Accommodation
Annaliese Griffiss is the Accommodation Manager for Lincoln. Contact her for all accommodation queries. The JCR VP is responsible for organising the room ballot process; please contact them if you have queries about the process.
Within Oxford colleges, we think Lincoln is one of the best colleges for accommodation. Whilst many colleges offer accommodation for the duration of a students degree, Lincoln is the only college to guarantee central accommodation for all years. Most rooms (inc. all first year rooms) are ensuite and spacious.
The JCR continually seeks for equality and reasonable room prices. Accommodation costs tend to be on the cheaper side of Oxford accommodation and are kept in line with university-wide inflation. Members of the same year group pay the same price, regardless of the room quality; our room ballot (described below) ensures fairness. The current rent prices are published on the college website here.
We have accommodation suitable for disabled students both on the main site and at Museum Road. Most of the main college site (including Hall, JCR, and bar) is accessible by wheelchair. In Michaelmas 2023, the Library is set to undergo development works to install a small elevator to improve accessibility.
Students are free to rent privately in second and third years, but this is rare as people tend to prefer the convenient, cheap and fun choice of living together. To do this, you must ask the Rector’s permission, in writing, by Friday of 6th week of the preceding term (this should be communicated by the accommodation office).
See the Student Handbook for further information concerning accommodation at Lincoln.
First Year Accommodation
All first year students will be randomly allocated a room for their first year. Half of the cohort will live in main site rooms, the other half across Turl Street. staircases 1 – 14 are in college. Undergrads live primarily on staircases 1, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13. A small number live in Chapel Quad on staircases 2,5,6 and 7. Directly opposite Plodge is Lincoln House and Staircase 15 (these are connected and have about 45 rooms combined). All first year rooms are well-sized and all are ensuite.
First into Second Year Ballot
All first year rooms are ranked by their features (size, view, location, bed size, etc) and split into bands A (best rooms) to F (worst rooms). Rooms within college tend to have a higher rating. You’ll find out your room rating in Trinity term.
The same ranking is performed on the second year rooms. The columns are then flipped such that students who had a less-than-average room in first year receive a top-tier room in second year and vice versa. (e.g if you have a B-tier room in first year, you’ll be allocated a E-tier room for second year). This process usually takes place in 0th week of Trinity term. Over the first half of Trinity, students can then swap rooms with each other if they wish to.
Second years either live in the Mitre or in Bear Lane. Mitre rooms are possibly the nicest rooms the college owns: most are ensuite, large and lots have double beds. The Bear Lane rooms are slightly smaller and have shared bathrooms but unlike all other first and second year rooms, some of these rooms have shared kitchens.
Third and Fourth Year Ballot
Most third and fourth years will live in Museum Road (‘Mus Road’) which is a short walk north of Main Site near Keble College. Some third years can also live in Bear Lane. These rooms are mostly arranged in small houses with shared kitchens.
For the ballot process, you get to choose which friends you want to live with. There are varying sizes of house with the largest for 7 people and smallest for 2. The ballot process usually takes place in 0th week of Trinity term and is organised by the JCR VP. Around this time, you’ll be asked to choose your group and specify a preference for which house you’d like most (corresponding to your group size). Based on the preferences, houses will be drawn from the ballot (note this is completely independent of the first and second year room ranking system). Any groups that couldn’t be allocated their choice will either be able to choose an alternative house or adjust their group size to choose a different sized house.
Departure and Vacation Residence
Students must vacate their room on the date specified on their room plan unless vacation residence is granted. For first and second years, this is usually 10am on Saturday of 8th week.
You can apply to stay longer at the end of term (or arrive earlier at the start). This is called ‘Vacation Residence’ or ‘Vac Res’. Application forms are circulated in good time ahead of the deadline of Friday of 6th week, and any queries should be addressed to the Accommodation Manager. Permission to remain in residence is not granted automatically (expect for those with University examinations in the vacations) and students should not make arrangements until formal permission has been received.