Hatfield College is the most Oxbridge-like college in look and feel; again the accommodation is variable. Rooms in the bailey, and part of the castle itself, are some of the best to be had at Durham but there's always the danger of being stuck across the road and thus stuck firmly in the concreted 1970s. The college is financially very strong and others are probably a little too ready to condemn it as all rah and no trousers.

St John's is a largely Christian establishment, although it is ready to emphasise that all are welcome. At times it's a bit too cosy and insular, it overcomes this with excellent facilities for drama and music that are well used by the whole university. Housed in a series of connected buildings it is a warren that is easily navigable with practice.

St Chad's College, with its impressive foyer, hidden quads and chandeliered dining room is another small college which attracts little attention despite being a bit special.

St Cuthbert's Society is a college in all but name, which benefits from extended bar opening hours and from a diverse mix of students. The only distinctive characteristic of residents is a slightly rah tendency. Most people live in large labyrinthine houses on the Bailey. Accommodation, which was once amongst the worst, is now patchy, but excellent in places. A word of warning however; this is the college where most rooms are shared. Balance this with the fact that it is probably the easiest Bailey college to get into, and it does have the best bar.

As Durham developed as a university and expanded in the 60's more colleges were built. Traditionalists attacked the drop in standards that brought about the new Hill Colleges, everyone else thought it was a great idea. These colleges contain some of the best accommodation in Durham; en suite, on line, comfortable and occasionally well-thought out. Though, some of these rooms do come at a premium. The story is actually fairly similar for all the colleges: Trevelyan, Mary's, Grey, Van Mildert, Collingwood and Aidans. Apart from their differing bars (see social section) they offer a range of accommodation, the best is probably to be found at Collingwood, the worst is fairly evenly spread. St Mary's is the all-girls college. It has various nicknames, none of which are polite, and more of which are inaccurate. Van Mildert has an attractive lake in the middle, but the hill colleges are all much of a muchness, with their character changing year on year.

Aside from all this, there is The College of St Hild and St Bede. This combination of two elderly colleges teaches loads of education degrees as well as the more conventional ones. Slightly out of town in a different direction, it tends to be quite a close community.
There is also Stockton Campus which is down the road and has courses in Business Studies, Business Finance, Sport Health & Exercise, Psychology, Biomedical Science and Medicine among others. It's a bit weird as they overlap some courses with the main site so it is pretty independent and has a very different atmosphere, perhaps more appropriate for non-traditional students. The campus is formed from two colleges, George Stephenson College and John Snow College. As an addendum there's the Graduate Society, for graduates funnily enough.

There is also a new college opening next year called Josephine Butler. There will be more colleges and departments moving to Stockton in the future.

Generally students live in for the first year, out for the second and then return to college for the third.
Finding accommodation in the city centre can be a little tough, so we advice that you leave plenty of time. However, the Students Union Accommodation Office can be very helpful in finding that dream house and should certainly be your first port of call.

With so many cheap bars in colleges the need to drink elsewhere isn't great. If you do then The New Inn is very popular. There are three nightclubs and all are dark sweaty holes, in fact Durham can rival Guildford as being the town with the dodgiest clubs in England. Klute is cheesy, has three floors and was recently voted worst club in Europe by FHM. Students love it, though. DH1, known in student circles by its former name, Rixies, has some excellent drum and bass and good DJs but a shit name. Café Rock is seldom open and best avoided if it is. All this criticism should be taken in the right way though. With a tongue-in-cheek attitude Durham students will happily queue outside to get in and in some there are queues to get onto the dancefloor.