Understanding St Andrews Accommodation Fees

I'm currently trying to understand the St Andrews accommodation pricing. From what I understand, you don't get to pick what hall you get, only the type such as whether it's catered or if it's a shared or single room.
However, after checking the website, each hall is priced differently even within the same categories. E.g. Agnes Blackadder Hall catering costing £3166 while David Russel Hall catering being £2332 when both are under the category of catered en-suites. Are you not able to choose how much you pay?
What if I cannot afford the hall that is randomised for me?

Same here! I've put self-catered standard as my preference and if i do not get allocated this I physically will not be able to afford my accommodation as the government maintenance loan won't even cover half the cost. Also the price on the wbesite and when i actually applied was different and more expensive.

That’s actually horrible to hear. Do you remember how much it was and how much it differed? I haven’t accepted my offer yet because I wanted to be able to make sure I could afford the accommodation costs but that meant I couldn’t actually see the application form because you had to accept your offer first to access it.

I'm pretty sure for self-catered standard on the website it said the cheapest was around £5,900 which I could just about afford, but on the application form after I firmed it it said self catered standard accoms were all £6915 so a grand more! I'm not sure if there was a difference for catered/ en suite - sorry!!