Finance

If you have any questions or worries about finance whilst studying at Corpus, feel free to contact the JCR Access Officer or any of the JCR Welfare Officers. Your Tutor is also a perfect person to help with this.

Costs in Corpus

For the academic year 2022-23, below are some of the costs you may wish to consider:

  • Accommodation:

    • Average rent: £1,845.41 per term (30-week lease) or £2,429.79 per term (extended lease)

    • Lowest rent: £1,437.24 per term (30-week lease) or £1,892.37 per term (extended lease)

    • Highest rent: £2,253.57 per term (30-week lease) or £2967.20 per term (extended lease)

    • Academic vacation rate: £158 per week (one week minimum)

    • Non–academic vacation rate: £39 per night

    • Guest room rate: £47.50 per night

  • Catering:

  • These prices are rough guides depending on what you choose

    • Main (meat/fish): £3.27

    • Main (vegetarian): £2.74

    • Main (vegan): £2.68

    • Sides: £0.88

    • Dessert: £1.48

    • Formal Hall ticket: £14.25

    • Formal Hall guest ticket: £20.00

  • Miscellaneous:

    • Accommodation deposit: £150 (charged on your first bill and refunded at graduation)

    • Replacement university card: £18.50

    • Printing: £0.11 per copy

Information about Tuition Fees, College Fees and general living costs can be found on the main College website here.

College account statements

At the beginning of each term, you will be emailed your ‘College Account Statement’ by the Finance Office. This bill covers all your charges that are due for payment by the date shown. Generally this will be your:

  • Room rent for that term;

  • Termly flat laundry charge of £10.45;

  • Catering charges for the previous term (except on your Michaelmas bill);

  • Electricity charges for the previous term (except on your Michaelmas bill);

  • Any other charges including printing or other expenses you charge to your college bill (except on your Michaelmas bill);

  • Deposit (a one-off charge at the beginning of your first term of residence in college accommodation);

  • One third of your College and University Tuition Fees (minus any contribution or loan from a Student Loan Company).

N.B.: Electricity meters are read on the first weekday following the end of each lease period to calculate your electricity charge and to ensure you are not charged for any electricity used by Conference guests etc. The date shown on your bill will be the date the electricity charge was added to your account, which may be quite a bit later than when the meter was actually read.

At the end of the year (around early July) you will receive your ‘Final Account Statement’, which generally contains the following charges:

  • Catering charges for Easter term,

  • Charges for damage to the fixtures and fittings of your room or for missing items from your room.

If you have graduated, your Final Account Statement will also include a refund of your deposit, or what is left of it if you have damaged items in your room.

College account payment

Payment of your College account must be made to the Finance Office. You can do this in a number of ways:

  • Debit card;

  • Credit card (please remember that a surcharge will apply);

  • Bank transfer;

  • Cheque (please put your name and account number, found on your bill, on the reverse of the cheque).

Details of the College bank account will be on your College bill.

You will have to pay your College Account Statement by the deadline stated on the statement.

Statements that remain unpaid for two weeks will incur both an administration charge and an interest charge. You may also find that your University Card stops working so that you can’t add to the amount you owe College. If your account remains unpaid you may be asked to leave College accommodation or may be prevented from taking up residence in College accommodation in the following academic year, until the account is settled in full.

If you have any problems with paying your bill, or think that you may have problems in the future, you should first of all, speak to your Tutor, and you can also email the Tutorial Office as soon as possible.

University Cards (CamCard)

Corpus uses a cashless card system in Hall and the bar where your University Card can be used to pay for food and drink. Formal Halls are also charge to your account via UPay, meaning you can still eat and socialise even if you are short of cash!

It can be tempting to think of this cashless system as ‘fake money’ though, so remember when using it that you will have to pay College back the following term. You can keep an eye on what you have spent on catering by logging into UPayChilli or when purchasing items in Hall.

UPay

The College uses UPay across its tills (Cafeteria, Pelican Bar, Leck Bar), as well as for event bookings such as Formals. You should have received joining instructions via your email when you joined the college, as there is an automatic enrollment process. Students are encouraged to download the UPay app, which allows you to monitor your balance from both events and purchases as well as make amendments to bookings.

Amendments to bookings

  • Log into Upay 

  • Click ‘Events’ 

  • Scroll down to ‘View Active Bookings’ 

  • Select the active booking you wish to amend 

  • Click ‘Edit Event Booking’ / ‘Cancel Booking’, etc., as appropriate 

  • Continue booking in the normal way, using the ‘Special Requirements’ free-text box when necessary 

  • Upon confirming changes, you will receive a cancellation email followed by a booking confirmation email 

  • Any cancellations will be automatically refunded to your college bill 

All ticket amendments and cancellations should be made before ticket sales close on Upay, usually on the Wednesday prior.  However, it is recognised that on rare occasions attendance at Formal Hall may need to be cancelled at short notice.  In these exceptional circumstances, a swap can be made. This can only be with another Corpus student. 

Note: A common mistake is to try to use your CRSid to log in, you have to type out your full email e.g. abc123@cam.ac.uk

Insurance

The College’s general insurance policy covers items provided by the College for the use of undergraduates in residence. The College cannot accept any responsibility for undergraduates’ personal property.

Therefore, you are strongly advised to insure all your personal possessions for the time you are at College. Your parent’s household contents policy can be extended to cover you whilst you are at University. Otherwise, it is not difficult to arrange separate cover, at a modest premium, from an organisation specialising in student insurance.

The College’s insurance also does not cover any items you may leave in storage or in your rooms over vacation periods. If you are leaving belongings in the store room, it is worth checking that you are covered for personal possessions in ‘secure storage designated by your College authority during a vacation’. It is also highly recommended that you store your items in waterproof plastic storage containers.

Available Funding

Student finance provides tuition fee loans and maintenance loans. Those currently eligible for maintenance grants will be able to apply for expanded maintenance loans covering the amount previously awarded. This will be repaid under the same conditions as the rest of your loan. You may still be able to apply for other grants from the government. More information is available here.

The Cambridge Bursary Scheme is available for eligible UK and EU students and provides a non-repayable grant of up to £3,500 from the University. More information is available here.

The College can also assist if you are in financial difficulty. You can talk to your Tutor about any concerns you may have. It’s best to do this sooner than later so that financial worries don’t cause undue stress while you’re trying to study. More information is available here.

The Student Advice Service provides a huge list of internal and external financial websites that you might find useful.

Finance queries

If you have any questions about finance or the charges and fees in Corpus, please email the Finance Office. Alternatively, the Finance Office is located in A-staircase (room A5) and is open 9am–4pm, Monday to Friday. The Finance Office is closed for lunch from 1–2pm. You can also contact the Finance Office on 01223 3(38005).

Your Tutor can often be very helpful where finance is causing you any stress - these are exactly the kinds of issues it would be a good idea to speak to them about.