Incoming students at Keble College voiced concerns over the high living costs resulting from a lack of clarity or, in the case of a Foundation Year student, a lack of choice in their application process.
This comes after Keble scrapped fixed-price rent costs in 2022, allowing the college to adjust room costs throughout the duration of students living on-site. The cheapest room, which shares a bathroom with one other person, now costs £30.91 a night compared to £27.24 a night last year.
Such a room charges a total of £5,749.26 for three terms, while the minimum maintenance loan for students living away from home outside of London is £4,767 a year.
Keble students do not have kitchen facilities until their third year, so they must eat in hall or eat out instead of cheaper options such as cooking or meal preparation.
A fresher told Cherwell it is “shocking” that their friend at another college pays about £1,500 less for a room that has a kitchen. They added: “I’ve had to pick up extra shifts to cover the cost of my accommodation so I’m not living on pot noodles my whole time there.”
Keble ranks as the 19th wealthiest undergraduate college out of 31 and is one of the twelve colleges that receive grants from wealthier colleges, according to the SU-supported College Disparities Report published earlier this year.
This difference is not always apparent to prospective students. Another fresher told Cherwell: “I wish colleges were more open about the massive difference in accommodation cost! When I went to open day it wasn’t mentioned, and I thought it would be the same price at all the colleges.”
In particular, Foundation Year students are assigned to a college at random and have no choice in the matter of their accommodation cost.
An incoming Foundation Year student told Cherwell: “It feels particularly frustrating because we had zero control over which college we got… If I progress to undergraduate, I have to live with the cost of accommodation at Keble even though I’m someone who cooks and would have a much cheaper student experience if I had a job and a stove.”
The student added that they genuinely considered Durham because getting self-catered accommodation is easy there: “If I find this year difficult for finances, I will just go somewhere else for my undergrad like Newcastle, Durham, or York because I know I can live cheaper there with my lifestyle.”
According to Keble’s financial guide, the college determines its predicted rents are determined using the formula “CPI=2.5%”, and that students could receive a refund if the actual inflation for the year turns out to be lower than what had been set using the formula.
A Cherwell investigation earlier this year finds that Oxford University’s website uses ambiguous phrasing and downplays differences between colleges. A video asks: “Does it matter which college you go to? Not Really.”
Yet the College Disparities Report finds a direct correlation between college wealth and high positions in the Norrington Table, which ranks colleges according to their students’ academic performance in exams.
Cherwell has contacted Keble for a reply.
