Returning undergraduate accommodation

Students’ Care Leaver Status can be confirmed if a student meets the following criteria, and has provided evidence of this to their student finance provider:

• You’ve been in the care of, or given accommodation by, your local authority
• You were in care for at least 13 weeks
• Your time in care ended after you turned 16
• You have not returned to the care of your parent(s) before the first day of the first academic year of your course

Students that have been assessed as an independent student with their student provider on the basis of being estranged and have had this confirmed by the Independent student team are welcome to apply for a room on campus.

If you apply for accommodation under the additional requirements criteria, you should include as much information as possible in the additional requirements section of your application, even if you have applied under this criteria previously.

We are not able to process your application under this criteria without supporting medical evidence. If you have previously submitted medical evidence as part of your application for on-campus accommodation, it has already been stored on our system, and you do not need to resubmit it. However, if your circumstances have since changed, meaning you need to submit new evidence, you should do this as part of your 2026/27 application.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that your application is going to be successful, but we prioritise students with evidence of additional requirements that cannot be supported off-campus. If your additional requirements can be supported off-campus or in private sector accommodation, it's likely that your accommodation application will not be successful.

If you’re currently on a Leave of Absence, you won’t have automatic access to the application system. We will ask you to complete a form by the application opening date to register your interest in on-campus returning accommodation.

The application system will open shortly, and you will have approximately one week to apply for accommodation. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis by a multi-disciplinary panel consisting of colleagues from across the University's student support services to ensure a fair and comprehensive decision-making process.

You will receive an email regarding the outcome of your application. If you're successful, we will contact you with details of your room offer in January 2026.

If you do not fall into the priority groups mentioned on this webpage, please look into private sector accommodation. The Student Hub offers a wide range of advice and support for those looking for, or living in the private sector:

• Private sector accommodation web pages
• Private sector events