‘Might seem a bit weird’: Inside Sydney Uni’s college experience

It’s an autumn evening in the quadrangle at St Paul’s residential college at Sydney University. In the seniors’ common room, the fire is crackling, wine is being drunk and a three-course dinner is about to be served.

Outside, students in formal dress cloaked in academic gowns mill around, waiting to take their seats inside the dining room, with its gothic windows and sandstone walls.

Students at St Paul’s residential college within the University of Sydney attend formal dinner four nights a week.Credit: St Paul's College

For students in their older teenage years or early 20s, dressing for dinner is more Downton Abbey or Harry Potter, but it happens four times a week. “In one sense, it might seem a bit weird and a relic of the past, but having a formal dinner four nights a week builds community,” says college warden Ed Loane.

Applications to Sydney University’s residential colleges have surged over the past five years – including a five-fold increase at St Paul’s since the pandemic. It also went fully co-ed in 2023.

“We hardly do any marketing; it is word of mouth,” Loane said. “Students are loving their time here and telling their family, siblings and their school networks.”

Amid a decades-long decline in the vitality of campus life, not helped by the pandemic, residential college heads say parents and students are searching for a traditional university experience that they are unlikely to get in an online lecture.

About 70 per cent of the students from St John’s College come from the country.Credit: Steven Siewert

Loane says most applicants are from Sydney and private schools, who want to have an immersive on-campus experience.

“I would love to get in with schools in the western suburbs. If you’re commuting, that’s not a good experience of university. We have an extensive scholarship and bursary program.”

Among the broader student population at Sydney University, those who say they live in a residential college might get mixed reactions or even criticism due to perceptions of elitism, while the student union often calls to have them abolished.

St Andrew’s College principal Dr Daniel Tyler said the colleges had been “evolving rapidly and for some time”. They now offered $2 million in scholarships each year and were recruiting more students from public schools.

St Andrew’s offering, like other colleges, includes three meals a day, sport, music, debating and an extensive tutoring program to help students with their studies.

“We’ve got good programs in place to make sure that our students understand the expectations and how to behave well in the community,” Tyler said.

In 2017, a review of residential colleges by Elizabeth Broderick found 19 per cent of students reported experiencing bullying or intimidation, pressure to participate in activities that were humiliating or intimidating to them or another student, or hazing.

Broderick said 25 per cent of women and 6 per cent of men reported experiencing sexual harassment since commencing at college.

At St John’s College, applications have tripled since 2019, shooting up to 1000 last year – something its head, rector Dr Mark Schembri, said was because the colleges had worked hard at improving their culture.

“It continues to grow because people are seeing the good work of colleges in the post-Broderick era,” he said.

Schembri himself became a convert to the college structure when studying a master’s degree at Harvard and living in a residential college there with its sense of academic community.

“I found it to be so conducive to being the best I can be,” he said. “I loved the opportunity to chat to people and found I was constantly learning.”

Jemima Carmody, 19, is in her second year at St John’s College. “For me, I think it has been such a transformative experience,” she said. “Socially, I’ve met so many amazing and like-minded people.”

St John’s students Matt Colgan, Issy Edmonstone and Jemima Carmody.Credit: Steven Siewert

She said certain “traditions” have been phased out – but formal dinners twice a week remain, alongside a Sunday chapel service.

“It is a very down-to-earth atmosphere,” Carmody said. “The people really set the tone. At the end of the day, it is just four walls. The students set the culture; we’re here, we’re accepting of everyone, you get around your friends.”

St John’s student Issy Edmonstone, from Orange in regional NSW, said the value proposition offered by her college was immense.

“There’s this perception it is very expensive, and it is expensive. But if you think about what people pay in rent – and we get the food, tutoring for some subjects; all these things are included.

“My alternative would be share-housing, which would be cheaper, but when you add up food, I think college is worth it.”

The cost of board at a college varies between $13,000 and about $18,000 a semester. While not cheap, it starts at the equivalent of about $668 a week at Sancta Sophia – less than the cost of other accommodation aimed at university students.

Applications to Sancta Sophia College have risen by 270 per cent since the pandemic. Principal Fiona Hastings said the rise could be attributed to the richness of the college experience, and added that the rental market had made college a more attractive option.

“Hard as it is to believe, affordability is also likely to be a factor at Sancta, given the high charges of commercial providers now,” she said.

The Women’s College principal Tiffany Donnelly said there had been a 62 per cent increase in applications between 2019 and last year. When she spoke to students at application interviews, she said they wanted a community, and “the opportunity to meet like-minded women who are serious about their studies”.

Wesley College had also recorded a 62 per cent rise in enrolment applications over that time. Its head, Lisa Sutherland, said one of the best things about college was the support on offer to students who were moving out of home for the first time.

“It is also a sense of belonging and a sense of connectedness that you’re not getting on social media,” she said.

“We notice a huge difference from when they join us and when they leave. The difference is they’re independent for the first time.”