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Parent's guide: University residences

This guide will advise parents on what options their son/daughter has when applying for university residences and how and when he/she should apply.

Who Can Apply for University Residences?

The University of St Andrews guarantees an offer of our residences to all UK/EU and overseas first year undergraduate students*, provided all the following conditions are met:

  • Students are coming to the University alone.
  • Studying for the full academic session.
  • Application is received by 30 June in the year of entry.
  • All offer conditions or the unconditional offer has been accepted from the University/UCAS by 31 August in the year of entry.
  • The offer of accommodation has been accepted within 10 days of the offer being sent to your son/daughter’s email address.

If your son/daughter is not covered by the guarantee (e.g. they are a postgraduate or returning student or if he/she has applied after 31st May), he/she are still welcome to apply in the usual way and we will try our best to accommodate him/her.

Students applying after 30 June of the year of entry are not guaranteed accommodation but will be assisted where possible. All late applicants, including those whose place is unconditional at the time of application, will have to wait until all exam results, both Higher and A Level, are processed in late August. This is to ensure that all students who meet the guarantee conditions are accommodated.

Whilst a limited amount of accommodation is available to returning undergraduate students, we cannot guarantee a place within University accommodation after your son/daughter’s first year. In the event that your son/daughter does not get a place in University residence, he/she will have to rent privately. Please see the Parents Guide: Private Accommodation.

* Please note: In years of exceptionally high demand, we may ask students who live within a reasonable commuting distance to live at home until a room becomes available.

Accommodation Choices

With nearly 4,000 study bed spaces and a fantastic variety of accommodation to suit all tastes and budgets, we are sure that we have something to suit everyone.

Choosing a Residence

Prior to submitting their form it is important that students and their parents take a close look at the range of accommodation choices and prices on the accommodation guide to residences webpage.

Due to the limited space within university halls of residences, students are not able to specify a particular hall on their application form. Rather, residences have been categorized by the facilities that they offer (such as standard catered or en-suite self-catered). On their application form, therefore, students must list, in order of preference, the top four types of residences that they would like to be considered for.

We will try to allocate accommodation based on the first preference listed on the form. If this is not available, however, we will make an alternative offer based as closely as possible to the student’s preferences. Please ensure your son/daughter is happy with all four of their choices.

Choosing a Room

There is a range of catered and self-catered accommodation available, with a choice of standard rooms with shared bathroom facilities or en-suite. En-suite rooms include a toilet, sink and shower attached to the room for the sole use of the occupant/s.

Shared Rooms: If your son/daughter has requested to share a study bedroom, Student Accommodation Services will match him/her with a roommate based on their accommodation preference, lifestyle, hobbies and interests. Please note that if your son/daughter wishes to live in the centre of town he/she will most likely need to share a room.

Single Rooms: Offers for individual study bedroom accommodation are based on the residence preference and students of the same age and year of study will be allocated in rooms near to each other.

When to apply?

Once an offer of a place to study at the University has been received, it is time for your son/daughter to apply. Please encourage him/her not to wait for the offer status to change, regardless of whether his/her offer is Conditional or Unconditional as he/she needs to apply by the 30 June in the year of entry to meet the accommodation guarantee.

How to apply?

  1. Once your son/daughter has been made an offer of a place to study for the current year at St Andrews, he/she will receive an email with details on how to reply to the offer and how to proceed. The form may also be accessed from the following link: How to apply.  
  2. The completed and submitted form should be returned to accommapps@st-andrews.ac.uk by the given deadline.
  3. An acknowledgment should be received within 14 days; if not please contact Student Accommodation Services.

 

What Will Happen Next?

Student Accommodation Services do not pre-allocate accommodation to students. Allocation begins in June for students whose offer of a place is Unconditional and who have confirmed their acceptance with Admissions. Thereafter, allocations continue throughout the summer as and when final examination results are received and the status of individual UCAS applications changes from Conditional to Unconditional. Great care is taken to ensure that students who receive their exam results later in the year have an equal chance of receiving their first preference as those allocated at the start of the summer.

Once accommodation has been allocated, your son/daughter will receive a link by email directing him/her to their e-contract. This will need a response within 10 days, after which the offer expires. As we have occasionally experienced problems with some email addresses not accepting the automated offer, we advise this link be checked regularly once the Unconditional offer has been accepted: Residence e-contract. Accommodation contracts are for a fixed period of the full academic session unless students are only studying here for one semester.

Financial Information

Once your son/daughter has accepted his/her offer for university accommodation you will both need to work out a payment method with the university.

For information on payment methods please follow this link: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/money/Tuitionfees/PayingtheUniversity/. If you have any problems with accommodation fees please contact student services at:

Money Adviser, Student Services, Students’ Association.
Telephone: 01334 462720
Email: studentservices@st-andrews.ac.uk

Parents Checklist

  • Once your son/daughter has received an offer to university, whether conditional or unconditional, make sure he/she downloads an application form from the university website.
  • Both you and your son/daughter should look closely at the university guide to residences webpage and make sure you are both aware of all the different accommodation options and fees.
  • Ensure the form is filled in correctly, with the preferred types of residences listed in order from 1st – 4th.
  • Ensure the form is sent to accommapps@st-andrews.ac.uk by the 30 JUNE OF THE YEAR OF ENTRY.
  • Check that your son/daughter receives an acknowledgement email confirming that his/her application form has been received within 14 days of sending it through.
  • If your son/daughter has received an unconditional offer to university his/her accommodation will be allocated in July. If he/she has received a conditional offer their accommodation will be allocated in late August.  Please ensure that your son/daughter checks his/her emails regularly at this time. If his/her email or postal address changes at any time he/she must let the Accommodations Office know as soon as possible.
  • Ensure he/she accepts the accommodation offer within 10 days by following the link to his/her e-contract that will be sent with the allocation email.  If he/she does not do this, the offer will expire.
  • Both arrange the best payment method for your accommodation with the University finance department.

What Happens After First Year?

If your son/daughter is indenting to apply to live as a returning student in a university residence after their first year, he/she is able to do so in February of the year of entry. The University of St Andrews accommodates the highest percentage, proportionally, of its student body in the UK. Nevertheless, the consequence of high demand is that Student Accommodation Services (SAS) are not able to guarantee that returning students will get a place within a University residence. Therefore, it is important that you encourage your son/daughter to familiarize himself/herself with the process of renting privately in St Andrews and also actively consider the private sector, even if he/she has applied to be a returning student as a place is not guaranteed.  

 

Contact Information

All further enquiries regarding accommodation should be addressed to:

Student Accommodation Services
Residential and Business Services
Butts Wynd
St Andrews, Fife
KY16 9AL
Telephone: +44 (0)1334 462510
Fax: +44 (0)1334 465555
Email: accommodation@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/accommodation/

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