New students

Applications for 2023-24 are now open.

All full-time undergraduate students studying at our Colchester Campus are entitled to accommodation for the first year of study provided they fulfil the following condition:

• You return your application by midnight, Friday 25 August 2023.

Follow the next steps below to see what happens after you have made your application.

If you are an International Student (paying overseas fees) joining Essex as an undergraduate in the 2023-24 academic year, you are entitled to guaranteed accommodation for the duration of your course.

All full-time undergraduate students studying at our Southend Campus are entitled to accommodation for the first year of study as long as they return their application by the deadline date of 25 August 2023. 

If you have chosen us as your insurance choice, you will only be able to apply for accommodation here, once you have a 'firm' academic offer with Essex.

For more information please refer to our Allocations Policy.

Allocation Policy

Our Allocation Policy covers:

• the criteria for students who want to apply for accommodation
• details of those students who are guaranteed accommodation and
• how we will prioritise applications for returning students, part-year students and those on the waiting list

If you are allocated accommodation you will enter into a legal contract with Accommodation Essex and you will be liable to pay the rent for your room for the full term of the contract.

Please read our terms carefully before accepting any offer of accommodation.

• Read our Allocation Policies for Colchester and Southend (.pdf)

Contact your Student Services Hub if you have any queries relating to accommodation applications.

New undergraduate students are not required to make an advanced rent payment (previously known as a prepayment).

3 year undergraduate Colchester Campus deal

 If you are a new undergraduate student for the 2023-24 academic year and want to secure accommodation for the duration of your course, then you now have the option to select a 3 year accommodation contract, when you apply.

Benefits

By selecting the 3 year deal, you benefit from:

• Rent fixed at the 2023-24 rate for the duration of the 3 years, so no rent increases
• Free storage of your belongings in the summer (of years 1 and 2) as you keep the same room
• Option to book summer vacation accommodation, in your room, at your current rent rate

Location

The 3 year deal is available in the following accommodation areas:

• South Courts
• North Towers
• University Quays
• The Meadows Townhouses

If you would like to take advantage of this new 3 year deal, then select the option when completing your accommodation application. Rooms are limited and are subject to availability.

If you want to secure your accommodation for longer, then as you are a new student for 2023-24, you can take advantage of our new 3 year Southend Campus deal offering a 10% rent reduction for each of the 3 years, plus free summer storage for your belongings.

This deal is only available for single ensuite rooms.

Please only select areas you are willing to accept as we will not make any changes once an offer has been sent.

Make sure you read the application guide (.pdf) before making an application for accommodation.

When your UCAS status at Essex is showing as either conditional firm or unconditional firm, you can apply online.

You need to:

1. Create your myEssex applicant portal (see timescales below)

2. Login to the portal

3. Go to the Living section of the portal, where you will find the link to the online accommodation  form under the Life and Leisure heading.

Timescales

It can take up to 24 to 48 hours for the relevant data to be imported into the accommodation application system from the point of creation, so set up your portal as soon as you can. 

You will not receive an offer of accommodation until your academic status is unconditional, when you have satisfied the conditions set by the University when you applied for your course.

If you're a new applicant and apply after midnight, Friday 25 August, we can no longer guarantee you accommodation for your first year, but you can still apply for accommodation and we will offer you a room if possible. If we can't offer you campus accommodation then we'll put you in touch with SU Homes, an agency run by our Students' Union.

If you're a new applicant and apply after midnight, Friday 25 August, we can no longer guarantee you University accommodation for your first year, but you can still apply for accommodation and we will offer you a room if possible.

You will not be able to apply if:

• you have not received an offer of academic study at Essex
• you have only just created an applicant portal (see timescale above)
• Essex is not your firm choice
• your status at Essex is neither conditional firm nor unconditional firm or
• you do not have a PRID (e.g. SMITH12345) in the Home section of the My Essex Applicant Portal
• you have not allowed 48 hours after becoming firm at Essex for our system to update, before applying for accommodation

From April 2023 rooms will be offered as soon as possible after you have met the academic conditions for admission (this will be after your exam results have been released). Once your status at Essex is Unconditional Firm an offer of accommodation can be made (deadline for this is midnight, Sunday 3 September 2023 to be guaranteed accommodation).

Your offer of accommodation will be emailed to the address you supplied to UCAS (or your @essex.ac.uk email address, if you have one) and will contain details about your room and the accommodation charges. You will have a limited time to accept your offer of accommodation so it is very important that you check this email account regularly.

North Towers Breakfast

Students who will be living in single occupied rooms in North Towers from the 2023-24 academic year, will receive a free breakfast every weekday (Monday to Friday). This will be a 5-item cooked breakfast (no drink) served between 7.30am and 11am in Canteen on Square 3. There is no takeaway option, so you must eat it on site. The items include: Sausage or veggie sausage, Mini omelette or fried egg, Grilled tomato, Hash brown, and Toast. Essex Food will provide you with a pre-loaded meal card (when you collect your accommodation keys). The cost of the breakfast will be cleared from the card at 11am each day, if it has not been used. If you lose the card, Essex Food will provide a replacement, although there will be a £10 replacement fee.

3-year accommodation deal Colchester

Offer only available to new students. The 3-year deal is available in the following accommodation areas: South Courts, North Towers, University Quays, and The Meadows Townhouses only. Rooms are limited and are subject to availability. Rent fixed at the 2023-24 rate for the duration of the 3 years starting from October 2023. Free storage of your belongings in the summer (of years 1 and 2) as you keep the same room. Option to book summer vacation accommodation, in your room, at your current rent rate subject to availability. Offer subject to change and availability.

3-year accommodation deal Southend

 Offer only available to new students for 2023-24, you can take advantage of our new 3-year Southend Campus deal offering a 10% rent reduction for each of the 3 years, plus free summer storage for your belongings. This deal is only available for single en suite rooms. Offer subject to change and availability.

How to apply

We have a limited number of rooms available for postgraduate students, across both our Colchester and Southend campuses. To apply for one of these rooms, please follow the steps below.

Rooms will be offered in order of application date.

On the application form, you will be asked to select your preferred locations. Please select these in order of preference and don't select any location which you wouldn't be prepared to accept. We cannot guarantee that you'll be offered your first choice of accommodation.

Colchester January Postgraduate

•  2022-23 January Postgraduate Colchester application form (pdf.)

You are required to complete a PDF form and please note, that these are interactive PDF forms. Therefore, you must save a copy of it to your device before completing your information. If you do not save this file to your device, you will lose any information you have filled in. The submit button will then attach the form to an email ready to send to us. Alternatively, please send via email to accadmin@essex.ac.uk. 

Southend January Postgraduate

• 2022-23 January Postgraduate Southend application form (pdf.)

You are required to complete a PDF form and please note, that these are interactive PDF forms. Therefore, you must save a copy of it to your device before completing your information. If you do not save this file to your device, you will lose any information you have filled in. The submit button will then attach the form to an email ready to send to us. Alternatively, please send via email to accadmin@essex.ac.uk. 

Applications will be processed as soon as possible.

Applications for 2023-24 are now open.

Please only select areas you are willing to accept as we will not make any changes once an offer has been sent.

Make sure you read the application guide (.pdf) before making an application for accommodation.

You need to:

1. Create your myEssex applicant portal (see timescales below)
2. Login to the portal
3. Go to the Living section of the portal, where you will find the link to the online accommodation form under the Life and Leisure heading.

Timescales

It can take up to 24 to 48 hours for the relevant data to be imported into the accommodation application system from the point of creation, so set up your portal as soon as you can.

Follow the next steps below to see what happens after you have made your application.

The deadline for securing guaranteed postgraduate accommodation, is 31 July 2023. If we receive your application form after this deadline, you will be offered accommodation, as soon as a room becomes available.

Rooms will be offered in order of application date.

The deadline for securing guaranteed postgraduate accommodation, is 31 July 2023. If we receive your application form after this deadline, you will be offered accommodation, as soon as a room becomes available.

Rooms will be offered in order of application date.

Don't worry about the money at this stage. When you receive an accommodation offer you have one week to accept and pay your £250 advanced rent payment. You will be able to make this payment by credit/debit card as part of the online acceptance process.

If you are not able to pay your advanced rent payment at the point of acceptance, please contact the Student Information Team in the Student Services Hub. Please do not try and pay your advanced rent payment via the student online payment system. We have experienced difficulty tracing such payments in the past and this option has therefore been discontinued.

The deadline to request to cancel and receive a refund on your prepayment, is 1 September 2023. You can still request to cancel your offer after this date but no refund will be offered.

Please also note that you will not be able to apply if:

• you have not received an offer of academic study at Essex
• you have only just created an applicant portal (see timescale above)
• you have not accepted your offer of academic study or
• you do not see a PRID (for example, SMITH12345) in the Home section of the My Essex Applicant Portal
• you haven't allowed 48 hours after accepting your offer at Essex, before applying for accommodation

• If we receive your application form before the deadline of 31 July 2023 you will be guaranteed accommodation.
• If we receive your form after the deadline of 31 July 2023 you will be offered accommodation as soon as a room becomes available.

Full details of your accommodation offer will be sent to you by email. We endeavour to start sending offers out from April 2023. An accommodation advanced rent payment is no longer required at the point of application. Instead, it will be payable when you accept your offer.

Your offer of accommodation will be emailed to the address you supplied with your application to study at the University (or your @essex.ac.uk email address, if you have one) and will contain details about your room and the accommodation charges. You will have a limited time to accept your offer of accommodation so it is very important that you check this email account regularly throughout the entire summer.

• If we receive your application form before the deadline of 31 July 2023 you will be guaranteed accommodation.
• If we receive your form after the deadline of 31 July 2023 you will be offered accommodation as soon as a room becomes available.

Your offer of accommodation will be emailed to the address you supplied with your application to study at the University, and will contain details about your room and the accommodation charges. You will have a limited time to accept your offer of accommodation so it is very important that you check this email account regularly throughout the entire summer.

Applications are now open.

We have a limited number of rooms available for postgraduate students, across both our Colchester and Southend campuses. To apply for one of these rooms, please follow the steps below.

Rooms will be offered in order of application date.

On the application form, you will be asked to select your preferred locations. Please select these in order of preference and don't select any location which you wouldn't be prepared to accept. We cannot guarantee that you'll be offered your first choice of accommodation.

Colchester April Postgraduate

• 2023-24 April postgraduate Colchester application form (pdf.)

You are required to complete a PDF form and please note, that these are interactive PDF forms. Therefore, you must save a copy of it to your device before completing your information. If you do not save this file to your device, you will lose any information you have filled in. The submit button will then attach the form to an email ready to send to us. Alternatively, please send via email to accadmin@essex.ac.uk. 

Southend April Postgraduate

• 2023-24 April postgraduate Southend application form (pdf.)

You are required to complete a PDF form and please note, that these are interactive PDF forms. Therefore, you must save a copy of it to your device before completing your information. If you do not save this file to your device, you will lose any information you have filled in. The submit button will then attach the form to an email ready to send to us. Alternatively, please send via email to accadmin@essex.ac.uk. 

Applications will be processed as soon as possible.

For all UEIC students that are progressing onto either an undergraduate or postgraduate course at Essex for the 2023-24 academic year, please complete the online application via your portal.

Applications are open and you will be able to apply as soon as your University of Essex record has been created.

Please only accept areas that you are will to accept, as we will not be able to make changes once an offer has been sent.

Make sure you read the application guide (.pdf) before making an application for accommodation.

You need to:

1. Create your myEssex applicant portal (see timescales below)
2. Login to the portal
3. Go to the Living section of the portal, where you will find the link to the online accommodation form under the Life and Leisure heading.

Timescales

It can take up to 24 to 48 hours for the relevant data to be imported into the accommodation application system from the point of creation, so set up your portal as soon as you can.

In order to be made an offer of accommodation before the beginning of the summer term, you need to return your online application.

You must do this before the closing date of 31 January 2023.

We will begin allocating accommodation from early spring and all applicants will receive their offers by the start of the summer term. Please make sure you check your email account regularly for your offer.

Accepting your offer

You will need to accept your offer of accommodation before its expiry date in order to confirm your allocation for the next academic year. The offer expiry date will be clearly specified in the offer letter.

Once you have accepted the offer you have formed a contract which is binding and you will not be able to give notice on the room unless you withdraw from the University.

Be part of something special

We have created a new Athletes' Village in our South Courts accommodation on the Colchester campus, which will be ready for the 2023-24 academic year. The village has been created for our Sports Scholars and undergraduate students, that have demonstrated abilities in their chosen sport, by participation at a competitive level either at school, county or national level and intend to represent the University of Essex, at a competitive level.

By selecting to live in our Athlete's village, you will not only be living with like-minded people but will also receive the following benefits, totalling more than £700:

• Free upgrade to Essex Sport Gold Membership £50.00
• Free Essex Blades BUCS participation fee £30.00
• Contribution towards one Sports Club Membership fee (capped) £50.00
• Free Kit Pack £125.40
• Laundry card and credit £102.00
• 2 weeks free pre-season training accommodation (BUCS) max price £347.20 

That's an amazing £704.60 of benefits!

This offer cannot be taken up in conjunction with any other offer.

If you would like to apply to live in the Athletes' Village, then you will need to select South Courts as your area preference in your accommodation application. Please also add 'I want to live in the Athletes' Village' in the additional notes field of your application.

British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS)

If you are a Sports Scholar or are planning on joining one of our BUCS teams and living in our campus accommodation but do not wish to live in the Athletes' Village, then you can still apply for the 2 weeks pre-season training accommodation. However, although this is not free, there is a reduction in the rent of £116.76, which is equivalent to a week's rent in South Towers. This is for the period 14-27 September 2023 only. You will be contacted directly about your eligibility to apply for this.

Allocations to the Athletes' Village and pre-season training, will be subject to eligibility confirmation by Essex Sport and the Students' Union and will be subject to availability. 

If you are a First Team Sports Scholar student and want to apply for accommodation, please contact the Sports Centre directly.

Incoming study abroad students should contact Essex Abroad directly, regarding applying for accommodation.