Accommodation

Here, you can find information about how the ballot system works, as well as details about all the different rooms and houses.

There is further information and photos of rooms for existing students available by clicking here.

At Corpus, every undergraduate student is provided with college accommodation for the duration of their course. First years are usually given rooms in the Oldham/Jackson Building, which is practically opposite the main college site on the other side of Merton Street. There is then a ballot system to decide accommodation for second, third and fourth years; those with exams in the coming year are given first pick.

There are a number of spacious rooms in college overlooking the quad, as well as a few rooms round the corner on Magpie Lane. A wide range of college-owned off-site accommodation includes Liddell Building on Iffley Road, which has several three or four person flats, the Lampl Building on Park End St, and some houses on Banbury Road and Walton Street.

The college provides three meals a day in hall except Saturday, and there are also kitchen facilities available to all undergraduates. There are laundry facilities, with washing machines and tumble driers which can be operated using a pay-as-you go card purchased from the lodge. All rooms have wired and wireless internet connections.

A list of all on-site accommodation can be found here, and all off-site accommodation here. We also survey JCR members on how they found their rooms: 2017 results and 2016 results.

If you have any queries, please contact the JCR Accommodation Officer.

Below are notes on applying for vacation residence, how rooms are allocated for freshers and how rooms are graded.

Vacation residence (vac res)

When you apply for rooms in the ballot, keep in mind you are more likely to get vac res for non-priority reasons if you live in Banbury or Walton Street

Vac res on compassionate grounds (i.e. not having anywhere to live, mental health issues) must be applied for through both the vac res form (by ticking the new “Mental Health” option and providing a brief explanation in the box) and by letting a senior member of the college welfare team (e.g. the Dean of Welfare) know about your problem. If you fulfil both of these requirements, your chances of receiving vac res are very high.

Chances of getting summer vac res go up after 1 September (due to their being more free rooms). The chances of being granted vac res for the weekend before term starts is incredibly high (almost guaranteed), so don’t be shy about applying for it, as almost all rooms are empty.

Room allocation for freshers

Room allocation for freshers is (mostly) random. Each fresher is given a random number, and assigned a random room accordingly. Adjustments are made if there is an unreasonably disproportionate number of more boys or more girls on a single floor/building so as to get a good mix of students.

Once their place at Oxford is confirmed, students can request certain kinds of rooms, for example:

  • Ground floor rooms, say for disability reasons.
  • Rooms next to full kitchens, say for religious or allergy reasons.
  • Rooms which aren’t A-grade rent, so as to have cheaper rent.

Room grading

The Accommodation Officer has a full list of room grading criteria and has seen the current gradings that these created. Room size, bathroom facilities and kitchen facilities make up the bulk of how grades are determined.

If you feel your room is unfairly graded, please send the Accommodation Officer an email detailing which room you have and why you think it is designated as the wrong grade (i.e. what’s wrong with it: size, lighting, facilities etc.). They will look into the criteria present in the complaint and see if this is wrongly scored and, if it were changed, whether it would affect the room’s overall grade.

The Domestic Bursar aims to complete a full room grading tour at least every 5 years. If a building is renovated, its rooms will be regraded immediately.

Any decreases in room grade will be enacted immediately, while any increases in room grade will be delayed until after the next ballot, to allow people time to think about which room they would like.