Choosing an Oxford College

qwertyuiop1993

As loathe as I am to say it, I believe Trinity is one of the most expensive colleges with regard to accommodation costs. Food is quite cheap but that's subsidised in the rent, which is around £1200 a term plus utilities which is around £50 (though having just received my battels for Trinity term it seems to have shot up to £100 despite the fact I haven't used twice as much energy :s-smilie:

) I've heard that other colleges, especially ones where you choose your price band, can go down as low as £900 a term.

That said the rooms are really nice, we get free unlimited printing and the food is good. As others have said, Oxford's financial aid is so good that, even being on one of the lowest income bracket, I have had no problems whatsoever with money, even at an expensive college.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2441

tooambitious

16

Original post by qwertyuiop1993

As loathe as I am to say it, I believe Trinity is one of the most expensive colleges with regard to accommodation costs. Food is quite cheap but that's subsidised in the rent, which is around £1200 a term plus utilities which is around £50. I've heard that other colleges, especially ones where you choose your price band, can go down as low as £900 a term.

That said the rooms are really nice, we get free unlimited printing and the food is good. As others have said, Oxford's financial aid is so good that, even being on one of the lowest income bracket, I have had no problems whatsoever with money, even at an expensive college.

i stayed at trinity for a night, OMFG the breakfast i had was amazing! never have i had such good pastries

Reply 2442

JessicaTSR

Thanks guys for replying :P
I'm going to the open day that's in June (or maybe July I dont remember!) and it's definitely one of the questions I will be asking!
After doing a little research and looking at the replies above, St Johns and Jesus colleges seem to appear the cheapest, simply due to the fact they are the richest! :colondollar:

Reply 2443

qwertyuiop1993

16

Original post by tooambitious

i stayed at trinity for a night, OMFG the breakfast i had was amazing! never have i had such good pastries

Haha the kitchen held back during interviews and the student helpers were complaining about the lower quality of food while the interviewees were bemused because the food was really nice as it was.

To OP. The kendrew (?) quad in St John's looks really nice accommodation wise.

Reply 2444

fluteflute

OP

19

Original post by qwertyuiop1993

To OP. The kendrew (?) quad in St John's looks really nice accommodation wise.

It does look lovely - but very few undergraduates get to stay there :tongue:

Reply 2445

nexttime

22

Original post by JessicaTSR

After doing a little research and looking at the replies above, St Johns and Jesus colleges seem to appear the cheapest, simply due to the fact they are the richest! :colondollar:

Have you seen the alternatie prospectus? The cheapest, according to that, is Merton and Oriel's lowest price band at £800 per term. Neither Johns nor Jesus seem particularly cheap at all, although there are indeed often other benefits of being at a very rich college. Note that some of Oriel's accommodation is down Cowley.

And to illustrate what has been said above, when i was applying, the cheapest available at my other university choices was about £4000/year, more than what any Oxford college charges. I think Nottingham quoted £6500 for an en-suite room? Crazy.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2446

llbnlwtsr

Original post by TimmonaPortella

Yes, that's right, everyone who went to a public school is a "rah", and not one of them is "down to earth".

I just said I used to go to a private school. I have friends at private school. Sorry if this affects your opinion of me; I'm aware it's more to flame people than to try and help but please take it elsewhere.

Reply 2447

TimmonaPortella

21

Original post by hideousnight

I just said I used to go to a private school. I have friends at private school. Sorry if this affects your opinion of me; I'm aware it's more to flame people than to try and help but please take it elsewhere.

Having been to a private school doesn't make you any less of an asshat in making your broad characterisation of people and communities you don't know based on an unwarranted assumption that a certain ratio even correlates with either, and I shall keep it right here, thank you.

Reply 2448

tooambitious

16

Original post by TimmonaPortella

Having been to a private school doesn't make you any less of an asshat in making your broad characterisation of people and communities you don't know based on an unwarranted assumption that a certain ratio even correlates with either, and I shall keep it right here, thank you.

+1 for makiing me chuckle

Reply 2449

llbnlwtsr

Original post by TimmonaPortella

Having been to a private school doesn't make you any less of an asshat in making your broad characterisation of people and communities you don't know based on an unwarranted assumption that a certain ratio even correlates with either, and I shall keep it right here, thank you.

The point I was making is that I have heard there is a college which is over 90% Etonians, which is not something I would be comfortable with. Why would I apply to Oxbridge if I were the sort of person who makes broad generalisations of private school people? But congratulations on being a keyboard warrior.

Reply 2450

dogmatichurricane

11

Original post by hideousnight

The point I was making is that I have heard there is a college which is over 90% Etonians, which is not something I would be comfortable with. Why would I apply to Oxbridge if I were the sort of person who makes broad generalisations of private school people? But congratulations on being a keyboard warrior.

I assume you're exaggerating because if you aren't - you're arguably the most gullible person I've heard on TSR.

Reply 2451

fudgesundae

16

Original post by hideousnight

The point I was making is that I have heard there is a college which is over 90% Etonians, which is not something I would be comfortable with. Why would I apply to Oxbridge if I were the sort of person who makes broad generalisations of private school people? But congratulations on being a keyboard warrior.

Really? Do the math. Most colleges have roughly 100 new undergrads every year. Eton sends about 45 people to Oxford every year. So even if they all go to the same college that still only makes it 45% Etonians.

Reply 2452

nexttime

22

Original post by hideousnight

The point I was making is that I have heard there is a college which is over 90% Etonians, which is not something I would be comfortable with. Why would I apply to Oxbridge if I were the sort of person who makes broad generalisations of private school people? But congratulations on being a keyboard warrior.

I really hope you weren't gullible enough to believe that! King's Cambridge was actually exclusively for etonians until 1865. Such examples are firmly confined to the history books though. Even the most private-dominated college still admits >40% state-schooled students.

Reply 2453

llbnlwtsr

Original post by fudgesundae

Really? Do the math. Most colleges have roughly 100 new undergrads every year. Eton sends about 45 people to Oxford every year. So even if they all go to the same college that still only makes it 45% Etonians.

Wow it's almost like I didn't know a lot about Oxford and was asking a question about it. Obviously I know what the admission statistics are like.

Reply 2454

la-dauphine

13

Original post by qwertyuiop1993

As loathe as I am to say it, I believe Trinity is one of the most expensive colleges with regard to accommodation costs. Food is quite cheap but that's subsidised in the rent, which is around £1200 a term plus utilities which is around £50. I've heard that other colleges, especially ones where you choose your price band, can go down as low as £900 a term.

That said the rooms are really nice, we get free unlimited printing and the food is good. As others have said, Oxford's financial aid is so good that, even being on one of the lowest income bracket, I have had no problems whatsoever with money, even at an expensive college.

Exeter is also pretty expensive - rents are slightly cheaper but there's a £300 per term catering charge, and that's on top of food costs. That said, since the new pricing system came in recently those costs have gone down considerably.

Whichever college you end up at, there will be an abundance of financial support, so don't worry about it too much!

Reply 2455

anyone_can_fly

11

Merton's accommodation is all £926 a term, regardless of how nice the room is. If you have a sitting room as well you pay and extra £54 a term. That must put it at the cheaper end - I remember seeing some document with every college's rent when I was choosing and Merton being right down at the bottom, it was one of the reasons I chose it.

Reply 2456

Mook

9

Original post by nexttime

Have you seen the alternatie prospectus? The cheapest, according to that, is Merton and Oriel's lowest price band at £800 per term. Note that some of Oriel's accommodation is down Cowley.

The Cowley annexe (15 minutes walk from college and the city centre) is for undergraduates in their third and fourth years and for graduates. The buildings are relatively new, so the rooms are all to a high standard and fall within the higher price bands. All the lowest band accommodation is on the main college site - it's cheap because it's old, but it spruces up fine once you've decorated it and the staircases are very sociable. I had a C/D (A* is best, D is worst) band room, shared my bathroom with one other person and had a kitchen on my staircase.

NOT teddy hall.

Just a warning to everyone that some of us have found the figures (along with other information) in the alternative prospectus are wrong for our colleges.

Probably best to use it as a guide, but to double check with college websites for the most accurate figures.

Also holds true for the Pros and Cons of Colleges wiki on here - a lot of that needs updating.

Reply 2459

nexttime

22

Original post by Poppyxx

Just a warning to everyone that some of us have found the figures (along with other information) in the alternative prospectus are wrong for our colleges.

Probably best to use it as a guide, but to double check with college websites for the most accurate figures.

Also holds true for the Pros and Cons of Colleges wiki on here - a lot of that needs updating.

Given that the prospectus says '2012', its really extremely unprofessional to still have clearly un-researched figures. You can guarantee that they spent months on the design/colour/pictures, but they can't even get their figures right. Really poor job by OUSU.

Choosing an Oxford College

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