Undergraduate accommodation
As a first-year undergraduate, we have a range of rooms available across multiple colleges to suit your budget.
2022/23 applications
Accommodation applications for new undergraduate students expecting to join us in 2022/23 are now open. You're guaranteed an offer of a room if you meet certain criteria.
Watch our video to find out everything you need to know about our accommodation options at York.
Related links
All accommodation comes with
Bills included in the price of your rent
No additional costs to worry about
Contents insurance and 24 hour security
To give you peace of mind
An ensuite or shared bathroom
And a private washbasin
Wifi and 100mb wired internet
So that you can browse uninterrupted
Access to a shared kitchen
To cook your meals and hang out with flatmates
Access to a college common room
For some some extra communal space
You'll want to consider...
Bathroom type
In Shared accommodation, you'll have a wash basin in your room and share other bathroom facilities with your flat. All shared bathrooms are individually lockable and cleaned Monday to Friday by our cleaning team. Toilet roll is provided for you.
In Ensuite accommodation, you'll have your own toilet, wash basin and shower in your room. You’ll be responsible for keeping your ensuite clean, but our cleaners will perform a deep clean, usually once a term. You'll need to buy your own toilet roll.
About half of our campus accommodation is ensuite, and the rest has shared bathrooms. When applying for accommodation, at least three out of seven of your choices must be a shared bathroom.
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!
Let length
40-week
40-week lets cover the academic year and Easter and Christmas vacations, up until the start of the summer vacation.
44-week
44-week lets cover the academic year, Easter and Christmas vacations and the start of the summer vacation.
50-week
50-week lets extend into most of the summer vacation as well. They are only available in some accommodation and are favoured by those who would like to stay on campus over the summer, such as some international students who will not be returning home.
38-week
38-week lets are very limited in number and are only available in Vanbrugh College. You will have to move all of your belongings out during the Easter vacation. You can save a little extra money by applying for these rooms, but should make sure you have arrangements for the Easter vacation.
Nursing and midwifery students: As you will be going on placements and some of these may extend slightly further than other course dates, we advise you to apply for a 44-week let.
Unsure if you want summer holiday accommodation? Don’t worry, you can always apply for summer accommodation separately nearer the time.
Catering
If you're self-catered, you'll make your own meals. You can buy meals individually from catering outlets, or take advantage of the Meals in Advance Deal to purchase meals at a cheaper rate on a termly basis.
Colleges on Campus East come with one evening meal a week included in their rent, but are otherwise self-catered.
If you're catered, you'll be served breakfast and an evening meal (Monday to Friday, during term time) in your college’s dining hall, included in your rent price. You’ll still have access to a shared kitchen for making lunch and weekend meals.
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.
Price bands
- Band 1 rooms are our value option, you may share facilities such as your kitchen with a few more people than other price bands.
- Band 2 rooms are often in some of our original accommodation. You'll share facilities with a few more people than bands 3 and 4.
- Band 3 rooms are our most common room type. They are often newer or more recently refurbished than band 1 or 2 rooms and facilities are shared with fewer people.
- Band 4 rooms all have a TV (with license) and sofas in shared kitchen areas. If you're in a shared bathroom, you'll share with the fewest number of other students.
Accommodation after first year
While many students choose to rent private sector accommodation in their second year, there are loads of great reasons to continue living on campus after your first year too.
You can apply as an individual or together as a group and will be housed together with other continuing students. Whether you choose to or not is up to you, but it's good to know that it's always an option if you wish.