Members of different colleges pay different amounts for the same postgraduate accommodation on Castle Street, Varsity can reveal.

Data from University of Cambridge students living at Castle Street shows that a member of Queens’ College is paying less than a Lucy Cavendish student for the same accommodation for the 2025-26 academic year. In contrast, students at Fitzwilliam are paying more.

Lucy’s website previously advertised a ‘classic courtyard studio’ at £280 a week, along with a ‘classic outwards facing studio’ listed at £285 a week for students on a 43-week tenancy agreement. According to the website, students on a 51-week tenancy agreement have their weekly rate reduced by £10 a week, regardless of room type.

Lucy housing contracts seen by Varsity confirm that this is the correct rate charged to Lucy students.

Postgraduate accommodation rates for Castle Street in 2025-2026 are now no longer displayed on Lucy’s website as of 4 February. They have since been replaced with rent rates for the 2026-2027 academic year, with all rents increasing by £14 a week regardless of tenancy length.

Lucy’s listed accommodation rates conflict with rates for Queens’, where a ‘classic outwards facing studio’ in the same accommodation costs £259 a week for a 51-week tenancy, £16 a week less than advertised on the Lucy website. In response to this discrepancy, one Queens’ student told Varsity: “I pay my college, not Lucy […] so maybe they have something [going] among themselves”.

Students at Fitzwilliam pay more than both Lucy and Queens’ students for at least some Castle Street accommodation. One student reported that their ‘classic courtyard studio room’ cost £290 a week, with a tenancy length of 41 weeks – they complained that “this whole thing is so expensive”.

A spokesperson from Lucy Cavendish said: “we do not deal directly with external students and therefore have no differential rate for such persons. We do provide rooms to other Cambridge Colleges en bloc, but have no involvement in the rates these are charged onto students at. Any such information should be sought from the relevant Colleges accordingly”.

Students at Castle Street also had varying views about the quality of their accommodation. One student said: “I find it expensive, but enjoy having a studio with a kitchen. Also, maintenance has been good at responding to my repair needs”.

Another student disagreed, saying “you could rent private accommodation with way better facilities at the same price as Castle Street rent. Castle Street facilities are not well maintained, dirty and with regular cockroach infestations”.

A spokesperson for Fitzwilliam said: “For 2025-26, Fitzwilliam has agreed with its student community to lease Castle Street accommodation from Lucy Cavendish to house postgraduate students.

“Fitzwilliam postgraduates at Castle Street are on the College’s standard 41-week postgraduate contract, and their rent also includes insurance provision. This is a time-limited arrangement for one academic year; from 2026-27 the College expects to accommodate its students within its own estate,” they added.

A spokesperson for Queens’ also stated that Castle Street rates were “agreed in consultation with our JCR and MCR”.

They continued: “Queens’ College has secured Castle Street accommodation for our postgraduate students’ use during the environmental refurbishment of our Owlstone Croft site. There is nothing unusual or improper in these arrangements, the position simply reflects the timing of annual inflationary increases and the points in the year at which different colleges set and confirm their accommodation charges”.

Lucy acquired 355 purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) studio rooms on Castle Street, north of Cambridge’s city centre, in February 2025. Rooms are administered via Lucy, but are managed in partnership with student accommodation operator Collegiate UK.

Lucy has been plagued by rent disputes in recent years. Most recently, Varsity reported that some Lucy students were offered compensation from the College following a rent strike over a lack of “reliable hot water and heating for over a month” in college-managed accommodation.