The University of York’s two campuses are at Heslington, south-east of the city centre. Campus West is the original one around the lake, with the JB Morrell Library, Central Hall and six of the colleges, and Hull York Medical School is based here as well. Campus East, across Field Lane beyond Heslington village, has the other five colleges, the Ron Cooke Hub, York Sport Village and the buildings for Computer Science, the School of Arts and Creative Technologies, the School for Business and Society and York Law School. From the city the Library on Campus West is the nearer of the two, so a building’s distance to Campus East is its distance to the Library plus the walk between the campuses. HESA’s count put the university’s student population at 22,345 in 2024/25.
For 2026/27 a college room costs from £149 a week, for a self-catered room with a shared bathroom at Halifax College on a 40 week let, up to £269 for a catered en-suite room at Vanbrugh College on 38 weeks. Most en-suite rooms fall between those figures, at £206 a week self-catered on Campus West over 40 weeks and £213 to £231 on Campus East, where lets are 44 weeks and the large en-suite rooms are £251. A catered en-suite room is £266 a week over 40 weeks, £60 more than a self-catered one, and the catered colleges are all on Campus West. Postgraduates are let rooms for 51 weeks at £186 to £224 a week.
Private starting prices are £225 to £265 a week with bills included, on contracts of 12 to 51 weeks for 2026/27. Those college rents are the university’s published 2026/27 figures, and the private prices are what each provider is charging now.
First-year undergraduates studying full time who hold York as their firm or insurance choice, apply for a single room for the full year by the end-of-July deadline and whose offer is unconditional by results day are guaranteed a room. The guarantee covers university accommodation and approved off-campus accommodation, which means a private building the university has an arrangement with. You rank at least seven room preferences, no more than four of them en-suite, and a computer allocates rooms from everyone’s lists, firm-choice applicants first. Rent for a college room covers bills, contents insurance, wifi and wired internet and 24-hour security, and first years in the Campus East colleges get one college meal a week in the rent.
After first year the university keeps some campus rooms for returners in priority groups, such as students under 18, care leavers and students whose requirements cannot be met off campus, and expects everyone else to rent privately. A private building takes students from any year. You choose the building, the room and the number of weeks, and the provider is your landlord. You stay a member of your college wherever you live.
Student Castle York and Abode are private buildings that also house first years through the university. The university’s 2026/27 price list has an en-suite room in each at £220 a week on a 44 week let, applied for through the accommodation portal like a college room. The university sets the price and the let length, but the contract is with the building’s provider and the rent is paid to it, and residents on this route belong to Vanbrugh College. The same two buildings let their other rooms directly, at their own prices and contract lengths.
The postgraduate comparison is closer, since a postgraduate college room is let for 51 weeks, as a full-year private contract is; an en-suite room at Wentworth Graduate College costs £206 a week, £10,506 for the year. New postgraduates who accept their offer and apply by the end of July, and are unconditional by early August, are guaranteed a room too.
Walking times are to the JB Morrell Library on Campus West and the Ron Cooke Hub on Campus East. Bus times count the walk to the stop and leave out the wait.
Three areas closer to the campus come up in most students’ searches.
First York operates the university routes. Between them the U1 and U2 give a bus every 7 to 8 minutes in the daytime. Both start at York Sport Village on Campus East, cross Campus West and finish at the railway station, the U1 going into town by Green Dykes Lane and Lansdowne Terrace and the U2 by The Retreat and the Barbican. The U3 links Campus East with the city by Fulford Road. During term the UN1 night service goes between Campus East and the centre by Hull Road and Lawrence Street, from midnight into the early hours every night.
Inside the campus zone the bus is free when you tap on and tap off. The free zone finishes at Green Dykes Lane on the U1 and at The Retreat on the U2, so from Lawrence Street, Fishergate and Walmgate you pay, and First York’s fares start at £1.60. It sells semester, term and annual student tickets and packs of 10 single trips.
The Library and the Ron Cooke Hub are about 20 minutes’ walk apart on the university’s own campus map, and the U1 and U2 link the two campuses. York is flat, and by bike Campus West is under 10 minutes from Lawrence Street, Fishergate or Walmgate and Campus East 15 to 20 minutes. From Fishergate the shared path across Walmgate Stray takes you onto Campus West without using Heslington Road.
York station is across the city centre from the Heslington side. On foot it is 20 to 25 minutes from Fishergate or Walmgate, and Lawrence Street is about five minutes further, or you can take the U1 or U2 from the nearest stop.
Rent at a private building is normally bills included, which at a minimum means energy and water, and each property page says whether a building’s price covers internet, contents insurance or anything else. Student Castle York, for instance, includes contents insurance and wifi but not a TV Licence, if you need one. A college room’s rent covers contents insurance and internet as standard.
A private room is an en-suite bedroom in a shared flat, where the kitchen and living space are shared, or a studio with a kitchen of your own; some buildings offer both and some, such as Waterloo House, have nothing but studios. A twin studio for two, where a building has one, is priced for the pair. College rooms are en-suite or have a washbasin in the room and a shared bathroom.
Set side by side for 2026/27, en-suite against en-suite, a self-catered room at Alcuin College on Campus West is £206 a week over 40 weeks, £8,240 for the year. A Clifford en-suite room at Student Castle York booked with its provider is £229 a week over 50 weeks, £11,450. The same Clifford room allocated through the university is £220 a week over 44 weeks, £9,680.
Each private building has its own agreement, and the number of weeks is fixed when you book. From 1 May 2026, most assured tenancies in England’s private rented sector became periodic rather than fixed term. A room in purpose-built student accommodation can still be let for a fixed term where the provider belongs to an approved code of practice, as the Student Accommodation (Miscellaneous Provisions) (England) Regulations 2026 on legislation.gov.uk set out, and the ANUK/Unipol National Code lists its members online, so you can check a provider’s membership.
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 applies to student lettings in England. It caps a refundable tenancy deposit at five weeks’ rent when the total annual rent is under £50,000, and a holding deposit at one week’s rent, as GOV.UK’s guidance for tenants explains. Some providers take advance rent or a fixed payment instead of a full deposit, and each provider’s payment terms say what is due at booking. How a deposit is returned is governed by the tenancy agreement, and our guide to getting your deposit back covers the process. On the university route, Student Castle York asks for a £250 advance payment when you accept the room offer and Abode for a £250 deposit.
The University of York’s residence contract is a licence rather than a tenancy, and there is no deposit to pay for a college room. Rent is paid in three instalments, in October, January and April, and there is no guarantor requirement for a college room unless you are under 18, when the university may ask for one.
If a provider wants a guarantor, it means a UK-based adult who takes on your rent if you fall behind. Some providers will take rent in advance or a guarantor service instead, subject to each provider’s eligibility rules, and our guarantor guide goes through the options.
York SU’s venues are The Courtyard in Derwent College, The Lounge in James College, the Vanbrugh Arms in Vanbrugh College and The Kitchen at Alcuin on Campus West, with The Glasshouse over at Langwith College on the other campus. Your college puts on its own events and keeps a common room open to members who live off campus, which from second year is most of them. The JB Morrell Library opens from 8am to midnight every day and around the clock through the January and May exam periods. Central Hall stands by the lake beside Vanbrugh College, with the shops at Market Square close by, and York Sport Centre is a short walk away on James Way. Over on Campus East, York Sport Village has the pool and the cycle track.
For shopping, Lidl on James Street is next to Raffles Hall, Morrisons on Foss Islands Road is near Walmgate Bar, and there is a Tesco Express on Piccadilly, across the Foss from Walmgate. Heslington has its two pubs on Main Street, and the Nisa at Kimberlow Hill serves the Campus East colleges and Badger Hill.
Sorting the results by distance puts the buildings in order from the campus, Of the three areas inside the city, Lawrence Street is the closest, at 15 to 20 minutes on foot. Campus East is a further 20 minutes beyond the Library, so students based in the city take the U1 or U2 for lectures there, or cycle, which takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Every first-year undergraduate studying full time who meets the university’s conditions is guaranteed a single room for the full year, though not a particular college or room type. Approved off-campus accommodation is a room in a private building the university has an arrangement with. In 2026/27 that means Student Castle York and Abode, and the offer comes through the same portal. Clearing applicants get a later deadline in August.
For a college room you sign in to the university’s accommodation portal with your You@York login, rank your preferences and wait for an offer, which comes from results day onwards, and the university decides the room. For a private room you deal with the building’s provider, choose the exact room and contract length and sign its agreement, and our guide to booking student accommodation takes you through it step by step.
Each preference you rank names a college as well as a room type, so your list steers the allocation, but the computer gives you the highest preference still free when your turn comes. Colleges are not tied to courses, so you can rank any of them.
The university publishes a yearly total beside each weekly rent. For 2026/27 the £149 room at Halifax College comes to £5,960 over 40 weeks and the £269 catered room at Vanbrugh College to £10,222 over 38. Private rooms are priced by the week, from £225 to £265 with bills included, and the yearly total is that figure times the weeks you book, which can be as many as 51. Our guide to how much student accommodation costs has national figures to set against them.
Private buildings take first years directly, and you join your college on the same terms as anyone in a college room. A private contract can run to 51 weeks, against 40 or 44 for most college rooms.
In the private buildings between the city walls and the campus, around Walmgate, Fishergate and Lawrence Street, and, where a building is listed there, in Heslington or along Hull Road. Student Castle York and Raffles Hall also let rooms by the semester, on 12, 16 and 26 week contracts, for anyone on a placement or abroad for part of the year.
Wentworth Graduate College on Campus West is the postgraduate college, and postgraduate rooms there and at Halifax College are let for 51 weeks at £186 to £224 a week, so a postgraduate can compare a college room and a 51 week private room over the same number of weeks.
A provider that wants one will say so in its booking terms, and where you have no UK guarantor some providers take rent in advance or accept a guarantor service. On the university route, Abode asks for a guarantor from anyone paying by instalments, and a college room comes with no deposit and no guarantor unless you are under 18.
Yes, to Campus West, which is 15 to 25 minutes on foot from Walmgate, Fishergate or Lawrence Street. Campus East is about 20 minutes further on, so for lectures there most people catch the U1 or U2 or cycle, and a semester or annual student ticket from First York covers the bus.
If everyone in your flat is a full-time student there is no council tax to pay. Where someone in the household is not a full-time student, City of York Council may send a bill, though a discount can apply. The university lets you download a council tax exemption certificate from e:Vision if the council asks for one, and our guide to student council tax explains the rules.
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