`This year the accommodation crisis is worse than ever before. It's not just a question of availability, it's also a question of affordability," is the less than cheerful news from Alison Gibney, welfare officer with USI.

But the message from student union officers around the State is, don't despair. Most important, don't panic and don't take the first squalid little dive you see.

No matter how desperate the situation seems, never hand over a penny until you have read and understood the lease and are absolutely satisfied that you can live in this place for the foreseeable future.

Before rushing out with your flat list in one hand and a call card in the other, take time to think through what exactly you can afford and what are the most basic conditions you can tolerate.

For safety reasons, as well as the importance of getting a second opinion, don't go flat-hunting alone. Most landlords will look for a deposit of a month's rent and between two and four weeks' rent in advance. Some will even demand an ESB deposit of £60 or more. However, it's not a great idea to carry huge sums of money around with you.

Dublin, as always, is the most difficult place for students to find accommodation, with Cork and Galway not far behind. But, if you start looking as soon as you can, the chances are you will find somewhere decent.

"Your starting point should be your college accommodation officer," advises Gibney. "He or she will have good knowledge of availability locally, and be able to give you quite a bit of guidance. If you've any contacts at all in the area you're moving to, relatives or friends, get in touch because often people become aware of places by word of mouth.

"Local papers often have accommodation to rent sections which are useful. This year there are also web-based ways to find accommodation, including findahome.ie which allows you to locate accommodation according to price, area and type."

As for on-campus accommodation, interested students should already have their names on a college list. A lot of student unions publish lists of accommodation these days. Some of them even vet landlords and refuse to include any with racist or other unacceptable attitudes. Most colleges issue first-time students with guidelines on accommodation.

Threshold, the housing advice centre, publishes two extremely useful leaflets - Renting for the First Time and Renting a Home From a Private Landlord. Between them, the two leaflets cover everything from where to find a flat to tenants' rights.

Louise Mullen is services co-ordinator with the Dublin branch of Threshold. "Prepare yourself as best you can," she says. "If you've never rented before, try to look at a few places to get a feel for it all. If you're looking at flats in August, anticipate the winter months. Will it be warm enough? Is there central heating. Who controls it? If it is the landlord, how long is it switched on each day and is the price included in the rent? If it's dark now, what will it be like in December? Investigate any musty smell and, if there is any sign of dampness, don't take the flat. Check that every single appliance is working. Unless you are happy, don't put down a single penny. You don't have a right to get your deposit back, so, if you can, bring along either a parent or someone experienced in renting when you go looking."

Having found a place you're happy with, have a good read of the lease. It may seem like a drag - it is! - but you need to know what sort of terms you are agreeing to. Otherwise you may find yourself in a very messy situation at a really bad time, such as the start of the exams. Remember you are entitled to a rent book and do not part with a penny until you have the keys.

Margaret O'Neill of the Threshold office in Cork has already had enquiries from students going to college this autumn. "We tend to get queries from parents coming up for an afternoon to help their offspring find accommodation," she says. "But we would say you really have to take a few days. It can be hard to find a suitable place in Cork, but don't rush in and take the first thing you see. We have had cases of landlords looking for the first few months' rent in advance and saying, `I'll see you in January'.

"It's not always easy to find places here and you do come across horror stories of poor accommodation, but you have to be vigilant. Don't accept anything which is of a poor standard."

At the Galway offices, Threshold advises students to bring a mobile phone. "Whatever about accommodation, we have a terrible shortage of pay phones," says Deirdre Murphy. "It can be hard to get places here all right, and prices are almost comparable with Dublin, so get hunting as soon as you can. Unlike other cities, the paper with the flat listings comes out only once a week. So at this time of the year every Wednesday when the Galway Advertiser comes out, there are long queues at the pay phones.

"We do hear rumours of poor accommodation, but in recent years we have found that students are becoming more confident and tending to articulate their concerns to landlords. The college accommodation officers are good and they help students get settled as best they can."

According to Alison Gibney of USI: "In the past two years the price of digs has risen dramatically. Students can expect to pay £70/£75 per seven-day week in Dublin, and £55/£60 a week in other areas of the country. Flats and houses cost about £50/£55 a week per person sharing in the Dublin area, and about £45/£55 per person sharing in other areas of the country.

"Some colleges actually insist first-year students take the option of digs. But USI advises students that they should be sure they know exactly what the terms of agreement are.

"There is no legal obligation to sign a lease if you offer digs to students, and we come across cases where students are being evicted overnight - frequently because they were never clear as to what was expected of them in the first place."