St John’s College has increased student rents more steeply than any other Cambridge college over the past four years, despite sitting on a near-£800 million endowment, Varsity can reveal.
Freedom of Information requests show that the College’s median annual undergraduate rent rose by a compounded 40.2% between 2020/21 and 2024/25 – significantly greater than the UK inflation rate of 27.8% over the same period.
Only two other colleges of the 24 that gave data raised rents above inflation: Corpus Christi (33.3%) and Trinity (29.7%), the latter of which has an endowment of over £2 billion, more than any Oxbridge college.
By contrast, most colleges kept rises far below inflation, measured as of June each year from 2021-2025, with the median cumulative increase across Cambridge just 21.88%.
Some colleges, such as Girton (13.3%) and Magdalene (14.6%), kept hikes around half the national rate.
John’s has the University’s second-largest endowment at £798m, according to College accounts from 2023-24, behind Trinity, which has an endowment of £2.4 billion as of 2024, more than any Oxbridge college.
One John’s student told Varsity: “The rent increase situation at John’s is getting continually worse. I would already say John’s definitely attracts more privileged students and the rent prices I worry are going to further put off less advantaged students applying and make [the College’s] student body less diverse.”
Another said: “The absurd rent increases have put undue stress on my family, as well as many people I know. The college made these decisions concurrent with the slashing of bursary support and has shown no remorse.
“Students who chose the college for the advertised support and subsidisation have been betrayed, and the only reason can be the mismanagement of college funds. Though the college stage ‘open-meetings’, questions are always dodged, and our JCR protest only weakly,” they continued.
In March 2024, when John’s announced they were increasing rents by 17.46% for the upcoming year, they justified this by claiming it was a consequence of “vastly increased energy bills”.
The College, which implemented no rent freezes during the cost-of-living crisis, also claimed at the time that it still covers “around 50 per cent of the actual cost of student accommodation”.
In order to maintain an appearance of low rents, Varsity revealed at the time that John’s also changed the display of fees on the accommodation website from ‘per term’ to ‘per week’.
That announcement was met with significant backlash at the time. Another John’s student reported that the vast majority of John’s students found out about the increases from the opening meeting, rather than a confirmation email. “It seems like they wanted the news to slip out under the radar,” they told Varsity in 2024.
“The costs are prohibitively high which is a real shame for a college which has a bad reputation but enough money to do some real good,” the student continued.
In response to Varsity’s investigation, a spokesperson for St. Johns said: “This academic year the average undergraduate rent at St John’s will be £2,596.32 per term, an increase of just 1.86%. This is well below inflation and includes all utilities and laundry with no extra costs.
“Although recent rises were driven by steep increases in energy and staffing costs, St John’s continues to provide more than £10 million a year in accommodation and catering subsidies for all undergraduates, as well as extensive financial support for our students who need it most.
“Our undergraduate room licences cover a longer period than at most Cambridge colleges – 38 consecutive weeks – so students do not need to move out during the Christmas and Easter vacations, which makes direct comparisons with other colleges inaccurate.
“This approach is regularly discussed and agreed with our JCR representatives, and we remain committed to offering a range of rooms and rental prices to suit individual needs,” they continued.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Trinity College said: “Recently the College changed the structure of room rates and catering costs in response to student requests. Trinity continues to offer a range of accommodation at different costs, among them some of the lower rates across Cambridge.
“Meanwhile the Trinity Maintenance Grant is one of the most comprehensive support packages available at a UK higher education institution for students from lower-income households,” they continued.
Despite raising rents the least over this four-year period, Girton had charged students the highest rents, as of 2023.
That year, a Varsity investigation revealed that Girton charged £7,100 in 2022-23 for a 38-week lease, higher than any other college that gave data at the time.
Yet, now, the College claims that “in the last academic year, [we] charged the lowest median rent of all of those colleges which, like us, operate on a 38-week continuous tenancy basis for undergraduates”.
A Girton spokesperson told Varsity that “Girton has strengthened its financial position considerably over recent years, enabling it to” keep rent rises “well below the rate of inflation, including a complete freeze for the 2024 cohort”.
Meanwhile, the 2023 Varsity investigation revealed that Homerton had the lowest rents of £4,100 for a 28-week lease. John’s, despite having raised rents significantly since that investigation, was found to have one of the cheapest rents, at £4,800.
The majority of Cambridge colleges have bursaries for students who struggle most. Newnham was one of the few colleges that reported different rent rises for those on a bursary (16.28%) and those without (19.30%).
In previous years, students at several colleges have responded to high rents and rises by going on strike.
In May 2023, around 100 students at King’s College committed to going on strike, which was met with a tough response from the College. Senior figures warned at the time that striking students with outstanding debt “may ultimately not be permitted” to return to College accommodation over the summer or in Michaelmas Term.
Sidney Sussex students followed suit that same year and almost 65% of students voted for a strike. However, this was called off as students claimed they were “afraid of doing anything to anger College” and “discouraged” to participate due to the possibility of disciplinary action.
Robinson College and King’s College did not supply data. Corpus Christi College was contacted for comment. Colleges gave a variety of measures for rent, including weekly, annually, and monthly. Varsity, therefore, only chose to focus on cumulative percentage rises.
