The Student Room Group
Most do for at least one year of your three. Certainly I don't think there is a college that defintely won't make you.
However most collegesa re good about letting people stay in the holidays, though not always in their rooms, especially if you are an international student.
At the end of the day clearning out your room is a pain but I'd rather do that twice a term than pay 80-100 quid a week for when I;m not using it (probably higher as the college can use money gained from renting out to conferences to cross subidise rent)
Most colleges (if not all) have the option of long-contract accomodation, which means you can leave your stuff there (and even stay yourself for some of it) over the holidays.

They also provide 'trunk rooms' where you can leave your stuff if you can't leave it in your room.

As for getting stuff to and from your cars/rooms, this year I'm lucky enough to live next to the carpark, but last year it took a couple of trips up and down the road. King's provide trolleys if you need them, not sure about other colleges. Bring the family and them to all pitch in...that's my strategy.
Reply 3
I just asked a question related to this in the Trinity forum (incidentally, I'd heard rooms had to be cleared out at the end of *every* term at Trinity - is that the case?).

How is it that people get all their stuff to/from cars to/from their rooms?! Especially for freshers at the start of term...

Most colleges require most people to clear out their rooms at the end of every term, unless (and only in some cases) you're willing to pay the rent for over the vacations. I've never *had* to move out, here, because Newnham's pretty good at prioritising its student when it comes to rooms (though not over the summer), though I've often chosen to because it's not worth forking out the rent if I'm not going to be in the room. Over this last Xmas & Easter, though, I kept the room 'cause I didn't go away for long.

As for getting stuff fromt/to cars & rooms...er...use your imagination! You carry the stuff. There are usually trolleys available, too, and some colleges have a lift in the more modern buildings. TBH anyone who's in a position to be able to have a car parked right outside college is incredibly lucky and should just lump it: those people who don't come by car, but have to carry *everything* on a train or (worse) plane, can sometimes have a horrid time of it. The vast majority of weight and volume of my luggage is books and files -- if my parents weren't able to let me use the car/them, I just wouldn't be able to bring them (at least not in one go). Everyone manages, though, and we all get used to it by the end. It's annoying, but amazing how easy it gets t pack up your life!
Some colleges also give you padlocked storage areas within your room... for example most rooms here have fitted wardrobes with a lockable compartment above where I can fit my printer, mini-fridge, laptop speakers, kitchen stuff, posters, half-full bottles of toiletries... basically everything I actually want to leave. Even if there is some storage available of course you still have to move out of your room so someone else can use it over the holiday, and the nicer your room and the more modern your accomodation the more likely it is you'll have to do this.

Generally you're likely to find better access for moving in and out with the further out colleges, but because these tend to be the newer ones they're also the ones which host conferences, so you're more likely to have to move out in the holidays!

The heaviest things I have to carry backwards and forwards tend to be boxes of work (which increase with each year sadly) which I wouldn't want to leave here in the holidays anyway as I have vacation work to do.
Reply 5
chris1200
How is it that people get all their stuff to/from cars to/from their rooms?! Especially for freshers at the start of term...

You carry stuff - unless you've got a better idea? Most colleges have some trolleys to cart stuff around. Basically, you rope people in to helping you carry your stuff - for the first time you come up you'll probably have some college parents that will be able to help you (along with your real parents).
But yeah, you only really need to be worrying about transporting stuff if you're coming by public transport.
Reply 6
chris1200
How is it that people get all their stuff to/from cars to/from their rooms?! Especially for freshers at the start of term...


Usually for freshers the 1st term, they'll be tons of JCR committee floating around to help carry boxes etc. Plus parents ofcoruse
Reply 7
There should be storage areas in every college.

I know Corpus lets me leave stuff in my room; but it is at my own risk. Granted all I have had stolen is a pillow - which I am blaming on housekeeping to be honest; though all it does take is one person for something more valuable to be stolen.
Reply 8
churchill has huge overhead storage where you can fit pretty much everything in over the holidays
Reply 9
chris1200
I meant more the idea of getting cars close enough to the college... and them being able to park there. As I'd be at Trinity, so it's city-centre.

Ah sorry, sounded like a between cars and rooms problem - hope someone in the Trinity thread can give you some helpful info!
Do you have to pay to use these storage room or are they free?
Reply 11
Serena McKeenzo
Do you have to pay to use these storage room or are they free?


At Trinity, there are free storage rooms for international students. There is one at Whewell's Court, close to where first year accomodation is. As for boxes etc. the best thing is to search behind Sainsburys and all and try to find some big boxes there ;p I found a nice big one in my first year that Im still using hehe.

Additionally, depending on where youre staying and the mood of your bedder/the accomodation officer you can store stuff in overhead lockers in your room (I was denied that this year, but was allowed last year..).
That's great, it'd have been a real pain to move all my stuff across the Channel at the end of each term then back again. Now at least my parents have one less things to worry about :biggrin: Thanks for the info!
Reply 13
i like cleaning.
It doesn't depend on the college- it depends where you live in each college!

Here at Queens', if you live in on one of the rooms on one side of the college, you need to clear everything out with only a small space for storage (this is where all the first years and quite a few 2nd/3rd years live). If you live on the other side of college, then you have the option of storing your stuff there because those rooms aren't used for conferences!
Chewwy
i like cleaning.

Very therapeutic ;yes;
Oh man, I've been staying at college without moving out of my room since January. Not looking forward to clearing out my room. It's a tip at the moment... though I like to think it looks like a mad scientist's den... :biggrin: