CURRENT STUDENTS

This page aims to explain the different parts of the College Bill and where the money you pay to live here goes. It also includes an explanation about accommodation and the Room Ballot. 

This page is currently up to date for 2023-2024. Please contact our Accommodation and Facilities Officer, Nuozhen Tu, if you have any queries or if you feel that this page could be more accurate or helpful.

The College Bill

The College Bill is paid termly.

Here is an explanation of the things in your college bill and what they pay for:

Rent

Rent is the cost of your room during the 10-week period of residence. This will vary depending on which price band your room is classed in (See Below - Contracts). Rent is inclusive of the charge for utilities, internet access and use of facilities at Catz.

Out-of-term Rent

If you stay in college accommodation outside of term time (See Below), the cost will be added to your next college bill. This cost will depend on your occupancy time and will be charged accordingly. 

Michaelmas Storage Scheme

This is a £100 fee split over 3 terms. This is an opt-out programme which allows you to leave your items in your room in Michaelmas rather than vacating as usual. (See Below - Contracts).

Electrical Testing

This pays for annual mandatory PAT testing. It will only appear in the Michaelmas College Bill. 

JCR Subscription

This is a modest annual charge that funds the JCR so that we can provide things like the prescription scheme, welfairies and college bops. 

JCR Donation

This is an even more modest annual charge that is donated to the JCR selected charities.

EXAMPLE COLLEGE BILL 2023-2024 (BAND 7B ROOM)

Accommodation

Undergraduate rooms are located on main site on Trumpington Road (also known as Island site), and St Chad’s on Grange Road, which is about 10-15 minutes’ walk away. 1st and 3rd years stay on main site, whilst 2nd years live in flats at St Chad’s.

4th years usually live in South Green Lodge at Grantchester Meadows, or Belfield House and Silver House at St Chad’s.

To have a look at the rooms available across College, please check out the Accommodation Gallery Page. Please note that this is currently being updated to account for renovations in Sherlock court.

To have a look at what is provided with rooms, please check the relevant college page and accommodation handbook.

Accommodation charges

Rooms are categorised into eight price bands on the Island Site and three  price bands at St Chad’s. The highest banded rooms are priced at approximately 50% higher than the lowest banded rooms. The standard short contract currently ranges from £4101-£6264 per year on Island Site and £5331-5616 per year at St Chads. All En-Suite Rooms are in Bands 7-8 (See below for further details). Please refer to the Accommodation Gallery for further information.

Rooms are assessed by size, sharing of bathroom and kitchen ratio, facilities, the view and other notable differences:

Main site

Band 1 8 sq metres or less

Band 2 8.1 - 10.4 sq metres

Band 3 10.5 -13 sq metres

Band 4 13.1 - 14 sq metres

Band 5 14.1 - 16 sq metres

Band 6 16.1 - 20 sq metres

Band 7 Standard room 20.1+ sq metres

Band 7A less than 14 sq metres and en-suite. Various limitations e.g small room, impaired view, noise or shut windows.

Band 7B less than 14 sq metres and en-suite

Band 8 more than 14 sq metres and en-suite

Where the sharing of a bathroom or kitchen is above 8 students and the area falls in the lower half of the calculation formula then the band is lowered by 1.

Chads

Band C1 - Standard or smaller than average bedroom with no dining space

Band C2 - Smaller than average bedroom with full dining space, or standard size bedroom with smaller dining space

Band C3 - Standard size bedroom with full dining space

From October 2016 the accommodation charge has included the cost of the room and facilities i.e. electricity, gas (for heating), water and broadband. The College purchases its energy in a consortium with other colleges, at costs below domestic prices. 

Unfortunately, water, gas and electricity meters aren’t placed in a way that allows for College to bill usage by staircase. Therefore, costs are averaged to produce a uniform heating and lighting bill for rooms in Island Site, and separately averaged for rooms in St Chads. The heating and lighting charge at St Chads tends to be greater than that for Island Site, due to different observed rates of energy consumption.  

Rents are reviewed every year. The JCR Committee and the Bursar review the allocation of rooms to bands every few years. If you have any comments about the banding of your room, please contact the JCR Accommodation and Facilities Officer. 

Contracts

College offers 3 rent contracts to undergraduates, subject to room choice. Contracts can be chosen between the end of the ballots in Easter term and mid-September but cannot be changed during the academic year. It is likely that the vast majority of Freshers will be in short contract rooms.  

Michaelmas Storage Scheme

Starting from the 2024-2025 academic year, a new scheme will be in place. This will be an opt-out scheme which allows 2nd and 3rd Year students to leave their things in their rooms over the Michaelmas holidays.

This will cost £100, split over the three terms.

If you are on a medium/long contract, it is probably the case that you will automatically be opted out, though if it turns out to not be the case, please manually opt-out. (Since it will be the first year of implementation, I am unclear as to how the opt-out scheme will work).

Trunk Rooms

This is a free scheme. Since storage is limited, priority is given for international students, followed by those who live far away e.g Scotland or Northern Ireland.

There are Trunk Rooms located in E for you to store your items in. There is also a similar storage area in Chads. The limit is 4 large cases, and these must be labelled appropriately.

The application process has changed and the porters manage trunk room applications. About halfway through Michaelmas/Lent/Easter term, the Head Porter sends an email form with an application form for trunk room storage during the respective vacation periods. Trunk Room storage is available over the summer.

Short Contract

The short contract covers the standard 10-week periods of residence (PoR) each term. This is the default option for all rooms.  

Staying in your room outside of the PoRs without prior approval or leaving your things in the room will incur additional charges and possibly the removal of your belongings by college. 

Staying over the holidays 

It is still possible to stay in college during the vacations. About halfway through Michaelmas/Lent term, the Head Porter sends an email form asking who would like to stay up in college during the respective vacation periods. You will generally be allowed to stay, although it isn’t guaranteed if you aren’t a finalist. College also has provisions for those staying over the summer for internships or other schemes.

Note that you will generally still be required to move rooms.

For 2024-2025, the short contract covers: 

05/10/24 to 15/12/24 (08/12/23 for first years)  

11/01/25 to 23/03/25 

19/04/25 to 29/06/25 (04/07/25 for granduands) 

Rents for the academic year 2024-25 (Termly and Annual): 

Island Site

Band 1 - £1426 (£4278)

Band 2 - £1516 (£4548)

Band 3 - £1661 (£4983)

Band 4 - £1755 (£5265)

Band 5 - £1844 (£5532)

Band 6 - £1960 (£5880)

Band 7A - £2009 (£6027)

Band 7B - £2056 (£6168)

Band 8 - £2178 (£6534)

Band 9 - £2265 (6796)

St Chad’s

Band C1 - £1854 (£5562)

Band C2 - £1903 (£5709)

Band C3 - £1953 (£5859)

Medium Contract

The medium contract allows students to leave things in their room over the holidays. Students cannot stay in their rooms over the holidays. 

Rooms eligible: St Chad’s 

For 2024-2025, the medium contract covers: 

05/10/24 to 15/12/24

11/01/25 to 23/03/25

19/04/25 to 29/06/25

Rents for the academic year 2024-25 (Termly and Annual): 

St Chad’s

Band C1 - £1941 (£5823)

Band C2 - £1990 (£5970)

Band C3 - £2040 (£6120)

Long Contract

The long contract covers an additional 5 weeks of lease over the Lent holidays. Students cannot stay over the Michaelmas holidays but can leave things in their rooms over that period.

Rooms eligible: A, B, Woodlark, South Green Lodge and the 4th floors of E, Bull and Gostlin 

St Chad’s and Silver Street Flats - Each person in a flat must choose a long contract

For 2024-2025, the long contract covers: 

05/10/24 to 22/12/24

11/01/24 to 29/06/24 

Rents for the academic year 2023-24 (Termly and Annual):

Island Site

Band 1 - £1513 (£4539)

Band 2 - £1610 (£4830)

Band 3 - £1760 (£5280)

Band 4 - £1868 (£5604)

Band 5 - £1950 (£5850)

Band 6 - £2087 (£6261)

Band 7A - £2125 (£6375)

Band 7B - £2163(£6489)

Band 8 - £2318 (£6954)

Band 9 - £2411 (£7,233)

St Chad’s 

Band C1 - £1965 (£5895)

Band C2 - £2019 (£6057)

Band C3 - £2073 (£6219)

Rents for the academic year 2024-25 (Termly and Annual): 

Band 1 - £1578 (£4734)

Band 2 - £1680 (£5040)

Band 3 - £1836 (£5508)

Band 4 - £1949 (£5847)

Band 5 - £2034 (£6102)

Band 6 - £2178 (£6534)

Band 7A - £2217 (£6651)

Band 7B - £2257 (£6771)

Band 8 - £2419 (£7257)

Band 9 - £2515 (£7548)

St Chad’s

Band C1 - £2050 (£6150)

Band C2 - £2107 (£6,321)

Band C3 - £2163 (£6489)

Room Ballot

Rooms are allocated in the following way: 

If you have a disability, please refer to this

Freshers 

• Freshers are allocated rooms on the Island Site which haven’t previously been chosen by the students who will form the third year 

• The College will contact you about accommodation at the end of August, and you will be able to indicate your preferred room bands, but you won’t be able to select a specific room. 

Second Year Ballot 

• During Lent Term in your first year, there is a random ballot which dictates the order in which you choose your second-year accommodation at St Chad’s.  

• All rooms at St Chad’s are grouped into flats, which usually comprise 4 study-bedrooms with full kitchens and two shared bathrooms. There are 3 flats of 2 and 6 flats of 5. 

• Students will typically ballot in groups with their flat. However, this can also be done individually or in smaller groups. 

Third Year Ballot 

• During Lent Term in your second year, the ballot order for flats at St Chads is inverted to produce the room selection order for your third year. As such, those at the bottom of the ballot for 2nd year rooms will be at the top of the ballot for the 3rd year. 

• Students ballot individually rather than in groups. 

• Returning Linguists and those on years abroad are counted as 3rd years rather than 4th years and will select their room whilst on their year abroad. They will retain the same ballot position that which they would’ve had if they had stayed in Cambridge for their 3rd year. 

4th Year Accommodation 

Some students, particularly in the sciences, stay on to do a 4th year. 

The College cannot provide a 100% guarantee but generally expects to be able to provide accommodation for all undergraduates on a planned four-year course, provided that they register interest in college accommodation by the deadlines set and circulated annually.  In the case that you don’t secure college accommodation, you will require alternative options. 

Returning Linguists and those on years abroad are counted as 3rd years rather than 4th years and are guaranteed a room in college. 

Note: If you intermitted, you will be balloted with the year which you are studying with in the same ballot position which you originally had. If you wish to ballot with the year you matriculated with, please email the Accommodation and Facilities Officer when Ballot emails have been sent out (March/April).

The College Dean has the right to override room allocations for disciplinary reasons. Such cases, while exceptionally rare, are likely to place a student in a room of a lower band than their original room choice, and no refunds or reductions are available in such cases.