Study at Cardiff | Accommodation

There are a variety of residences for you to choose from, depending on your lifestyle and budget. You may find it useful to consider the following factors when deciding on your living space:

• self-catered/meals provided
• availability of ensuite shower/toilet facilities
• residences fee
• how close it is to your academic building, the city centre, or your choice of social or sports facilities
• and for some students, especially those from overseas, the availability of residences during the summer vacation (all of the University residences allow you to stay during Christmas and Easter vacations)

Your preferences

When applying online, you will be able to detail your order of preference for the residences available. We will make every effort to ensure that you get into one of your preferred choices, but if this isn’t possible, we will offer you an alternative residence based on availability.

Mixed households

It is our policy to house students in mixed flats in terms of gender and nationality/ race, including study bedrooms on the ground floor. If you would prefer to live in a male only or female only flat, please let us know in your online application.

Residential periods

Check our Residential periods page for the exact dates.

You can apply for a place in University residences after you have a firm offer to study.

You will need your SIMS username and password, which will be sent to you by email after you have been made an offer to study (this process starts in February).

Apply online

For Firm, Insurance and Full session Exchange/Erasmus students, to ensure you are guaranteed a place in University residences you must:

• Submit your online application by Friday 7 September 2012
• Receive an unconditional offer to study by Friday 14 September 2012

Please note: If your offer to study is made unconditional after Friday 14th September 2012 we will still do our best to find you a place in University residences, however, there may be some delay whilst we identify available vacancies.

Please note: if you will be living in Liberty House or Liberty Cambrian Point, the following does not apply, you will receive further information directly from Liberty Living. You should reply to this information as directed.

In late July/August/September, you will receive an email telling you that your application has been processed and asking you to view and accept your Offer of Residence online.

You must accept your online Offer of Residence within 7 days or your offer will expire and the room will be allocated to another student. Therefore it is important for you to check your email account during this period. Please note some email providers may treat the email as spam, so please check your spam/junk mail folder as well as your inbox.

Your online Offer of Residence consists of the following information:

• Residences Agreement
• Residential Terms & Conditions
• Arrival Information
• Paying for Residences Guidelines

Once you have accepted your Offer of Residence, your room will be reserved for you, and you will receive an email confirming this.

You will be offered a place for a set period and once you accept your Offer of Residence, you become liable for the fees and associated charges for the residential period stated on your Residences Agreement.

Temporary Accommodation

If you have not been made an Offer of Residence prior to your arrival in Cardiff, temporary hotel accommodation may be available (during a limited period in September/October), for which a nominal charge will be made. As a guide, the charge for session 2011/2012 was £15 per night.