Undergraduate accommodation

Ensuite rooms

• Pros: Your own private bathroom
• Cons: Cost more, cleaned less, toilet roll not included

Ensuite rooms come with your own private bathroom facilities for you to use within your room. In most cases this will be in the form of a wet-room, while some Band 4 accommodation will have a separate shower tray with a sliding door/splash guard instead.

You’ll have to pay a little extra for an ensuite room (about £15 per week). You’ll also need to make sure you keep it clean and buy your own toilet roll, so remember to factor this into your budget. Our cleaning team will visit to perform a deep clean once in a while (about once per term) and you’ll have to make sure your stuff is taken out for them to do so.

Ensuite rooms are often the most popular, because many students are unsure about sharing bathroom facilities when moving somewhere new. This does mean that they tend to be oversubscribed, so we can’t guarantee you’ll get one.

We find that most students say in retrospect that they wouldn’t have minded sharing with their flatmates. So, if you’re on the fence, or conscious about the extra cost, we recommend considering some more shared bathroom options on your list.

Other considerations

When thinking about bathroom type, it might be worth asking yourself:

• do you have an ensuite currently at home?
• are you prepared to clean it?
• do you have the additional budget to cover one?

If you need an ensuite bathroom for health, welfare or mobility reasons, you should let us know as soon as possible. Given sufficient evidence, we’ll do our best to reserve one for you - find out how on our additional requirements webpage.

Shared bathrooms

• Pros: Cost less, cleaned regularly, toilet roll included, individually lockable, your own washbasin
• Cons: Since you’re sharing, you’ll need to take your wash stuff back to your room after using them

Shared bathrooms are a great way to save some money. They’re located near to your bedroom (in the corridor or hallway) and are shared with the other members of your flat. You can find out how many students you'll be sharing with on each college's accommodation page.

Toilets and bathrooms are individually lockable, used by one person at a time and cleaned every weekday by our cleaning team. Toilet roll is provided too.

There are multiple toilets and showers per flat, and you’ll be living with students on different schedules to you, so waiting is rarely an issue. You’ll still have your own washbasin in your room.

If you move out into the private sector in your second year, you’ll be sharing bathrooms with your housemates, so it might be good to get used to it now!

Catered rooms

Whatever accommodation you’re in, you’ll have access to a kitchen, shared with other members of your flat or house. If you live in catered accommodation, you’ll live with other students who are catered too.

• Pros: Meals cooked for you, variety of options, less cooking to worry about, great for socialising, cheaper than if you bought the meals individually.
• Cons: Could you cook for less? Redeemable in one outlet. Your shared kitchen may be a little smaller.

If you’re in a catered room, you'll live with other catered students and be served a breakfast and evening meal in your college canteen every weekday (Monday to Friday, during term time). Simply turn up, pick a meal from the variety available and swipe your university card at the checkout. You can eat together in the dining hall or take away - it’s up to you.

Catered rooms are a great way to meet other members of your college and get to know your flatmates. It’s also one less thing to think about during your first year. On average, a catered room costs about £41* per week more than a self-catered room, so you may want to consider whether you can buy your own breakfast and dinners during the week (and be bothered to cook them) for that amount.

You’ll also be saving money (about 18%) compared to if you bought the same amount of meals individually from one of our catering outlets. Since you’ll only need to cook (or buy) your lunch and weekend meals, catered rooms may have a slightly smaller shared kitchen compared to catered rooms.

Other considerations

Nursing and midwifery students

You will not be able to apply for catered room. As you’ll be doing placements throughout your course, we wouldn’t want to charge you for meals you might miss.

Fairfax House - light breakfast

Although this is catered accommodation, you won’t have your breakfast in the Vanbrugh Dining Room - instead, you’ll have a continental style breakfast, with fewer cooked options, served in the Fairfax House dining hall. This means that these rooms are slightly cheaper, and your breakfast will be conveniently closer to home!

• Find out more about catering, menus and dietary requirements on the catering web pages.

* Prices are averages and correct as of 2020

Self-catered rooms

• Pros: Cook and eat whatever you like, practise your culinary skills, shared kitchen may be a bit bigger and if you’re savvy you could save some money.
• Cons: More cooking to do/think about, buying meals individually is more expensive, more washing up!

If you’re in a self-catered room, you’ll need to cook for yourself in your shared kitchen, or purchase individual meals from our catering outlets; if you do this regularly, you might end up spending more, although you could take advantage of the Meals in Advance Deal.

Self-catered rooms generally come with a bigger kitchen (as you’ll be using it more) and can be a good option for those that like to cook, or want the independence of doing so. Cooking with your flatmates can be a great way to get to know them.

Top tip: You can order online groceries to be delivered to your college reception. Chipping in together with your flatmates will spread the cost of delivery and save you a walk with heavy bags.

Other considerations

Campus East - weekly college meal

All rooms on Campus East (Langwith, Goodricke and Constantine) are self-catered. However, for first year undergraduates, one weekly college meal is included in the price. One day a week (depending on your college) you can redeem one evening meal from the Piazza Building canteen, located centrally on Campus East. This is a good opportunity to get out and meet some students from your wider college community, and have a break from cooking dinner.

The Meals in Advance Deal (MAD)

MAD can be a good option for those unsure about which catering option to pick. In effect, it lets you turn your self-catered room into a catered room on a termly basis. You’ll save up to 18% compared to buying the same meals individually.

You’ll have the added flexibility of being able to redeem your meals at four different catering outlets across campus. However, you won’t be living with other catered students, so you won’t have quite the same social experience as in a catered room.

If you’d like that added flexibility, or maybe just want to not have to worry about cooking during exam season - and want to save some money, this might be the option for you.

• Find out more about catering, menus and dietary requirements on the Eat at York web pages.