Accommodation guarantee

The University guarantees to make all new full time students an offer of accommodation either on or off campus in their first year. You are covered by the guarantee if:

• you are a new full time student for a full academic year starting from September
• you have a Conditional or Unconditional Firm offer of a place at the University
• you reside outside the City of Edinburgh; and
• you apply for accommodation online before the closing date of 12:00 midday (BST) on 23 June 2025

In this guarantee, we include:

• direct entrants to year 2 or 3
• students with care experience, from anywhere in the UK including Edinburgh residents

If you are an exchange student or a postgraduate student starting in January, you are not covered by the guarantee.

Please note that you can still apply for accommodation after the 23 June 2025 deadline has passed. Applications received after this date will be offered accommodation subject to availability.

Visiting students/ single-semester

Although not covered in our guarantee, we are usually able to accommodate visiting students, or students who are studying with us for just one semester, depending on availability. Please contact bordershalls@hw.ac.uk in the first instance.

Students with disabilities or extra support needs

A number of rooms on campus have been purpose built and are fully accessible. Our Student Wellbeing Service can give you more information (sbc.wellbeing@hw.ac.uk).

If you are an international student, you must contact us in advance so that we can assess whether we are able to meet your support and care needs in the residences.

Family accommodation

As all of our rooms are single occupancy, we don't have family accommodation on campus, but if you contact the SBC Accommodation Office (bordershalls@hw.ac.uk), we may be able to assist with your enquiries for off campus, private lets. We recommend that you travel to Galashiels on your own first, before making arrangements for your family to join you. Subject to availability, we can provide temporary accommodation for yourself, whilst you search for something suitable for your family.