For anyone at UM, not only applicants
If you have nowhere to live this session.
This page is not about RKS. It is here whether you applied to us, were turned down by us, or never heard of us. RKS has 50 places and that is not the size of the problem.
What renting here actually costs
Two published figures, side by side.
Neither of these is our opinion and neither is an estimate we made up. They are the two numbers a student in this position is caught between.
The cheapest room around here
RM220
A month, for a shared room in Seksyen 16, Pantai Dalam or Kerinchi. Before food, before transport, before utilities where they are billed separately. That is the bottom of the market in this area, not the average.
The most PTPTN pays an IPTA degree student
RM554
A month, which is the maximum of RM6,650 a year spread evenly across twelve. It is the ceiling and not what everyone receives, and it has to cover fees as well where those are not paid separately.
Put the two together and the cheapest shared room in this area takes about two fifths of the largest PTPTN an IPTA degree student can hold, before that student has eaten anything or travelled to campus once. A student living on PTPTN alone is not comfortably housed at that rate. That is the arithmetic of the two published figures and it is why RM170 a month at RKS is worth applying for even when the odds are poor.
Where else to go
Four routes, none of them ours.
JKRKS has no authority over any of these and cannot put in a word for you with any of them. What we can do is tell you they exist and which one matches your situation.
Appeal your Kolej Kediaman result
Every Kolej Kediaman runs its own appeal, and an appeal after the main intake is a different queue from the intake itself. Places come back into the system through the session as students withdraw, defer or move out. Appeals go to the Kolej Kediaman you applied to, not to RKS and not to JKRKS.
If you are waiting on a Kolej Kediaman result and have applied to us as well, that is allowed. An RKS offer is conditional and lapses if Kolej Kediaman comes through, and you tell JKRKS within seven days.
HEP, Bahagian Kebajikan
The welfare arm of the Hal Ehwal Pelajar portfolio. This is the route for emergency financial hardship, including a student who cannot cover a deposit, rent or food. It handles cases that are about money rather than about a bed, and it can act faster than any housing queue.
Kaunselor UM
The University counselling service. It is the right route if the reason you cannot go home is not a money problem, and it is confidential. Nothing you tell a counsellor reaches JKRKS, and nothing you tell JKRKS reaches a counsellor unless you ask us to pass it on.
JSEPP
Jabatan Strategik dan Ekosistem Penginapan Pelajar, the University department that provides student accommodation, including these six houses. It sets the rate and holds the buildings. General accommodation questions that are not about a specific RKS house belong here rather than with the student committee.
Why there are no phone numbers on this page
Because we have not verified them, and a number that rings out when someone is in trouble is worse than no number at all. Every office above publishes its own current contact details on the University's own pages, and those are the ones to use. If you live in an RKS house, ask your house PIC and they will point you at the right one. This page gets numbers on it the day someone has checked each of them.
If going home is not safe
The application form asks one question about this. It is yes or no. There is no box to explain in, and nothing you say is written down in the form.
Answer yes and an officer contacts you privately, outside the application entirely. It routes to Kaunselor UM or to HEP Bahagian Kebajikan depending on what you need. It is not a criterion, it carries no marks, it cannot raise or lower your score, and it is not stored with your application.
Answering yes is not a claim you have to prove and answering no does not count against you. It is there so that somebody reaches you, not so that somebody assesses you.
RKS is one of the routes, not the only one.
If you have not applied yet, the form takes about twenty minutes and costs nothing.