affirmed the FAP president.
The new residence will have the rooms divided into two wings—one for girls and another for boys—and aims to address what is considered the biggest challenge university students face: the student housing crisis.
This second student residence by FAP—the first was inaugurated in 2023 near São Bento Station in Porto’s downtown—continues with the same interior design, featuring top hats, canes, and multicolored ribbons decorating the walls. There are also several sofas and bean bags, as well as kitchens equipped with communal tables for shared meals.
On Wednesday, the FAP displayed posters around Porto reading: “The Academic Federation will inaugurate its 2nd University Residence—When the State fails, Students solve” and “With rooms for students at 500 euros, all we can do is pitch a tent.”
“A room here in Porto costs on average 400 euros. In Lisbon, 500 euros. The FAP has been a voice of protest, drawing attention to this issue, but it has also been part of the solution,” declared the FAP president, assuring that FAP will continue to work “towards seeking new opportunities because this is the major problem facing students and this is the highest priority for FAP.”
When asked about what he would request from the Government and the Minister of Education to solve the issue of lack of student housing, Francisco Fernandes did not hesitate and emphasized the urgent need to initiate work on the Local Accommodation National Plan 2.0 (PNAES 2.0).
Francisco Fernandes also wanted to publicly highlight that the “blame is not only on the PS or PSD government.”
“If we look at the accounts of higher education institutions, their positive balances, we see that housing is not a priority for these institutions, not because they lack funds, but because they do not want to,” he condemned.
According to the Student Housing Observatory, the average cost of rooms in Porto is 400 euros, but the FAP president believes it is easier to find rooms “at 500 and 600 euros than at 300 euros.”
This academic year, 2025/26, the number of beds available at higher education institutions in Porto is “just over 2,000 beds for 24,000 commuting students,” Francisco Fernandes reveals.
“Obviously, there will never be public beds for all commuting students, but certainly, less than 10% is a very insignificant number and needs to be at least tripled by 2030 to have a solid base of public offering that also allows controlling prices in the completely unregulated private sector.”
The new 24 beds at this second residence are intended for students redirected by the Social Action Services. Students receive housing allowance and are accommodated for free in higher education if they stay at the Marquês 24 Academy.
“The best phrase to define the 2025/26 academic year is that indeed we have fewer beds available in the Social Action Services for students than in 2018,” declared the FAP president.
This is explained because the Higher Education National Accommodation Plan includes the renovation of some residences, and some of them are closed. Thus, the practical offering is less than in 2018, and the plan’s execution is at 13%, just over a year from the deadlines of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which mentions 2026.
