Frequently Asked Questions

If you've been browsing our accommodation pages recently, you may have spotted a change. We've removed banding from our accommodation listings, and here's why: 

After working closely with the University of York Students' Union, we realised that the old banding system didn't quite capture the wide variety of accommodation options we offer. The new approach allows us to give you a more accurate picture of our rent prices, reflecting both the age and quality of each individual property. By removing the banding, we aim to make rent prices clearer. 

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 Nisa on both Campus West and Campus East. The number 6 bus 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. 

You have seven days from the date the accommodation offer is sent, to accept or reject it. If you don’t do either, the offer will expire and your application will be rejected. 

We're sorry to hear you didn't receive your top accommodation choice. We process and allocate rooms using a mass allocator that works it's way through your preferences based on what's available. Unfortunately, your first preference was not available at the time of your application being processed.

If you reject your accommodation offer, you can resubmit your accommodation application. However, we may not be able to offer you an alternative one and we can’t confirm a timeline for when we may be able to send you another offer.

Offers will be sent out in batches from Thursday 14 August 2025 so make sure you check your emails regularly so you don’t miss anything from us. 

We will be prioritising offers for students who meet our accommodation guarantee. Check if you are eligible for the accommodation guarantee.

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. 

Your arrival date for September 2025, will likely fall on the one of the following dates; Friday 12 September, Saturday 13 September or Sunday 14 September. This date will be made clear when you receive your room offer in August 2025, and confirmed once you accept your contract.

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.

Find out about different payment methods.