There is a separate Accommodation Handbook which provides full details on College provision and deals fully with all matters relating to your room.
7.2.1 Rooms and Rents
Selwyn has a variety of student accommodation in staircases on Old Court, Cripps Court, Ann’s Court and in nearby detached houses, known as hostels. Rooms are coded according to the facilities available in each room, with a corresponding range of weekly room rents, including utilities. Details of codes and current rents are given in section 5 of this handbook.
Undergraduates are typically charged for three 10-week terms, with any vacation residence charged pro-rata. Postgraduates are charged quarterly but will pay for no more than 48 weeks per year. The rental year begins on 1 October. Students who arrive later than that date, for whom the College is holding a room that cannot otherwise be re-let, will be charged from 1 October.
Rent and other charges may rise by more than the rate of inflation in the future.
Selwyn College provides a high standard of student accommodation which conforms to the ANUK and Unipol Codes of Practice for the management of Student Housing. The purpose of these Codes is to provide students with professional housing services. The standards set by the Codes reflect a balance of common-sense obligations and responsibilities between landlords and tenants. They also reflect established best practice in the sector and are based on what students could reasonably expect of good quality housing.
The standards are supported by the NUS. Subscribing to the codes means that:
- both parties can enjoy the benefits of good standards of housing management and practice
- misunderstandings and disputes are reduced
- where problems do occur, they can be promptly resolved, and where they are not the Codes operate an independent complaints procedure
7.2.2 Fixed Periods of Residence (FPR)
The Fixed Periods of Residence for undergraduates for 2023-24 are:
Michaelmas Term:
23 September 2023 (2:00 pm) - 3 December 2023 (10:00 am)
Lent Term:
13 January 2024 (2:00 pm) - 24 March 2024 (10:00 am)
Easter Term:
13 April 2023 (2:00 pm) - 23 June 2023 (10:00 am)
The undergraduate Fixed Period of Residence covers Full Term and some extra days, totalling 70 nights when undergraduates are entitled to occupy their room.
Undergraduates in their second, third or fourth year may access their room after 12.00 noon on the first day of the Fixed Period of Residence and must vacate their room by 10.00 on the last day of the FPR. First-year undergraduates, however, are asked to come up during the weekend before the start of the Michaelmas Full Term. A rent rebate recognises this shorter period of residence.
7.2.3 Residence Outside the FPR
During the vacations, the College is entitled to use its undergraduate rooms for other purposes, such as housing admissions candidates, visitors for Open Days or other outreach events and conference guests. The income from conferences is vital to the College’s financial well-being. The College will always try to find rooms for students who are required to be resident for University or College purposes (e.g. obligatory vacation courses or summer placements supported by the College). We will always also try to allow students who wish to remain in Cambridge to study during the Easter vacation to do so. If you do wish to do so, and if finances are an issue, please discuss the matter with your Tutor. Students who receive a Cambridge Bursary will be eligible for Elgar Support Grants to help with costs of residence outside the FPR in Easter vacation. They may also be eligible for some College support for the Christmas vacation. Permission to stay in a College room during the vacation will depend on need and availability but we will make every effort to meet requests. Students are asked particularly to note that applications to remain in College outside the FPR on grounds of greater convenience to the student or their family may not be prioritised. Students who are reliant on their family to provide transport, should ensure that they are available on a date that falls within the FPR if possible.
Residence outside the FPR requires the permission of the Senior Tutor. To request permission you must complete a ‘staying-up’ form, which will be sent electronically after the division of each Term (half-way through). You should consult your Tutor if you wish to make such a request. No applications received after the final date for the receipt of forms will be considered unless it can be shown that some new factor has arisen which the student could have not known about before the deadline. If permission is given for educational reasons, a lower rate will be charged per night; if permission is given but without educational reasons, a higher rate per night will be charged. Please see the relevant sections on Fees & Charges in the Student Guide (Undergraduates Section 5.1.1, Graduates Section 5.1) or the Accommodation Officer.
Outside the FPR, it is probable that students, most likely those living in Old Court, Ann’s Court but potentially at any location, will be required to move to a room in College other than their term-time room. Students are requested to co-operate with the staff in the organisation of any such move.