Frequently Asked Questions

You will need to submit your accommodation application on our accommodation portal. You may need to wait up to 48 hours before being able to apply for accommodation after selecting York as your choice on UCAS.

Apply for accommodation

Not at all. As a member of a college, you’ll have full access to Welcome Week and college-led activities. Student Castle and Fusion may also host additional welcome events specifically for their residents.

Some room types may appear unavailable because they are already fully booked. The options you see in the application system reflect the rooms still available to apply for.

We’ll pass your details to Student Castle or Fusion Students from A-level results day onwards. They will then contact you directly. Please check your inbox and spam folders regularly to avoid missing important updates.

Unfortunately, as your contract is with Student Castle or Fusion, it isn’t possible to transfer to a room on campus. However, both providers may have a replacement tenant policy, so we recommend speaking to them directly if you're unhappy.
You’ll also be part of Vanbrugh College, so you can access their support services for additional guidance and wellbeing support.

Yes! All students nominated to Student Castle or Fusion Students will be part of Vanbrugh College. You’ll receive college communications, be able to attend events, use social spaces, and access the same support network as on-campus residents.

Both residences are within walking distance of campus. On average, it takes around 23 minutes to walk to Campus West.

Yes:

• Student Castle is on the 66 bus route to campus.
• Fusion is close to the U2 bus route.

There is plenty of bike storage across campus if you choose to cycle instead.

Yes, to secure your room, a £250 advance payment is required after accepting your booking.

No deposit is required. An advance payment of £250 is required if you're living in Student Castle or Fusion Student. 

If you're living in on-campus accommodation, no deposit or advance payment is required. Your first rent payment will be due in October 2025. 

Accommodation payments

Your accommodation offer email will tell you how many days you have to accept your offer. Please read this carefully. If you don't accept or decline the offer, it will expire and your application will be rejected. 

We begin processing accommodation applications from the afternoon of Thursday 14 August. Offers will be sent out in batches over the following days, so please check your email regularly, including your spam/junk folders.

Don’t worry - room offers are sent in batches throughout the day. If you haven’t received an offer yet, it doesn’t mean there’s a problem with your application.

If you would like to swap rooms, you'll need to find another booking holder who is the same student type as yourself and is happy to take over your room type and let length. Use our accommodation adverts web page to advertise your room swap. If you find somebody to swap with, you'll both need to complete the Request to Swap form. 

All applications are considered equally and allocated via a computerised system to impartially place applicants according to their preferences. Rooms are not allocated on a "first-come, first-served" basis.

We're sorry to hear you didn't receive one of your top accommodation choices. 

While we try to match your preferences, we cannot guarantee your top choices. If your preferred college or room type was oversubscribed, we’ll allocate an alternative from your list where possible.

Allocation is carried out using a computerised, impartial system based on preferences - not on when you applied. This ensures fairness for all applicants.

Some locations, such as David Kato College and Anne Lister College, are extremely popular, and demand exceeds availability. We encourage applicants to select a range of preferences rather than focusing on just one or two colleges.

If you're unhappy with your room, you may be able to arrange a room swap with another student. Many students successfully change rooms this way each year.

Rejecting your room offer means you are no longer covered by the accommodation guarantee. If you change your mind, you can reactivate your application through the accommodation portal. 

We will process reactivated applications after we have allocated rooms to guaranteed applicants.

Keep checking your emails in case any offers become available at short notice.

If your offer has expired, you will need to reactivate your application by logging back into the accommodation portal. However, please note that your accommodation guarantee is no longer valid, and we will prioritise applications from students still within the guarantee period.

Please apply as soon as possible. While we will do our best to assist you, priority will be given to existing applications.

We strongly advise against rejecting your room offer, as this will remove your accommodation guarantee. If you're unsure, we recommend accepting the offer and then exploring the option to swap rooms with another student.

Your You@York login details were sent to you in your original offer email from the University. If you can’t find them, please contact IT Services for help.

You’ll receive a Room Reveal email in the first week of September, which will include your room number and accommodation block.

Please try the following:

• Close all browser tabs and windows
• Clear your browser’s cache and history
• Restart your browser and try again

If the issue persists, please contact the accommodation team for support.

If you did not apply under the additional requirements process when first submitting your application, we may not be able to meet specific room requests at this stage.

However, please get in touch as soon as possible, and provide supporting medical documentation. We will do our best to help.

If you need a mini-fridge for storing medication, or other room adaptations, please email us with medical evidence so we can advise on next steps.

Catered accommodation offers a number of benefits:

• Two meals a day (Monday to Friday) included in your rent
• Flexible mealtimes: breakfast (8 to 10.30am) and dinner (5 to 7.15pm), with takeaway options
• A great opportunity to socialise and meet others
• Dietary requirements and allergies can be accommodated

Learn more about catered accommodation

Shared bathrooms may not be your first choice, but many students find they quickly adjust:

• Bathrooms are lockable, cleaned three times per week, and toilet paper is provided daily
• You’ll have a washbasin in your room
• Students often discover they’re not all on the same schedule, so waiting isn’t usually an issue

Initial concerns tend to fade once students settle in and get to know their flatmates.

Due to our large portfolio of over 7,000 rooms, we’re unable to provide photos or videos of your individual room. However, you can view example images on your college’s accommodation webpage.

Undergraduate arrival dates are:

• Friday 12 September (for international and UK students)
• Saturday 13 to Sunday 14 September (for UK students)

Your specific arrival date and time slot will depend on your residence and will be confirmed nearer the start of term.

Early arrivals are not permitted as rooms are being prepared between tenancies. Please make sure to arrive on or after your contract start date.

If you’ve completed your induction and booked a time slot, please contact your college directly to request any changes.

Unfortunately, early arrivals aren’t possible. Our rooms are undergoing cleaning and maintenance between semesters, so we won’t be able to accommodate you before your official contract date. Please plan to arrive on or after your scheduled move-in day.

Please refer to our What to Bring pages for detailed packing lists tailored to Undergraduate and International arrivals.

• 3/4 size beds: Constantine, Langwith, David Kato, and Anne Lister Colleges
• Standard single beds: All other colleges

Most of our kitchens are equipped with electric hobs, please ensure any pans you bring are electric compatible. 

Find out about different payment methods.

Your rent is collected in 3 instalments, at the end of October, January and April. You can see what your rent instalments are on your accommodation portal.

You will need to submit your accommodation application on our website. Once you have made the University of York your Firm or Insurance choice on UCAS track you will need to wait up to 48 hours before being able to apply for accommodation.

Apply for accommodation

You can find your You@York details and how to set up your account in your initial course offer emails. If you are unable to find these please contact UG admissions at ug-admissions@york.ac.uk

Yes you will need to be applying as a full time student at York to apply for our accommodation. Part time students are not eligible for the council tax exemption which covers our accommodation.

• Clear your browser history and close all of your browsers, then try again. This usually clears any issues with the application. 
• Ensure you have selected a minimum of 7 room preferences (maximum 4 ensuite), and you don’t have any filters enabled so you can see all of the options. Nursing and Midwifery students need to select a minimum of 6 preferences.
• Try opening the application system web page in a different browser, e.g. if you are using Safari, try using Google Chrome instead.

If you are still having issues with submitting your accommodation application, please contact us at accommodation@york.ac.uk.

When applying for accommodation you need to select seven preferences before you can submit your application. Out of the seven, a maximum of four ensuite rooms can be selected, leaving you to also choose three shared bathroom options. If you're hoping to be allocated an ensuite room, we'd suggest that you put the three shared bathroom options towards the end of your preference list. The order of preference is 1-7, 1 being your first choice and 7 being your last choice.

When you submit your accommodation application you will have the chance to include details on what your additional requirements are, what room type you feel you need and to upload supporting medical evidence. If we need more information from you, we will be in touch to discuss this further.

If you are struggling to upload documents to your accommodation application, please submit the application as normal, including any comments you want us to see, and send your documents to us as an email attachment instead at accommodation@york.ac.uk.

Yes, if you're completing an Additional requirements Supporting Evidence Form, it's no problem to complete it by hand and scan it in to attach to your accommodation application.

Unfortunately, we do not offer single gender accommodation at the University of York.

Yes, everyone who stays in catered accommodation has access to a kitchen too. Catering at the University means you get your breakfast and evening meal, Monday to Friday in semester time included in the price of your room. You may want to make your own lunch and snacks in your kitchen.

Yes, there's always plenty of choice at our catering outlets for different dietary requirements. If you're looking at catered accommodation, we'd recommend contacting our catering team on ycl-catering@york.ac.uk to check you're happy with the availability before applying for catered accommodation.

Halal food menus are available at all of our 'call to order' menu outlets, we also offer halal menus for our catered accommodation and college night meal sites. If you have a different dietary requirement, we'd recommend contacting our catering team on ycl-catering@york.ac.uk to check you're happy with the availability before applying for catered accommodation. See our web page: About our food. 

Breakfast is served 8am to 10.30am, dinner is served 5pm to 7.15pm.

• Our catered accommodation will be in Derwent, James and Vanbrugh Colleges, this includes breakfast and evening meals, Monday to Friday, in Semester time only. You can find more information on catered accommodation here.
• If you're a first year student, our Colleges on Campus East include a Weekly College Meal. You'll have dinner on campus at the Piazza restaurant one evening each week, with other students who live in your College. You can find more information on the weekly college meal here.
• If you do select a Catered or Weekly College meal, our prices are inclusive of that. Whether you select Catering or the Weekly College Meal.

Rent instalments are taken on the following dates for the 2025/26 academic year:

• 31 October 2025
• 31 January 2026
• 30 April 2026

For further information on payments, visit our Accommodation Payments web page.

Yes, you're more than welcome to bring house plants to your room / accommodation.

We do not recommend personal kitchen appliances to be brought onto campus. In your kitchen, you'll be provided with all of the essentials such as a fridge, freezer, microwave, kettle and toaster.

Unless you have specific needs that require you to store medication in a cool environment, we do not allow mini fridges to be brought on to campus and be used in your room. Explore our web page: New Undergraduates - What to bring. 

Unless you have specific needs that require assistance from a dog that's registered with a charitable organisation affiliated to Assistance Dogs UK, we are unfortunately unable to give permission for animals, including cats and dogs to be brought onto campus accommodation.

Yes, we have a range of rooms available to those with accessibility needs. You'll just need to tell us about any access needs you have when you apply for accommodation. Find out more on our Additional Requirements web page. 

It depends, some of our rooms have single beds and some have 3/4 or a small double bed. If you look up the specific room you're interested in on our website it will specify what size the bed is.

All of our accommodation is heated, it is turned off once the weather warms up in spring. We hope you're comfortable in your room, but it's always nice to have a blanket or big hoodie to hand for extra cosiness. Portable heaters aren't allowed.

We'd recommend you consider if you'd like ensuite or shared bathroom, catered or self-catered, and which campus you'd like to be on first. Then use our helpful College, rooms and prices web page to compare the 2025/26 room option availability.

Vacuum cleaners are provided but we do not provide irons or ironing boards, unless they're left behind by previous tenants. You might want to split the cost and purchase these with your flat mates if you don't find them in your kitchen cupboard after moving in.

Studios are furnished similarly to single-occupancy bedrooms in shared flats, but you will have exclusive use of your own kitchen and bathroom.

There's a supermarket on both Campus West and Campus East. There's a bus that takes you to Clifton Moor from Campus East where there's lots of shops such as a Tesco Extra, B&M and Home Bargains. You can cycle or walk to Aldi in Fulford or Foss Islands which has a number of supermarkets on it too (Lidl, Waitrose and Morrisons). It's always an option to have your shopping delivered on campus too.

We don't have any quiet/alcohol free accommodation, however we do have a sober society and plenty of students on campus don't drink.