If you don't get campus accommodation, if you don't want digs, if commuting is out of the question, then what you're left with is the private rented sector. It's a landlords' market - they have all the power, you have none. If you thought the points-race was competitive, then welcome to the accommodation hunt.

You'll be up against thousands of other students who all want a decent roof over their heads in a safe area and thousands more people who want the same thing but can afford to pay for it.

The accommodation situation isn't going to get any easier this year and Fine Gael spokesperson on housing, Olivia Mitchell, is less than optimistic about students' prospects.

"I just pity them," she says. "There's an expanding population, a huge increase in demand for accommodation, the supply is going down and only the people at the very top can afford what's on offer. The people on the bottom are being pushed out of the market and the people on the very bottom tend to be students."

The tax breaks offered to developers to build student-purpose housing have yet to have a real impact on the student accommodation crisis, she says. "There has been some take up but it's nowhere like meeting the need. It's not 400 units but 40,000 units that are required."

The current Government exacerbated the accommodation problem when it did away with mortgage-interest relief on investment apartments, Mitchell says. "The Bacon report got the investor out of the market and the supply of apartments just stopped. People were getting out of the business because there were no normal business-tax treatments," she says. "The solution to the lack of accommodation is to treat the rental industry like any other business."

Students' groups have been campaigning for affordable housing for students for years and though it's a very worthwhile campaign, it's unlikely that much will change over the next few weeks. You need somewhere to live now, so it's best to be prepared.

The first thing to realise is that, unless you're incredibly lucky, the perfect place is not going to land in your lap. It's more likely that it's going to take a lot of legwork and waiting in long, boring, often hostile queues.

In the early days of the hunt the queue atmosphere is generally light and convivial. People will smile at each other and maybe even engage in some casual chitchat to pass the time. By the third or fourth house you've queued at only to find that a "flat gone" sign appears at the door, even though no one in the queue has been inside, the atmosphere begins to change. The friendly chat goes and everyone either stands in silence or talks loudly with their friends about why they're more likely than anyone else in the queue to get this house.

If you're clever, you can take some of the pain out of queuing. If you know either from the advert or from talking to the landlord on the phone that the flat is being let on a first-come, first-served basis, there is no point in joining a queue that has 20 other hopefuls already in it. Move on the next place on your list to secure a spot high up the line, before all the rejects from the last house join you.

Realistically, there is no point in standing in a line unless there are fewer than eight or 10 others ahead of you. Some of them may not want to take the flat and the landlord might not like the look of the others, but that will only hold true for a small number of people.

If you really think a place is going to suit you, if the rent is affordable, the area is okay, the buses are handy and all stars are aligned, it is worth coming two or three hours early to be first or second at the door. Bring a book.

It's wise to be a bit suspicious of the "flat gone" sign. Yes, it does generally mean the flat is gone, but if you have arrived at the house ages before the advertised time only to see the sign, ring on the door anyway or call the landlord. You may get a curt response asking if you can read, but on the odd occasion it turns out that some unscrupulous person came along and put the sign on the door to discourage the competition, intending to whip it off minutes before the landlord comes along, thus avoiding the boredom of queuing.

There is a slightly more ethical way of beating the queue. If there is a group of you looking, split into pairs and stand in different queues. Once one group has received a knockback, they can go to join the others still living in hope in their queue, or move on to another house. Mobiles are essential for this ... in fact, mobiles are essential for flat-hunting, full stop.

Most places that suggest all callers come at the same time; adverts that read "call to flat 5 at 6.30" are let on a first-come, first-served basis. If you ring and are offered an appointment to see the flat at a specific time, it may be a better prospect as this usually means the landlord is a bit more discerning and there will be fewer people seeing the place. When you're making your appointment, try to get the earliest time the landlord has. Like as not, he will get really sick of showing the flat as the evening goes on, and if he really likes you he may just offer you the place then and there to avoid the chore of meeting more people.

Relish the opportunity to eat humble pie. If you and a couple of friends have decided to get a flat together, it's sensible to bring at least one parent with you to speak for the group. This is purely for practical reasons: nobody thinks you can't look after yourself - after all, you'll be doing it all year - but if a landlady opens the door of her two-bed-to-suit-five and sees 20 different groups of 17- and 18-year-olds, she's going to be a bit overwhelmed.

If she sees one or two mammies among the throng, those are the ones she's going to seek out. Also, no matter how canny you are, you've never done this before. Your mother, however, will know exactly what rising damp looks like; she'll judge in an instant whether a place is too small to cook and live in; and she'll know whether a place that's warm in September will be like Siberia in the winter.

Of course, most landlords are honest and upright, but if you meet the one unscrupulous one, he's less likely to try to scam your ma than you.

Once you've seen the flat and think you want to take it, there are some very important practical things you must do. "Bring a list of questions you need to ask and checks you need to make," says Margaret O'Neill of Threshold in Cork. "Make sure the flat has a desk or table where you can study, don't hand over money without getting a receipt, ask whether bills are covered by the rent and if not, make sure the flat has heating you can afford."

The landlord must, she stresses, provide a rent-book - and if you are signing a lease make sure you read and understand it first. If you're unsure, take the lease along to Threshold or your college accommodation office. "The accommodation offices are there for your welfare, so use them," she advises.

It's vital to secure accommodation before the college term starts. If you leave it later to start looking, not only will you have a very limited choice of flats and house-shares but you will find that it's virtually impossible to attend lectures and look for a place at the same time.

Missing a lot of lectures in the first two weeks could leave you playing catch-up all term. You may find that if you've missed the basics, further course-work proves difficult to grasp. Once you've secured the flat and you and your friends are about to embark on a life of freedom and debauchery, stop, sit down and lay out some general ground rules.

Suggesting this will automatically make you the nerd of the flat, but it really has to be done to avoid tears and recriminations later on.

The things to sort out are: nominating a person to liaise with the landlord; deciding if you're going to pool your weekly budget or buy your own stuff; and a method of keeping the place clean.

You might think that anyone who had brain enough to get into college would already know that washing-up doesn't do itself, but you'd be wrong. Living with fellow students in a flat can be fun if you want it to be - or hell if you let it be.