Housing in Groningen or Leeuwarden

• There is no housing provided by the university. Finding a place to live during your studies is your own responsibility.
• The only exception to this is for students studying at one of the two faculties where you are required to be resident with your fellow students in the faculty during your first year: University College Groningen and University College Fryslân. In these instances, your faculty will contact you with further information.

• This is up to you!
• Usually students live in the city they study in, so either Groningen or Leeuwarden. Travel time of up to 20 minutes by bicycle or public transport is normal.
• However, if you want to live somewhere else, you would need to consider the travel time and travel costs in order to get to your classes regularly.

• Most public transport providers offer a discount card for a set fee. If you use public transport regularly, we recommend purchasing these cards. Find more information on www.ns.nl or www.arriva.nl.
• For EU students it is possible under certain conditions (specifically if you are Dutch, or have an EU passport AND are employed for a minimum of 56 hours/month) to get free transport in the Netherlands.

• No matter if you are planning to study in Groningen or Leeuwarden, you should find a place to stay as soon as possible!
• SSH housing is available for students staying in Groningen. SSH opens for applications at 9am on Monday 8 May 2023, and often fills up within a few days so make sure you are informed about your possibilities and ready to reserve a spot as soon as possible.
• Looking for a house on the open market (once SSH is full) is time consuming and stressful, so in order to be well prepared it is important to begin your research as soon as you can.

• There is housing of different shapes and sizes for different budgets, ranging from just under €400/month up to more than €1000/month.
• We would recommend doing your research in advance into the options, and also considering how your own budget and your wishes can match with what is available. However, as finding a house can be very difficult, we would also recommend that you are flexible and realistic, and not too picky with what kind of living space you would like.

Ultimately students face extreme difficulties if they are not able to find housing in the city, and many are forced to discontinue studying because they are unable to find a place to live in the city.

• If you have questions about SSH housing, please contact SSH directly.
• If you have other questions, there is a dedicated housing email address (housingUG rug.nl). We will try to help where we can. However, please be aware that the university is not always able to help on matters of accommodation.

• SSH Student Housing is a non-profit housing corporation specialised in student accommodation, with furnished rooms available for a maximum of one year.
• SSH housing in Groningen is for new students from outside the Netherlands only.

The registration for SSH Housing for Bachelor’s and Master’s students opens on 15 April. The booking starts on Thursday 2 May 2024 at 9am Dutch time. Please note that bookings work on a first come first served basis.

• If you are a new international (non-Dutch) student in the Netherlands, you should be eligible.
• However, eligibility is decided by the Student Information and Administration department when you register for SSH.

For SSH eligibility, there is no differentiation made between residency/non-residency of the EU, nor between EU or non-EU nationals.

If you need to cancel your room, for example if you cannot take up your place at the University, please take a look at how the SSH short stay cancellation process works on their website under the section "Can I cancel my booking?".

When you book accommodation in SSH, you need to make a payment for the first months of your stay within 24 hours.

SSH rooms are usually rentable for the full academic year. Precise dates can be found when you book.

• You should look at the "short stay" accommodation, as the accommodation is only available for set periods of one year. "Long stay" accommodation is for the duration of your studies, but is not available in Groningen.
• After moving out of SSH housing at the end of your first year, you then need to live in other kinds of accommodation during the remainder of your time in Groningen.

SSH housing in Groningen is only bookable for the set periods on their website, not for shorter periods of time.

The other options would be:

• Private Student Accommodation
• Finding a room on the open market
• Finding a house/apartment to rent

The local municipal government has set up a website in partnership with the education institutions in the city to help students better understand the housing market in the city. You can find this at At Home in Groningen.

• There are several private housing companies which run their own housing in the city.
• These come in different shapes and sizes, and have different systems for you to sign up, and different types of contracts available.
• The university does not endorse any of them as they are private organisations.

• There are several individual websites which you can use, such as Kamernet and KamerGroningen.
• Social media is also a place that many people advertise, for example Facebook (e.g., our group for new international students).

• It is usually extremely competitive, as most of our students are unable to find a room in SSH.
• Negative experiences often arise because the open market for student rooms is quite unregulated in terms of how successful students are selected.

Funda and Pararius are both websites you can use to find rental apartments or houses.

You can look at a house or rental apartment if you would also like to bring your family with you.

• Not necessarily!
• However, if this is feasible for you then it might be a good idea, as it allows you to see housing options yourself.
• If you are looking for housing on the internet from another country, please be careful online that you are dealing with a genuine person. You can find advice on this at At Home in Groningen.