Moving Abroad to Study: Finding Housing Near Your New Campus

Study abroad · By the Open Quad editorial team · Published 2026-10-24

A large red-brick university residence hall with gables and many windows, on a lawn, in an old coloured postcard — Oxley Hall, the first women's residence hall at The Ohio State University, in an early twentieth-century postcard. Public domain, via the Digital Public Library of America.

Finding somewhere to live is one of the first practical problems of studying abroad, and one of the hardest to solve from another country. You may be signing a contract for a room you have never seen, in a city you do not know, under rules that differ from home. With the right timing and a few precautions, most students find a safe place close to campus. This guide explains how, step by step.

Start with the neighbourhood, not the listing

Before looking at any individual room, spend an evening with a map of your new city. Find the campus, or campuses, since many universities teach across several sites. Trace the bus, tram, metro or cycle routes that reach your faculty, and note how long each trip takes at the time your classes start. Student unions and university housing pages often describe the areas where students traditionally live, and they usually say which ones are within walking distance, which are cheaper but further out, and which are quiet or lively.

Before you commit to a room from abroad, it is worth browsing apartments for rent in the neighbourhoods around campus to get a feel for typical prices, sizes and commuting times, so that an offer that looks unusually cheap stands out. A few evenings of this background reading give you a mental price list for your city, which is the single best protection against both overpaying and fraud.

Distance matters more than it seems. A cheaper room an hour away costs you a monthly transport pass, early mornings, and evenings you will not spend in the library or with classmates. In cities with cold winters or unreliable night transport, those costs grow. Many students find that paying slightly more to live within walking or cycling distance improves both their budget and their first year.

Then check what your university offers

Most universities have a housing or accommodation office, and its website is the most reliable first source. It will tell you whether places in university residences are guaranteed for new or international students, what types of rooms exist (single or shared, catered or self-catered), the contract length, the cost, and the application deadline.

Practice varies by country. In the United States, many universities require or strongly encourage first-year undergraduates to live on campus, and housing applications often open soon after you accept your offer; graduate students are more often left to rent privately, with help from an off-campus housing office. In the United Kingdom, many universities guarantee a place in halls of residence to first-year students who apply by a set date, and some extend that guarantee to international postgraduates. In France, the regional CROUS student services run subsidised residences, with places allocated according to criteria that include income and distance from home. In Germany, the local Studierendenwerk manages student halls, often with waiting lists of several months in large cities, so it pays to apply as soon as you have an admission letter.

EducationUSA, the US State Department's network of advising centres, recommends contacting your university's international student office early about housing, and the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) publishes guidance for students coming to the UK. Both services are free.

Residences or private renting?

	University residence	Private rental
Booking from abroad	Usually easy, through the university	Harder; viewings and checks are difficult remotely
Contract	Fixed to the academic year, bills often included	Often 12 months; bills may be extra
Guarantors and credit checks	Rarely needed	Often required; difficult for new arrivals
Location	On or near campus	Anywhere; more choice of neighbourhood
Furniture	Usually furnished	Varies; unfurnished is common in some countries
Support	Residence staff and a ready-made student community	Depends on the landlord or agency

A common approach is to take a university place for the first year, then rent privately with friends once you know the city. If no residence place is available, ask the housing office whether it keeps a list of approved private landlords, a noticeboard for rooms offered by local residents, or temporary accommodation for your first weeks.

Searching for a private rental

Once you know which areas suit you, compare several offers in each before deciding. Read every listing for what it includes: furniture, heating, internet, water and electricity are sometimes in the rent and sometimes billed separately, and the difference can be large in winter. Check whether the rent is quoted per week or per month, per room or per flat.

Ask the landlord or agency for a live video viewing, in which they walk through the property and show the street outside, rather than relying on photos. Ask for a draft of the written contract in advance and read it slowly; if it is in a language you do not read well, ask the university's housing or advice service to look at it. Ask who owns the property and whether the person you are dealing with has the right to rent it out. Genuine landlords and agents expect these questions.

What landlords will ask for

United States: landlords commonly ask for proof of income or funds, a credit history (which new arrivals do not have) and sometimes a guarantor or several months' rent upfront. Your I-20, scholarship letter and bank statements can help. Rules on deposits are set by each state and sometimes by each city, so check the local tenant guidance.
United Kingdom: landlords in England must check that tenants have the right to rent, usually through your visa or online immigration status. Deposits for most assured shorthold tenancies must be placed in a government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme, and you should receive details of the scheme within a set period.
Germany: after moving in you must register your address at the local registration office, normally within two weeks, and your landlord must give you a written confirmation for this (the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung). Without registration, opening a bank account and other formalities become difficult.
France: landlords often ask for a guarantor; the state-backed Visale scheme can act as a free guarantor for many students, and international students may be eligible for housing assistance from the family allowance fund (CAF).

Timing

As soon as you accept an offer: read the university housing pages and note every deadline.
Two to four months before arrival: apply for residences, or start researching neighbourhoods and rents if you will rent privately.
Before you travel: have at least a confirmed temporary place for your first weeks, with the address ready for your visa paperwork and arrival forms.
On arrival: view private rentals in person before signing a long contract, if you can.

Arriving without any booked accommodation is risky: the start of the academic year is the busiest time of the rental market in most university cities, and short-term rooms fill up quickly.

Budgeting for housing

Rent is usually the largest part of a student's living costs, and the money is often due before you have settled in. Plan for the deposit, which in many countries equals one or two months' rent, the first month's rent in advance, any agency or administration fees where these are legal, basic furniture and kitchen items if the room is unfurnished, and a few nights in temporary accommodation. Visa rules in several countries already require you to show funds for living costs, which our guide to the real cost of studying abroad explains country by country; housing should be costed inside that budget, not on top of income you hope to earn.

Recognising rental scams

Students arriving from abroad are a frequent target because they cannot view properties and are under time pressure. The US Federal Trade Commission, the UK's national fraud reporting centre Action Fraud, and Australia's Scamwatch all warn about the same patterns:

Warning signs

Rent well below similar properties nearby.
The "landlord" is abroad and cannot show the property, or refuses a live video viewing.
Pressure to pay a deposit immediately to "hold" the room.
Requests to pay by wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency or a money-transfer service rather than a traceable method.
Photos copied from other listings (a reverse image search can reveal this).
No written contract, or a contract that does not name the landlord and address.

If something seems wrong, ask your university housing office before paying; many know the common scams in their city. If you have been defrauded, report it to the police and to the national fraud service, and contact your bank immediately, since some payments can be stopped if you act quickly.

Once you have moved in

Read your contract again, photograph the condition of every room on the first day and send the photos to your landlord by email so there is a dated record, keep receipts for every payment, and know who to call for repairs. Find out how and when to give notice, and what the contract says about guests, subletting and the end of the tenancy. Your university's student union or advice centre can help if a dispute arises, and most countries have free tenant advice services. With a place to live sorted, you can focus on settling in, finding your way around and, if your visa allows, looking for part-time work.

Sources

EducationUSA, US Department of State: guidance for students preparing to study in the United States (online, current edition).
UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA): information for international students on accommodation (online, current edition).
Immigration Act 2014 (United Kingdom), right to rent checks; GOV.UK guidance "Check your tenant's right to rent", Home Office.
Housing Act 2004 (United Kingdom), tenancy deposit protection; GOV.UK guidance "Tenancy deposit protection".
Federal Registration Act (Bundesmeldegesetz), Germany, 2013; Deutsches Studierendenwerk, information on student halls.
Visale guarantee scheme, Action Logement (France); Campus France, guidance on housing in France.
"Rental Listing Scams", US Federal Trade Commission, consumer advice.
Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud; Scamwatch, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.