How we allocate accommodation on our Canterbury campus

We prioritise allocations according to application date

Simply put, the earlier you apply, the more likely it is that you will receive your first or second choice of accommodation. Our allocation software will place students into their top available preference starting with unconditional offer holders and those who applied earliest. Don’t worry if you log in to your account to change your preferences in your application at a later date though; this will not affect your initial application date which is the one used for allocation.

If, due to demand, our software can’t allocate you to your first preference, then it will look to allocate you to your second preference. If this is also full then it will look to allocate you to your third preference, and finally your fourth preference. Our programme will only allocate students to preferences and rooms that are suitable for your student type (for example if an undergraduate student selected Woolf College Studios as one of their preferences this would be skipped by the software as Woolf College Studios are only available to postgraduate students or for medical reasons). Once the software has allocated the bulk of students, our Accommodation Team will complete a general overview checking the below considerations. 

Due to some residences being heavily oversubscribed, it may not be possible to allocate you to any of your preferences. There are ways to minimise the chance of this (such as applying early and spacing your preference locations out across campus) and you should read our application blog for more tips on this. However, should it not be possible to allocate you to any of your preferences then the information you include in your application form will be used as a guide to the next most suitable available residence.

If you would like to see how popular each undergraduate residence typically is then you can view our supply vs demand graph or table showing which areas are over or under subscribed.

When allocating rooms the following things are also considered:

• We aim to allocate all new first year undergraduate students on campus, including those who have applied through clearing. If you are not eligible for our guaranteed room offer, your application will be considered once you have an unconditional firm offer of study at Kent, even though your room offer is not guaranteed.
• First year, returning students and postgraduate students are housed in separate flats or blocks wherever possible. This means that first year students have the best opportunity to make friends, as they will be new to university life and getting to know our beautiful campus together.
• We are committed to nurturing an inclusive and diverse community that is open and accessible to all students.  We aim to ensure a range of gender and nationality in every flat, depending on the amount of students who apply and are available within that preference. We do consider special requests (see below) meaning that single gender accommodation can be provided on campus as long as enough students in one area request this to fill the flat/house. We do not allocate accommodation based on a student’s ethnicity as neither the Accommodation Team nor our software has access to this data when allocating.
• We prioritise requests from students who will be under the age of 18 when starting at Kent. Whether that’s a preference for en-suite or part catered accommodation, or a request to live in single gender housing.
• We support students with medical conditions by offering accommodation that meets those needs. You’ll need to include this information in the ‘additional notes’ section of your application, but before applying if you have any questions or concerns about ensuring our accommodation meets your medical needs, you can contact the Accommodation Team who can offer advice and support. There is more information on what accommodation options are available on our accessible accommodation webpage, including links to our Student Support and Wellbeing team.
• We allocate people of similar ages together wherever possible. Students tell us that they often feel more comfortable with housemates of a similar age to themselves, especially when living away from home for the first time, so subject to demand and availability we take this into account during allocation, particularly for our first year students.
• We consider students special requests.  Want to live with friends?  Need an extra long bed?  Prefer to live in a single gender flat? Looking for moderate living accommodation? Just let us know in the ‘additional notes’ section of your application and subject to availability and demand we’ll do what we can to make your room the right match for you. Just remember if you want to live with friends you will all need to include each others names and student/applicant IDs on your application so that we know that you all want to do this.

We want all our students to live in a room that’s right for them, which is why we have these considerations in place to try to meet your needs and wishes in your applications. However, student demand and availability will decide if, and how many, of these requests we can meet. The single best thing that you can do to increase your chances of living in your first or second preference accommodation is to apply as early as possible.