Sent to Coventry: University had enough rooms to house all first years on campus

More than 600 Warwick freshers have been left “frustrated” and “frightened” after being placed in off-campus accommodation – only to later learn that returners and postgraduates occupy nearly 20% of on-campus rooms.  

Rather than being given a bed on campus, these incoming first years were told that the University’s rooms were “fully allocated” and were instead referred to ‘partner provider’ blocks across Coventry.  

It was the first time on record that the University had utilised their partner provider system, a move they deemed necessary despite having housed more first years on campus this academic year than in the two previous ones. This suggests that the number of Warwick freshers requiring accommodation is at its highest point in recent history. 

Warwick allocated nearly a fifth of its on-campus rooms to non-first years and even had some vacant beds after move-in weekend

The University could have allocated every one of the 628 first years who accepted partner provider accommodation an on-campus bed and still had space on site for 653 postgraduate and returning undergraduate students, The Boar has found out.  

Instead, Warwick allocated nearly a fifth of its on-campus rooms to non-first years and even had some vacant beds after move-in weekend. 

The Boar has uncovered these findings through a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests amid widespread criticism from students and parents of the University’s decision to force first years off campus.  

Not only has the University been criticised for its choice to place freshers off site, but also for its handling of the situation. 

One first year told The Boar that she was left “sick” with worry as she waited for weeks after results day before she eventually found out on 4 September, just two weeks before move-in weekend, that she would not receive an on-campus bed. 

“The long period of not knowing where I would live made an already difficult transition so much more frightening than it should have been,” this student told The Boar. 

The knowledge that there are non-first years living on campus hurts

Affected fresher

By the September date when she found out her fate, the only partner provider rooms left were a bus ride away from the University in central Coventry. 

Meanwhile, a week earlier, a final year student had applied for, and was granted, an on-campus room.  

Then, on 16 September – twelve days after this first year received her email – the University advertised an on-campus vacancy which another final year student quickly snapped up. 

“The knowledge that there are non-first years living on campus hurts,” said a different fresher who was forced to live in a partner provider room. 

Adding to this frustration, six on-campus beds remained vacant on 28 September, the final day of the moving in period, according to an FOI received by The Boar. 

The aforementioned individuals are two of the many first years who told The Boar that being forced off campus has upended their start to university life. Each story told in this article is that of a student who had selected Warwick as their firm choice university and applied for accommodation months in advance.  

None of these first years, or their parents, recalled hearing about the University’s ‘Allocation Principles’ at open days. Rather, they felt that they were led to believe that all Warwick freshers would receive one of the University’s 6,573 on-campus rooms. 

I called [Warwick] within an hour [of receiving the email] and they said, ‘we know how frustrating it is, but we can’t even put you on a waiting list; there is no such thing as a waiting list’

Affected fresher

The University has, however, told The Boar that “prospective students are signposted to Warwick’s Allocation Principles” at open days and at other points throughout the application process. 

Students nevertheless found themselves feeling “missold” as it is only upon searching through these Allocation Principles that it becomes clear that Warwick’s first years are only guaranteed “university-allocated accommodation”, rather than on-campus beds. Partner providers were not mentioned once in the 2025/26 accommodation pamphlet. 

Once rooting through the Allocation Principles, it becomes clear that university-allocated accommodation includes that of partner provider blocks off campus. Therefore, when Warwick’s staff informed hundreds of “upset” and “nervous” freshers that there was no way they could give them a bed on site, students could not appeal the decision.  

So, as empty rooms were left on campus and returners picked up spare beds, parents were read “what sounded like a script” by staff, who “definitely weren’t interested in a conversation”. Meanwhile, affected freshers were told that their only options were to go with partner provider accommodation or find their own place to live.  

“I called [Warwick] within an hour [of receiving the email] and they said, ‘we know how frustrating it is, but we can’t even put you on a waiting list; there is no such thing as a waiting list’”, one first year told The Boar. 

The whole situation made freshers “more nervous” as they felt they had a “lack of guidance with things such as what GP to register with, how to collect student IDs, and how to cancel registrations to vote”. 

In a “very frantic and stressful 24 hours”, one family made an over two-hour round trip to see the partner provider buildings in the hope of this reducing nerves.  

[One fresher] independently booked a studio flat at Longwood where ‘one of the people at reception said that Warwick had reserved 250 of the building’s 500 rooms for off-campus first years’

After this road trip, this young person chose to accept a spot in iQ Longwood Place, the block which is in closest proximity to campus.  

A different student told The Boar that after being sent the off-campus referral form on 27 August, the only available partner provider rooms were in central Coventry. 

With the aim of getting herself as close to campus as possible, she independently booked a studio flat at Longwood where “one of the people at reception said that Warwick had reserved 250 of the building’s 500 rooms for off-campus first years”. Owners iQ did not confirm this information to The Boar when approached. 

The same decision, however, was made by the parents of a different first year who told The Boar that they booked their son a room in a private block a 20-minute walk away from campus after he was allocated partner provider options that were “an hour-long bus journey away from the University”. 

Their son had been left feeling as though “he had made the wrong choice” in selecting Warwick as his firm university, but clearing had closed by the time he received his accommodation offer, leaving him with only two options: to not attend any higher education institution this academic year or to settle for an off-campus bed. 

“The off-campus allocation made me consider not going to university, as one of the main reasons I chose Warwick was for the campus aspect. I felt that this would fit my needs,” a different fresher told The Boar. 

Choosing off-campus beds, these two young people became dependent on schoolmates who were living on campus for company.  

Lacking a ‘sense of community’ and feeling as though their social lives have been ‘impacted’, these first years have begun their time at Warwick, resentful at the University

Other freshers who had a Welcome Week filled with worries about getting home in the dark and concerns that they were missing out on the Warwick experience also relied on home friends to settle in.  

Getting to and from campus has been a major issue for many of these first years who have had to pay out of pocket for bus passes, for which the University has offered no “kind of compensation”. 

Affected freshers were simply pointed towards the West Midlands Bus Scheme which allowed all students in the area to apply for four weeks of free bus travel at the start of term. That policy was not limited to Warwick however, with the scheme also promoted by the universities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton.  

Being a bus ride or walk “away from everything” has caused first years to feel left out and “separated from university life”. Lacking a “sense of community” and feeling as though their social lives have been “impacted”, these first years have begun their time at Warwick, resentful at the University. 

This resentment is a result of frustration caused by being randomly chosen to be housed off-campus and feelings that they had been misled by the institution who implied that they were guaranteed an on-site bed. 

While Warwick has not confirmed if it plans to use the partner provider system in upcoming academic years, they have made it clear to prospective students that it is a possibility – perhaps preventing future feelings of betrayal. 

[The University] added that first year undergraduate students with support needs are prioritised to live on campus, as are returning undergraduates with specific accommodation requirements

In the University’s 2026/27 accommodation pamphlet, a whole section details partner provider accommodation and an additional paragraph states that not all students will be placed on campus in “years of high demand”.  

Warwick’s room reservation system for returning students has also changed for the upcoming academic year. In 2025/26, on-campus room booking became available for all returners in November, months before the deadline for prospective students to submit their university applications.

For the 2026/27 academic year, however, the University has changed their system so that no returners can reserve rooms until January.

“We work closely with partnership providers to ensure we can offer good quality accommodation to all first-year students as outlined in our Allocation Principles,” a spokesperson for the University told The Boar.  

They added that first year undergraduate students with support needs are prioritised to live on campus, as are returning undergraduates with specific accommodation requirements. No students who disclosed ‘specific accommodation requirements’ by the deadline of 8 August were housed off campus this year and a significant proportion of returners given on campus rooms did not have any requirements.

The University may now be offering clearer guidance for future applicants, but for the current freshers who became the first cohort to be housed off campus on this scale, the sense of being misled remains raw. 

As they wish that their belongings could have been on the shelves of one of the spare rooms on campus, or that they could have taken a bed reserved for a returner, these young people continue to sleep outside of the campus that they thought they would call home.