University of York - Halifax College Garrowby Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DN

"Maybe this is UK standard, but I think it is a surprisingly low quality accommodation compared to several other accommodations I've lived before. First of all, sharing the house with 20 people is already difficult. No space in kitchen, toilets are never clean, people are quarreling frequently...etc. And kitchen/bathroom cleaning service comes just once a week...or even less. It is of course not enough. Also, despite of low quality care, if they find the common space dirty, they charge money. Can't believe this is an official dorm run by a proper university. Internet is dreadful. It frequently slows down or cuts out by itself. And strange things happens so often, like preventing to access random websites which you were able to access yesterday, prevents you from sending photos to people...etc. Also for some reason the water quality is bad. Not just it looks yellowish, it tastes really awful when you make tea or coffee out of that. Honestly, I started to have mouth ulcers, rashes on my skin, and sometimes a stomachache since I moved in here. I think there needs to be an extra care here. If the Uni believes that students can study well in such space, they should once come and check the situation. Additionally, the contract system is also bad. This is not just about Halifax, but all UoY accommodation. You can't really tell how good/bad your accommodation will be until you live, and this is an international student dorm, and people sometimes need to leave for many reasons. However, once you make a contract, you have to pay the whole amount around the beginning of your stay, and if you have to leave before the contract ends, the only way to get your refund is to find another student for a replacement.(which is hard... how would you ask your friend to take over my trouble where you cannot recommend at all?)"

"Nice halls, pretty far out from the campus however so it's quite a long walk for anything accessable."

"I feel like Halifax gets abitta stick as one of the *poorer* colleges. While my friends do laugh at me when I tell them I’m in a place called Halifax College (c’mon guys the name really doesn’t help) I don’t think it’s half as bad as people say. Sure it’s a ten min walk from any department, sure JJ’s might not be that great, and yes the Nisa is kinda expensive; but the accommodation is nice and I enjoy abit of exercise walking to my lectures in the morning. The staff on desk at reception are also brilliant, never had a single rude member of staff in fact quite the opposite! It’s also quite nice and quiet unless you live next to the zip-line, which attracts drunken students like moths to a flame at 2am. Really enjoying it so far but I wish we had a pub or something nearer than D-bar that students could go to (and not JJ’s) but hey you can’t have it all. P.S - Aldi is a 20min walk if you don’t wanna go to the pricey Nisa. Bus stop into town is also only a 10min walk (get the 66 or 66a depending, and use the first bus app to get ten tickets for £10 making each trip only cost £1!)."

"So many insects and spiders，too far away from the bus stop，inconvenient"

"Nice and calm college. Heslington West. Use the UB1 bus if you don't want to walk much."