For many Oxford students, the stress of their degree does not end with the close of term. Instead, academic pressure is replaced by a nightmarish rush to pack up and stuff every single one of their possessions into boxes, suitcases, and “whatever containers one can get their hands on.”
Of the 31 undergraduate colleges that responded to Cherwell’s FOIs, 30 had some sort of designated storage scheme, while one college did not offer any storage. However, this seeming uniformity masks the fact that vacation storage policies can vary significantly between colleges. Some colleges claim to offer “unlimited storage” while others impose strict limits and only accept certain containers.
While inadequate storage provisions tend to affect international students and those with access requirements the most, it seems that dissatisfaction is more widespread. In a Cherwell Instagram poll with 300 respondents, 64% answered that they were unsatisfied with vacation storage.
Furthermore, while 56% of people voted that colleges delivered on promised vacation storage, one survey respondent pointed out that “technically, our college does deliver on promises – it’s just that they don’t promise enough.”
Storage for International students
Unsurprisingly, international students were shown to receive significant priority in storage. Out of the 30 colleges that offer storage, 18 of them only offer it to international students, while the remaining 12 give them priority. However, this privilege doesn’t mean that international students consistently have enough space for all their items, or feel that the extra need of international students is respected as much as colleges claim.
One international student praised the size and relatively close location of their college’s storage space but remarked that they feel the college no longer prioritises international students as they promise in the student handbook. They shared that many students have struggled as the spaces fill up very quickly, and often it’s very difficult to fit everything in, which can become very distressing especially when it is the only way for some students to keep items given flight baggage weight restrictions. Another international student told Cherwell that they “shared panic attacks last term”, citing that “if we don’t get storage, we don’t have a plan B.”
Limiting storage to just international students, however, can cause its own issues. A student at a college that doesn’t offer storage to Home students expressed her discontent to Cherwell. She shared that on occasion, she had to “struggle across London with all [her] possessions because it’s impossible for [her] to be picked up in time for when college want the room.”
She further remarked: “I think colleges need to be more considerate about their students’ home situations. Not all of us have parents who are able to drive over to Oxford, pick our stuff up and drive back home again on a weekend.”
Several colleges which typically only offer storage to international students, such as Corpus Christi, endeavour to support Home students by granting special approval to students living far away. For example, Lincoln includes students residing on islands off the UK coastline in their storage allowances, and Corpus Christi allows storage for students living 100 or more miles away; many colleges also have appeal procedures by which Home students under exceptional circumstances can apply for storage.
Variations across colleges
Often, colleges also open up storage for students with disabilities and long-term health conditions, but storage conditions aren’t always ideal for students with accessibility needs. One student at St Edmund’s Hall reported needing to climb up to six flights of stairs to store items and pointed out how inaccessible this might be for students with mobility needs. He also noted that some of the college’s annexes allowed for items to be stored in their room over vacations. The student told Cherwell that he eventually stored items in a friend’s accommodation instead as the building had a lift, remarking that he’d “rather travel horizontally than vertically.”
The lack of clarity and communication about vacation storage provision has also caused distress to many students. Keble cancelled storage indefinitely at the start of this academic year, leaving students scrambling to resort to other methods of storing items. One first-year international student from the college told Cherwell that they were only informed about this at the start of Michaelmas term, and that while the college maintained a partnership with an external company, there was still a significant amount of stress sorting it out – especially since they were new to the country. An international student from Harris Manchester also told Cherwell that in Michaelmas term, the college announced last-minute that they wanted suitcases to go into storage the night before leaving college, which caused issues for people who could not leave essentials such as bedding in storage and subsequently faced problems with where to store them over the vacation. Both Keble and Harris Manchester have been reached out to for comment.
On the other hand, the inflexibility of storage systems has also proved to be a prevalent issue. For example, a number of students from St John’s College expressed their frustrations over the inefficiency of their storage system, with only one person in charge of opening and closing the storage spaces at strictly allotted times that are often not friendly to students’ respective situations. One student told Cherwell about their experience coming back to College on a Friday before term and needing to wait an entire weekend to retrieve their items because they narrowly missed the allotted time that their accommodation’s storage was open.
St John’s College issued a response to these claims: “The College’s new Accommodation Manager observed the process either side of the Christmas vacation and will be reviewing how the system can be further enhanced for home and international students going forward.”
Another issue is the availability of storage containers for students. Of the colleges providing on-site storage, twelve offer containers for storage either directly or through a JCR-led ordering system; while this is generally regarded as very helpful, the consequences of this system have in certain cases led to mixed reactions. In Wadham and Lady Margaret Hall, only college-designated boxes are allowed to be stored. While these are provided free of charge to students at LMH, one Wadham student told Cherwell that they had to pay for the paper boxes they used, incurring extra charges even for international students where storage is necessary. They further pointed out that the boxes provided were particularly inconvenient to carry up and down staircases compared to suitcases or bags.
In other colleges such as Worcester, Corpus Christi and St. Hugh’s, particularly where storage is only offered to international students, the international officer budgets for the ordering of boxes so that students do not have to pay. However, one international officer told Cherwell that this can often be very challenging given budget constraints: “Ten plastic boxes for £60 is definitely not enough for all international students, but it’s all my budget can allow for.”
For colleges with a clearly stated policy of discarding items left in storage spaces should they fail to be removed, the unforgiving nature of these policies in the face of personal circumstances can also prove devastating for students. One rusticated student told Cherwell that they had left items in their storage during rustication, only to have all of their items thrown out by the time they returned.
Six colleges, including New, Worcester and Brasenose, told Cherwell their vacation storage system is managed by the JCR rather than by central college administration. An international student from Corpus Christi, which is run under such an initiative, told Cherwell that an obvious issue in the system was how reliant it could be on the quality of their JCR international officer: “It requires initiative on the international officer’s part, and I have heard horror stories of stress that some of the past officers have not been as effective [as our current one].” However, students from these colleges also reported a general overall satisfaction with the JCR-run system.
Alternatives and solutions
When college provisions are inadequate, students aren’t hesitant to seek out alternatives. Aside from colleges such as New and Mansfield which employ external companies to deal with vacation storage, 16% of students reported using external companies such as Lovespace, Big Yellow and Magenta.
There is no easy fix to vacation storage problems, especially with the huge variation of college-dependent factors involved – the biggest issue of which is having sufficient space, ideally for all students. Perhaps there is something to be said about the need to relocate items to storage at all, even if it makes sense to clear colleges to open them up for guest residence over vacations. One student mentioned that having to completely vacate one’s room can make it feel “impossible to truly settle down and avoid feeling, to some extent, that you’re living out of your suitcase.”
A centralised university requirement for colleges to have storage allowance policies, or provide ways to assist with student storage, could possibly alleviate some of the burden on students. But while storage problems persist, there will be baggage, psychological as well as physical, waiting to be picked up by us at the start and end of every term.
