Accommodation is a complete residential-management workflow for institution-owned hostels, residence halls, apartments, and other student housing. It connects the physical inventory of buildings, rooms, and beds with applications, waitlists, offers, contracts, charges, meal plans, check-in, checkout, and the student profile history.
Accommodation buildings are separate from academic buildings and classrooms. A room is assigned to a specific campus and contains individual beds so the portal can show accurate occupancy and prevent two users from assigning the same bed at the same time.
Before you begin
- Institution Admin has configured the accommodation billing, food, leave, cancellation, payment-exception, and reminder policies.
- Campus Admin has created the accommodation buildings, rooms, and bed capacities for the relevant campus.
- Finance has confirmed the campus currency and understands the accommodation ledger and payment-verification workflow.
- Academic terms and student campus assignments are available when accommodation is term-based.
Complete the accommodation lifecycle
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Configure institution policy
Institution Admin opens Accommodation Policies and selects the permitted billing method: Academic Term, Monthly, or Both. If Both is selected, the student may choose the available method during acceptance; otherwise the configured method is compulsory.
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Configure food policy
Institution Admin selects whether food is Mandatory or Optional. Mandatory food applies to the relevant accommodation process and prevents a student from declining the required meal arrangement. Optional food allows the student to choose an available meal plan or no meal plan.
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Define leave and cancellation rules
Institution Admin defines the percentage charged for room occupancy during approved leave, the percentage charged for meals during leave, meal-cancellation refunds, meal-cancellation deductions, and accommodation-cancellation deductions. These values are copied into each request when it is submitted so later policy changes do not rewrite history.
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Create meal plans
Use Accommodation Meal Plans to create separate food plans, such as breakfast only, lunch and dinner, or full board. Set the amount, currency, billing frequency, meals included, and active status. Food charges remain separate from room charges.
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Create the residential building
Campus Admin opens Accommodation > Manage Accommodations, selects Add Building, chooses the campus, enters the building name, address, floors, facilities, Google Maps URL, and responsible officer, and sets the Disabled Access toggle when accessible facilities are available.
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Review the generated building code
The backend creates the unique building code. It is displayed for identification and reporting and is not entered or edited by the user. Buildings with history are archived instead of deleted.
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Create rooms and beds
Open Rooms & Beds, choose the building, enter the room name, floor, room type, number of beds, occupancy policy, rate per bed, facilities, and room photo URLs. The portal creates individual bed records and calculates occupied and available beds automatically.
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Publish the application route
Students open My Tasks > Accommodation. They can see the institution policy and available pricing context before submitting an application, then select dates, preferred building, preferred room type, meal preference where applicable, and notes or requirements.
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Review applications and the waitlist
Campus Admin opens Accommodation Operations > Applications & Waitlist. Applications can be moved to Under Review, Waitlisted, or Rejected. Priority and submission time support a consistent order when available beds are limited. A preference is not a guarantee of a specific building or room.
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Issue an accommodation offer
Campus Admin opens Allocate Bed, selects the student, available room, available bed, start date, and end date, then issues an offer. The bed is reserved immediately so another allocation cannot use it. The student receives the offer details and can review the room, dates, policy, and expected pricing before accepting.
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Accept the contract
The student reviews the offer and accepts the accommodation contract. The allocation status changes to Accepted and the acceptance timestamp is retained. The accommodation charge becomes due only after acceptance; applying for accommodation alone does not create a payable invoice.
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Post the accommodation charge
After acceptance, the room charge is posted through the existing student finance structure and appears in My Finances. The charge identifies the accommodation category, campus, period, building, and room. Finance continues to verify payment evidence through the normal finance workflow.
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Handle payment exceptions
Institution Admin can permit payment exceptions. When the policy permits them, Campus Admin may check in a student without full payment and record that an exception was used. The exception does not erase the outstanding financial balance.
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Complete check-in
Campus Admin opens Accommodation Operations > Residents, confirms the allocation, and selects Check in. The allocation becomes Checked In and the bed becomes Occupied. Any handover details, keys, documents, or local procedures should be completed according to the institution’s residential policy.
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Submit and review leave
A resident submits a leave request with dates and a reason. Campus Admin reviews it. The room and meal charge percentages recorded from Institution Admin’s policy determine whether the student remains charged during the approved leave period.
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Cancel meals during the term
A resident submits a meal-cancellation request with an effective date, optional end date, and reason. Campus Admin reviews the request. If approved, the recorded refund percentage and deduction percentage determine the meal adjustment; the room allocation remains separate.
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Change the room
Campus Admin selects Change Room, chooses an available destination bed, enters the movement date and reason, and saves. The original bed becomes available, the new bed is allocated, and the student’s movement history records the previous building, previous room, new building, new room, date, and reason.
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Request a room transfer after check-in
A checked-in student opens My Accommodation > My Occupancy and selects Request Transfer. The student chooses an eligible building, Single or Shared category, an available room, a requested movement date, and a reason. Pre-check-in allocation changes are not part of this workflow.
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Review and confirm the destination
Campus Admin reviews the submitted transfer first. If it may proceed, the request moves to the responsible Warden of the target building. The Warden confirms an exact available bed, after which Campus Admin gives final approval. The student keeps the current room throughout these approval stages.
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Settle the transfer price difference
The portal compares the current and destination room rates using the institution billing basis and requested movement date. A positive prorated difference creates a fee notice in My Finances and follows the normal evidence and Finance-verification process. A zero difference moves directly to Ready to Move. A negative difference becomes a Finance refund entitlement only after the physical transfer is completed.
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Complete the physical transfer
When the request is Ready to Move, the target Warden confirms that the resident has physically moved. The operation atomically releases the previous bed, occupies the reserved destination bed, updates the active allocation, and records the movement history. Until this final action succeeds, the original occupancy remains authoritative.
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Complete checkout
Campus Admin selects Check out after confirming the checkout process. The allocation becomes Checked Out, the bed becomes Available, and the student retains the allocation and movement history for audit and reporting. Finance handles any final damage charge, credit, refund, or outstanding balance separately.
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Approve the Refund Due
When the checkout policy produces a refundable amount, Finance reviews the settlement. Approval creates a Refund Due entitlement and a separately described cancellation credit against the original room and meal charges. This records what the institution owes; it does not claim that money has already been paid.
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Pay the refund with evidence
Finance opens Accommodation Finance Settlements, selects Process Refund, chooses the linked original payment, enters the amount, date, method, reference, and reason, and uploads mandatory payout evidence. Only this action creates the Refund Paid ledger transaction and notifies the student that the money was processed.
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Handle partial refund payments
If Finance pays only part of the approved entitlement, the settlement remains Partially Refunded and the unpaid portion remains visible as Refund Due. Additional payouts can be recorded until the approved amount is fully paid.
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Apply an explicit account set-off
If a valid independent charge is posted after the Refund Due was approved, Finance may explicitly apply part of the Refund Due against that later charge. The portal requires confirmation and a reason, links the two records for audit, reduces both the later charge balance and the remaining Refund Due, and never performs the set-off silently.
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Follow reminders
Accommodation reminders use the queued branded email system. Overdue accommodation charges are checked at a three-day interval so students receive useful reminders without being flooded with daily messages. Offer, payment, check-in, checkout, leave, and meal events can be communicated through the accommodation workflow.
Institution Admin controls institution-wide policy. Campus Admin operates only the campuses assigned to the user. Finance sees financial work for assigned campuses. Students can view and submit requests only for their own campus and student record.
Institution Admin responsibilities
- Configure Academic Term, Monthly, or Both billing terms.
- Set Mandatory or Optional food policy.
- Define room charges during leave, meal charges during leave, meal refunds, meal deductions, and cancellation deductions.
- Enable or disable payment-before-check-in and Campus Admin payment exceptions.
- Set the overdue reminder interval and review institution-wide accommodation policy.
- Create and maintain meal plans and approve exceptional policy decisions.
Campus Admin responsibilities
- Create and maintain accommodation buildings, rooms, beds, facilities, photos, maps, and availability.
- Review applications, maintain the waitlist, issue offers, and allocate individual beds.
- Process room changes, leave requests, meal-cancellation requests, check-in, checkout, and operational exceptions.
- Use the student profile Accommodation tab to review current accommodation and complete movement history.
- Never delete historical residential records; archive buildings and rooms that are no longer available.
Finance responsibilities
- Review accommodation charges in the existing student account and ledger workflow.
- Verify accommodation payment evidence and issue receipts using the existing finance process.
- Review accommodation balances, overdue charges, credits, refunds, waivers, and damage charges.
- Keep room charges, meal charges, deposits, penalties, and refunds as separately identifiable financial items.
- Treat Refund Due as an approved liability and Refund Paid as the actual payout. Never mark a refund paid without mandatory evidence.
- For partial payouts, leave the remainder as Refund Due. Use an explicit, confirmed set-off only when a separate later charge genuinely exists.
- Remember that a payment exception changes check-in authorization; it does not cancel the student’s financial obligation.
Student responsibilities
- Read the policy and pricing information before submitting an application.
- Submit accurate accommodation dates, preferences, special requirements, and meal choices.
- Accept the accommodation contract before the invoice becomes due.
- Review and pay accommodation and meal charges in My Finances.
- Submit leave and meal-cancellation requests before the effective date where possible.
- Complete check-in and checkout requirements and report changes through the portal.
Billing and charge rules
Accommodation uses separate charge categories for the room, deposit, meal plan, utilities, services, damage, penalties, and refunds. Room charges and meal charges must not be merged into an unexplained total.
When billing terms are set to Both, the student chooses the permitted method during offer acceptance. When only one method is configured, the system follows the institutional policy. Charges retain the agreed amount and period for historical accuracy.
A student may have several historical allocations, but only one active allocation should exist for the same accommodation period unless the institution explicitly supports a special arrangement.
A cancellation credit and a refund payment are separate accounting events. The cancellation credit establishes the institution liability; the refund transaction records money actually returned. This prevents a pending refund from being presented as already paid.
A later damage or liability charge remains independent from the approved refund. If Finance confirms a set-off, the portal records an explicit link and reason so the later charge and the reduced Refund Due remain understandable in the audit trail.
Room availability and colour status
Green indicates that at least one bed is available. Red indicates that no bed is available. Reserved or pending states should be treated separately from full occupancy. The portal also displays numeric capacity such as “1 of 3 beds available”; colour is never the only status indicator.
Student profile history
Campus Admin can open a student profile and select the Accommodation tab. The tab shows the current building, room, bed, dates, and status, followed by all historical allocations and movement records. Each movement identifies where the student moved from, where they moved to, the movement date, and the reason.
Audit and data protection
- Allocation, acceptance, room movement, leave, meal cancellation, check-in, checkout, and policy actions are recorded with the responsible actor and timestamp.
- Building and room codes are backend-generated and should not be manually changed to create duplicate identifiers.
- Do not expose another student’s room, bed, charge, application, or movement history. Campus and student scope must be enforced server-side.
- Use the Google Maps URL only for the institution’s published location. Do not place private access instructions or sensitive residential information in a public map link.
Recommended next step
After configuring the policy and residential inventory, open Accommodation Operations and test one complete journey: student application, staff review, bed offer, student acceptance, finance charge, check-in, room change, and checkout.