I've had the experience of actually being a student.

Unlike the US, students in the UK get a single room of their own. So that's what you'll get - a single bed, in a basically furnished room with a chair and desk, and probably a sink. plus clothes storage. Some of the rooms are ensuite (with a private bathroom) but most have a shared bathroom along the corridor. Some of the old colleges have rooms called "sets" which have their own (sometimes fabulously furnished) sitting rooms and kitchens. But I suspect most visitors will stay in the various "new blocks", which are often concrete and ugly - every beautiful college has one hiding somewhere). There are shared kitchen fscilities, which vary from all mod cons, to a pathetic single ring, depending on the college and block.

I can't speak for Cambridge, but it is possible to stay in Oxford colleges out of term time. Some offer rooms in their older sections, but they tend to go fastest once the reservations are available.

I'll be able to tell more of our experience in one in a few weeks, after we get back.

I know the colleges offer rental rooms to their alums (because I am an alum) but I'm not sure rooms are available for non-alums, even in the summer (unlike some of the London colleges). If rooms are available, they're probably not much publicized, so you'd have to do some networking and digging.

If you can find a contact at a college, friend of a friend, etc. that might help -- they might be able to point you in the right direction.

Another option: rooms in college are available for people attending various seminars, summer sessions etc. I was just back this past summer for a one-week seminar, and they offered the attendees rooms in one of the colleges.

From what perspective are you seeking opinions? How to book? What they are like? Cost?

I know that a lot of the colleges rent out their residences in the summer holidays for groups of foreign students, language courses especially (as Cambridge is swarming with foreign 'students' then) but I can't say I've ever heard of them renting out to individuals, unlike many other universities across the country.

Some Cambridge colleges DO make rooms available outside term time, though many do so primarily to the conference trade. However - and here is the rub - remember that Cambridge colleges were mostly built centuries ago which means that they can be decidely iffy by modern standards.

Newer cooleges such as Churchill and especially Robinson are a better bet because they were built with conference trade in mind, and usually all rooms en-suite etc.

Personally I would not choose to stay in a college otherwise - I expect higher standards.