Steward's Office Information for Undergraduates (fees and charges)

The Consolidated Fees for undergraduates consist of:

1. University fees, covering the use of University academic facilities; and

2. College fees, contributing to tuition and supervision, establishment upkeep, and the provision of social and sporting facilities.

Fee invoices will be emailed to students by Friday 9 September 2022 and payment is due, in full, by Friday 23 September 2022. Please note that fees are not payable by direct debit.

For Home/EU students taking an undergraduate course, the University Fee may be paid by a ‘Student Loan for Fees’, which is available to all eligible full-time Home/EU higher education students and is paid by ‘Student Finance’ direct to the University, not Christ Church.

For those Home/EU students who are eligible to apply for financial support for tuition, we cannot overstate the importance of providing the College with a copy of page 1 of your ‘Student Finance Application Approval’ document from Student Finance, which will ensure that you are charged fees at the correct level.  Failure to supply this document will result in you being invoiced for the University Fee. Confirmation of eligibility for public support must be sent to the College on an annual basis for the duration of your course.

If you have any queries regarding the payment and invoicing of course fees please contact the Steward’s office:  fees@chch.ox.ac.uk

Students’ charges are paid by the direct debit method and the direct debit form found on the 'Before you Arrive' page must be completed and a hard copy posted to The Steward’s Office, FAO Gabriella Cacciola , Christ Church, OX1 1DP, now.  Please note that direct debits can only be collected from a UK bank account.

The accommodation charge for College rooms is payable termly in advance. On arrival in Michaelmas Term, undergraduate freshers will receive a bill for: 8 weeks and 6 days’ (from Sunday night of 0th Week to Friday night of 8th Week - 62 nights) advance nightly room charges (£1,790.56), for a term’s worth of season ticket dinners ((£219.64), a refundable deposit of £300, giving a total of £2,310.20 plus a term’s JCR levies (see The Blue Book for details).

Accommodation for remaining terms for all undergraduates are charged from Thursday of 0th Week – Friday of 8th week - 58 days at £1,675.04.

Charges are billed, and collected by direct debit from the nominated UK bank account, generally four times a year, as detailed below (with the exception of your final term).

Members who are domiciled overseas may experience a delay in establishing a UK bank account and will be required to leave their credit/debit card details with the Steward’s Office when they arrive.  Please note that we do not accept American Express.

If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact the Steward’s Office: battels@chch.ox.ac.uk

Invoice 1

Charges: ‘Lodging’ for weeks 1 to 8 of Michaelmas term, including pre-term early arrival period, and annual block insurance premium.

Invoice will be emailed to your Christ Church email address by Friday of 0th week of Michaelmas term

Collected from bank account on Friday of 2nd week of Michaelmas term: 21.10.2022

Invoice 2

Charges: ‘Lodging’ for weeks 1 to 8 of Hilary term plus additional charges incurred during Michaelmas term, to 31 December, (utility charges, pre & post term board and lodging, JCR levies etc).

Invoice will be emailed to your Christ Church email address by Friday of 0th week of Hilary term.

Collected from bank account on Friday of 2nd week of Hilary term: 27.01.2023

Invoice 3

Charges: ‘Lodging’ for weeks 1 to 8 of Trinity term plus additional charges incurred during Hilary term, to 31 March, as above.

Invoice will be emailed to your Christ Church email address by Friday of 0th week of Trinity term.

Collected from bank account on Friday of 2nd week of Trinity term: 05.05.2023

Invoice 4

Additional charges incurred during Trinity term, to 31 July, as above.

Invoice will be emailed to your Christ Church email address in August.

Collected from bank account: 21.08. 2023

The nightly room charge for undergraduates living in College is £28.88. All undergraduate members of the House living on the main college site and in St Aldate’s Quad are automatically included in the season-ticket inclusive dining scheme and catered for each night at dinner. This is charged, at a daily rate of approx. £3.23 per dinner, on battels in advance. There is no refund for dinners not taken. Breakfast and lunch are provided on a multi-choice cafeteria basis. The method of payment is via prepaid credits to your University card.

The payment of breakfast, lunch and brunch, which is served in Hall, is made via prepaid credits direct to your University card.

You must ensure that you ‘top up’ your University card before you attend Hall for the above services and bring it with you every time you attend. (You will not have this card for the Sunday dinner or Monday breakfast when you arrive at the start of freshers’ week. You will be given it at registration on Monday.)

It is essential that you notify the Steward’s Office of any change to your University card number as prepaid credit is recorded to the number held within the finance system. Failure to do so will result in your card being invalid. If you lose your card, you must contact the Academic Office.

Any unused credit at the end of Trinity term will automatically be refunded to your battels account.

The procedure is as detailed below:

• Go to web page https://topup.chch.ox.ac.uk and log in using your University card number.
• Your password, in the first instance, is the last four digits of your University card number.  You will be able to change your password after you have logged in for the first time, if you wish.
• Click on Top-Up Card icon and choose your card type from the drop down menu i.e. visa, mastercard etc.  If you’re paying by credit card a transaction charge of 1.58% will apply and be added to the total value.
• Enter the value – there is a minimum top-up value of £20.00.
• Select continue and this will transfer you to the secure hosting site.
• Complete all sections of the Secure Payment Form that are highlighted with a red * (please note:  the CV2 field is where you would enter the 3-digit security reference displayed on the back of the card) and click ‘complete payment’.

You will receive a transaction complete message confirming the total amount that you will be charged and a transaction reference number and an email to confirm.

The site will allow you to view your transactions, both top up values and purchases, by entering the relevant dates that you wish to search on.

If you experience any difficulties with the above process please contact: battels@chch.ox.ac.uk

Apart from nightly charges and fees (where paid by individuals), your termly battels bill will include charges for any expenditure you make in the JCR or GCR and Buttery; and any other miscellaneous costs you incur.

In addition, you should make allowance for payments for books, clothes, entertainment, travelling expenses, and expenditure in vacation. You are advised to budget carefully in advance, and to check your expenditure regularly. Recent experience suggests that students need to take great care to manage on their income and freshers can soon find themselves in financial difficulty if they are not economical.

Details of estimated living expenses at the University of Oxford can be found here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/fees-funding/living-costs

Christ Church has very reasonable costs for accommodation and food for all students. We also use contextualised rates, but only when information on household income is available through the UK student loan agencies. Students with household incomes of £27,500 or less will normally benefit from a 50% subsidy on accommodation and on the ‘season ticket’ for college dinners. Students with household incomes above £27,500 and up to £42,875 will normally benefit from a 25% subsidy on accommodation and on the ‘season ticket’ for college dinners. We also have a generous hardship fund to help students meet additional difficulties. For further information, please view the information on our Financial Support & Assistance pages.

All freshers in college accommodation will need to sign the licence agreement; this is done online and you will receive instructions on how to do this.