College and University

College accommodation

A small and cozy college room.‘College accommodation’ can mean a number of things, but the term usually applies to a room in a house or building that is owned by your college and for which you pay rent each term as part of your battels.

Whilst rooms may vary considerably in size, they are all essentially a sleeping area for an individual person. Don't be too surprised if your college offers you a double bed though—they do exist in student accommodation! You may, however, have to share a study area and a bathroom with others. In addition, there may be communal areas such as a kitchen and/or dining area for the rooms along your staircase or floor in the building. In some colleges, some staircases and floors are single-sex (i.e., male or female only), but in most cases they are now mixed-sex. This doesn't mean that your entire floor or staircase may not be dominated by just one gender! What it does mean is that you shouldn't be surprised to have next-door neighbours from the opposite sex, with whom you will be expected to share the communal areas.

College rooms are usually completely furnished with all the necessary furniture (bed, mattress, cupboard, desk and chair for study, table lamp, heater, etc.). Many students still end up buying some small, additional furniture locally. The Argos shop, located opposite the OUSU office on New Inn Hall Street, is relatively cheap and conveniently located. In most cases, however, this is non-essential furniture. When deciding to buy any such furniture, you should bear in mind that it will need to be stored out of the room during vacations and such storage space may not be easy to come by! The exact furnishings for each room, once again, can vary enormously from college to college and from one college building or site to another. The best thing to do is to ask your college for more information, and especially if you have any specific concerns.

Rooms in college are usually ‘scouted’. This means that they will usually be thoroughly cleaned by a member of the college staff called a ‘scout’ once a week, with the bins being emptied on a daily basis (excluding weekends). It is wise to maintain good relations with your scout and try never to annoy them. They are normally very helpful and a useful resource, especially when you need that odd chair or box to pack your things or an extra bed for the night for a visitor! Communal areas are always cleaned and maintained by the scouts.

Bear in mind that both the duration and amount of rent for college accommodation can vary from college to college, and even within a college, from one type of accommodation to another (for example, an en-suite room versus a room with a shared bathroom; a room on the main college site versus a room in an off-site, college-owned building). You will typically find two types of contracts for undergraduates:

• A 38-week contract, which lasts from the Sunday of noughth week of Michaelmas term to the Saturday of ninth week of Trinity; or
• Three 9-week contracts, each of which lasts from the Sunday of noughth week to the Saturday of eighth week of the same term (thus, excluding vacations).

Be sure to consult the Domestic Manager, JCR or MCR Housing (or Accommodation) Officer or their equivalent at your college for details about your college-allocated room, if you have any doubts, questions or concerns about it.

Graduate accommodation provision varies from one college to another. Typically, graduates and undergraduates are housed in different buildings. With the exception of graduate-only colleges, graduate accommodation is usually off-site. A number of colleges have purpose-built annexes with clusters of five to six rooms around a shared communal area on a floor or staircase, while other colleges own houses that have been converted into student accommodation. Rooms are almost always all furnished.

Unlike undergraduate contracts, graduates are offered 9- or 12-month contracts and most colleges give priority to new graduate students. Some, but by no means all, colleges guarantee accommodation to graduates in their first year. Beyond the first year, however, it is near impossible to generalize about the provision of graduate accommodation by colleges. You can find out more from your college once you have arrived and settled into life at Oxford. It suffices to say here that you should be prepared to look for private accommodation at some point during your course if it is more than one year in duration.

College accommodation is usually allocated to you on a random basis before you arrive for your first term at Oxford. For subsequent years though, most colleges conduct housing ballots. Scholars (organ scholars, choral scholars, etc.) are often given first priority, followed by your college's JCR or MCR President, with the rest of the ballot applicants having an equal chance at being allocated their first preference. In some colleges these ballots are conducted as early as late Michaelmas term so as to give enough time to those who are unsuccessful in obtaining college accommodation to find private accommodation.

University-owned accommodation

The university maintains a limited number of houses and flats available for graduate students, some of which are suitable for students that have brought their families with them. See the relevant part of the Land Agent's and Accommodation Office.