Rooms

First-year graduate students will normally be accommodated in either the EPA Centre (on Museum Road, near the University Science Area) or the Bear Lane complex (on Bear Lane, just off the High Street). In general, more science students tend to live in EPA and more arts students in Bear Lane, but this is not a hard and fast rule, and in practice there is quite a lot of mixing.

The EPA Centre was completed in 2005, and represents the more upmarket (and expensive) end of college accommodation in Oxford. It is arranged in three-person flats, each flat having a shared kitchen/dining room and living area with a balcony. All rooms have ensuite bathroom facilities, and are a decent size, although not palatial. All the EPA rooms are identical, and are rated A.

Bear Lane accommodation is older, cheaper and rather more variable than EPA. Some students live in flats of two or three, while others are accommodated in houses with up to ten rooms. All students have access to shared kitchen and bathroom facilities, and a few of the houses also have shared living areas. Most of the student rooms are comparable in size to those at EPA, but are a bit shabbier. Rooms are graded from B to D, mostly according to size.

In your room you can expect to find: bed, mattress, wardrobe, desk, desk chair, easy chair, bookcase, waste bin, drawers, pin board, and curtains. Some rooms also have desk lamps, but College does not guarantee to provide these. You provide your own bedding and towels.

All rooms have Ethernet connections for connecting your computer to the College and University networks and the internet. Ethernet cables can be purchased from the Lodge for about £3. Some rooms (but not all) also have telephones connected to the University internal network.

Room rents in 2007-2008 were as follows:
A  £120 per week
B   £116 per week
C   £100 per week
D   £ 90 per week

Utility bills are payable on top of this, at a rate of approximately £50 per term (bills are averaged across the whole College population; you do not pay directly for the utilities you use). Normal cleaning of the rooms and communal areas is included in the rent, and is done by the College "Scouts" (an Oxford word for cleaners), who will empty your bin, hoover, clean the kitchen and bathroom etc (but who will certainly not change your bedding, tidy your room or do your washing up!)

Generally, MCR members living in college are offered residence on the basis of the "Out-of-College" plan (as opposed to the "In-College" plan offered to most undergraduates). This means that the college stipulates a residence period of 37 weeks (i.e. from the beginning of Michaelmas Term to the end of Trinity Term) and expects you to pay rent for this period. You can also extend your residence over the summer if you wish to do so. Additionally as part of the "Out-of-College" plan, you are charged for ten meals in Hall per term, whether or not you actually eat them (this charge applies to all College members whether or not they actually live in College accommodation).

The college has no accommodation suitable for married or cohabiting couples. Students seeking such accommodation are advised to contact the University Accommodation Office, Ewert House, Ewert Place, Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DD (01865 280811).

College provides sufficient accommodation for all first-year graduates, and also aims to provide as much accommodation as possible for second- and third-year graduates (although many choose to live out). The allocation of these rooms is made by a ballot arranged by the MCR Secretary in Hilary Term, followed by an allocation meeting in early Trinity Term. Anyone wanting College accommodation for their second or third year is required to enter their name into the ballot.

Kitchens and Communal Spaces

All students in the EPA Centre or Bear Lane have access to shared kitchens. These kitchens generally contain (as a minimum) a stove and oven, a microwave, a kettle, a sink and draining board, several cupboards, and a variety of cooking equipment (pots and pans, utensils, crockery and cutlery). Some kitchens also have fridges or fridge-freezers. EPA flats generally have better kitchens with more stuff (including matching Lincoln College crockery!), while what you find in Bear Lane kitchens very much depends on the previous residents (there is usually sufficient equipment, but it will be a random collection, and might not be very high quality).

EPA flats have a shared open-plan living area, including kitchen, dining area with table and chairs, and sitting room area with easy chairs and a TV connection (but you have to provide your own TV, and make sure you have a valid TV licence for the flat). Most Bear Lane flats do not have any equivalent provision, although a few of the houses do have dining rooms or sitting rooms.

In addition to the communal areas located in flats and houses, all MCR members are entitled to use the MCR communal facilities and common rooms.

Laundry

Washing machines and dryers are available at several locations around college, including Bear Lane and the EPA Centre.

Washers and driers are operated using a pre-paid card, which you can hire for £5 from the Accounts Office (Ground Floor Staircase 4) and top up with £10 notes using a machine in the Lodge. Both washers and dryers cost £1.20 per cycle (which sounds rather expensive but is actually fairly standard for Oxford, and the machines will take quite a lot of washing at once). You provide your own washing powder and fabric conditioner. Irons and ironing boards are also available in the laundry rooms.