My BLCU Blog: BLCU International Students Housing and Dorm Costs

Friday, February 17, 2012

BLCU International Students Housing and Dorm Costs

If you're planning to study in Beijing Language and Culture University as an International Language student, you might want to get information about BLCU's International students housing and dormitories (accommodation) and how much it will cost you to live in them. This article is a product of my research, inquiry and my intent to help students all over the world who want to study Chinese in BLCU.

The BLCU University has a total of 6 dormitories for international students, located in different parts within the school, namely Dorm 1, Dorm 4, Dorm 6, Dorm 7, Dorm 8 and Dorm 9. The dormitories are classified into ordinary, middle class and luxury class. The prices or rates can range from 35 RMB - 160 RMB per day. 

Dormitory 1 and Dormitory 9

BLCU Building 1 
Students with a tight budget can consider living in BLCU Dorm 1 and Dorm 9. Both of them only have public toilets (that's why they are cheaper). The public toilets are located within the building, which makes life better for foreign students. Some Chinese students need to go across their buildings just to take a bath in the school's public toilet. The facilities for dorms 1 and 9 include a television, air-conditioner, telephone, wardrobe, desk, chair, bed and bedding. 

BLCU Building 9
Dorm 9 has extra facilities such as a mini-refrigerator and a public kitchen. Most students living in these dorms are Government scholars. 

The standard daily rates for these dorms are as follows:
Dorm 1 - Single Room - 80 RMB/day, Double Room - 40 RMB/day
Dorm 9 - Single Room - 95 RMB/day, Double Room - 65 RMB/day, Luxury Double Room 40 RMB
             
Dormitory 4 and Dormitory 6

BLCU Building 4
Although the school considers these dorms as luxury dorms, I would say they are middle class dorms. These dorms may not be as nice as the famous Dorm 17, but they are livable, more affordable, and location-wise, closer to the student classroom buildings.

BLCU Building 6
The difference between Dorm 4 and 6 is that dorm 4 is located near the South Gate (closer to the Intensive students' classrooms) and Dorm 6 is located near the West Gate (right in front of the basketball courts). Dorm 4 also has an International cafe on the ground floor, named Hope Cafe.

The facilities include: a television, air-conditioner, mini-refrigerator, telephone, wall-closet, desk, chair, bed, bedding, public kitchen and public washing machines. They both have private toilets in the room. 

The standard daily fees for dorm 4 and 6 are:
Dorm 4 - Single Room - 150 RMB/day, Double Room - 80 RMB/day, Luxury Double Room - 80 RMB/day
Dorm 6 - Single Room - 160 RMB/day, Small Single Room - 120 RMB/day, Double Room - 80 RMB/day and Suite - 200 RMB/day

Dormitory 7 and Dormitory 8

BLCU Building 7
These 2 dorms are exclusively for Single room occupants only. Facilities include: television, air-conditioner, mini-refrigerator, telephone, wall-closet, desk, chair, bed, bedding, public kitchen and public washing machines. These dorms are also located near the basketball courts and are closer to the west gate.

BLCU Building 8
The standard daily costs for these rooms are:
Dorm 7 - Single Room - 120 RMB/day
Dorm 8 - Single Room - 120 RMB/day

Safety and Services

All the above mentioned dormitories have a 24-hour receptionist service, which means you can check in anytime on your arrival to Beijing. Their receptionists also have good memory, they usually remember the students who live and don't live in these dorms. They also have CCTV cameras in each floor to ensure student's safety. 

Although these dorms promise the tidying of rooms and cleaning of bathrooms daily, it's better if you don't expect because they seldom do. The bedding on the other hand, is changed every week. 

Curfew

I'm not sure which dorm will have a curfew in the coming terms, but I have experienced this while living in Dorm 4. The curfew is 12 midnight (every night), the doors will be closed after this time. They did try to implement it strictly but due to the way foreign students live, they were barely able to implement this rule. 

Every time we arrived late, we would just ring the bell and they will open the door for us. We did meet one cruel receptionist who was very snob with foreigners. She would scold at us when we were late but I hope she resigns. Soon.;)

Discounts

The standard rates I have mentioned can still be covered by student discounts. The longer you stay in these dorms, the bigger your discount is. 

For example, when I stayed in Dorm 4 for 1 whole semester, I only paid 56 RMB/day instead of the standard 80 RMB/day because of my length of stay. 

If you want to know the specifics, here is list of maximum discounts you can get from each of the international students housing and dorms, click here to download the file: BLCU Housing and Dormitory Brochure. It is in an Adobe PDF file format. I got it from the school itself.

I will post a different article for BLCU Dorm 17 and Conference Center costs.

I hope I helped you with this article. 

So... Do you have anything to say about BLCU's housing and dormitories? 

33 comments:

  1. Hi, first of all thank you for a very informative blog :) I have some questions about applying for BLCU, I want to take the 2 year college certificate program but I don't understand the difference between these requirements

    - Certificate/diploma of highest education

    - Academic transcript of highest education
    Original transcript of academic record.

    I only have grades from my former college and wonder if that is enough. Thank you:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for dropping by! :)

    The certificate/diploma of highest education is the sheet of paper you get after graduating. The content of this certificate includes: "This certifies -Your name- has graduated from -what school- on what date with the seal of the school and the signatures of your heads. Do you have this?

    The academic transcript of highest education is the grades you are talking about :) Usually you have to ask a new copy from your college. You just need to request for a transcript and you'll get it after a few days. :)

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  3. Hi Stephanie,
    I'm really very glad to have found your blog. Probably I'm going to study in BLCU with CSC scholarship and I have some questions about the dorms.
    So, I would like to know, if all the students who have got the Government scholarship do live in 9 dorm? No chance to live in 4 and 6?
    Thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi!

    You can live in dorm 4 and 6 but I think you'd need to pay for the dorm expenses yourself :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi!Firstly, i would like to thank you for all informations posted here. I also have a few questions for you. Can you please tell me are those dorms 1 and 9 clean? I heard there are cockroacks there, or at least there were in the past... How can we know are we going to stay in Dorm 1 or 9? Are boys and girls separated? Is dorm 1 for example for boys and 9 for girls? :) Furthermore, i also want to know, of course if you know something about that, can i stay there for one semester and get a certificate which one semester students getwhen they finish their exams even if i have one year scholarship??? And if i want to upgrate to Dorm 4 and 6, i only have to pay for example 15 RMB per day more because the cost of my room in the dorm 9 is for example 65 and in the dorm 6 is 80?? Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry for my late reply Sunja! I've been quite busy recently. I'll try to answer all your questions as much as I can :) I think the rooms in dorm 1 and 9 can either be for boys or girls. The only strict room they impose is that the double rooms should be occupied by the same gender. I think you're still going to get the certificate because you have a graduation ceremony where everyone gets one (but for this, i'm not sure). Finally, for the rooms, if you want to change dorms, I think you have to pay for the full amount, that's why its cheaper to just stick with the free dorm ;)

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  7. Hi! Thanks so much for your blog, amazing info you provide us with! Really great!

    A simple question: in double rooms, is it possible to apply with a friend, for instance, your boyfriend? I read somewhere that you can only share a double-room with someone of the opposite sex if you're married :/ is that true?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've heard that news too. I think you need to be married to share rooms! Unless you want to rent an apartment, you can't share rooms in school dorms.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. Hello Stephanie, Thanks for your blog, I am right now in the hunt of affordable accommodation to stay during my 6 months study at BLCU.
    As expected, the dormitory and house of international student are all full for next semester as I phoned them early this morning.
    I would be arriving around 4 days before my course started, my question, would there be a chance I would get a room by walk in to the reception? or is that enough time to search for off campus accommodation?

    Thanks a lot.. Yenny

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Yenny! Thanks for dropping by! Yes, there's a chance for you to get a room in one of blcu's dorms, but some students have to go off campus to look for a dorm room. I think 4 days is enough, but just incase, set aside some money to book a hotel for a couple of days while you look for a nice place to stay near the campus.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Stephanie. Great blog with lots of information. I mmmmed and arrrrrred about where to study Mandarin for a year but finally surmised that despite the pollution, Beijing is the best place to start. I am applying to study for a year and want to stay in a single room with decent facilities. What would you recommend? My budget is mid-range with an option to spend a bit more if it is worth it. I enjoy playing football and using the gym also so would like to take the proximity of either of those into account.
    Thank you very much for this tremendously helpful blog.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Stephanie!
    Thanks for the information!
    I was wondering if I can share a room between 3 people?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Stephanie! I'm going to attend an intensive course this summer and I read some forums about how to reserve a room in Blcu dorms before getting there... and it seems like... impossible! Do you have any advice? Thank you very much :)
    Sally

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Stephanie! Great blog! My question isn't related to this post, but I was wondering what miscellaneous fees you had to pay upon arrival at BLCU. Aside from the tuition fee and cost for accommodation (for the whole semester), did you have to pay any deposit fee, cost for books, etc? And how much did you pay? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Robert,

    My apologies but as I reviewed my post, I'm not quite sure what's the difference between a regular and a luxury room since I studied there a long time ago :( But I think it should probably be nicer or more modern rooms. It could also mean that they'd clean your room more often because based on my experience, in the regular rooms, they didn't. ;)

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  17. Hi Robert, Dorm 17 is usually always full. Try Trisha's suggestions. Dorm 6 and Dorm 4 are also good accommodation options.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for share these residences Stephanie because i'm currently looking for some students housing, great blog

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