Students and Housing

Got a place? Lucky you!

Finding affordable housing as a student can prove to be a great challenge for anyone, especially for international students that prepare to leave their country and start a new life in a place they barely know.

However, when the country that they move to is facing several problems when it comes to providing affordable housing to its students then things can get even more difficult and this is exactly the situation in the University of Luxembourg today.

For most students, when they plan to move to Luxembourg, the process seems blissfully simple. Apply for a room in a university residence through the respective website.

However, due to high demand not all requests will be accepted and the lucky ones, they might still have to come to terms with several conditions that are not going to be optimal for their particular situations.

Student Voices

Ovidiu

“I study in Kirchberg”, Ovidiu, 24, says. “However, I was given a room in Eschsur Alzette. It was the only available one.” The daily commute according to his experience has not been easy.

During morning and afternoon traffic, one can expect around 1.5 hours commute from Esch to Kirchberg Campus.

However, that is the reality for many of the students that have not been lucky enough to secure a room in one of the University residences in Luxembourg city. Most of the time, you need to be prepared to spend around 3 hours in public transport each day, especially at rush hours.

Anna

In Anna’s case, finding accommodation has been a challenge until the last days before her flight to Luxembourg.

“I came to Luxembourg to study along with my husband. We were both accepted into Master programs and decided to move here for a new start and to embark on a new academic journey.”

However, they soon realized that being able to find accommodation together was much harder than it seemed.

“At first, they told us that even though we are both students, they cannot guarantee us a studio or at least rooms in the same residence.”

There's no place (like home)

Finally, they received an offer for a studio near their campus but that was only three days before they arrived in the country.

“It was a stressful time for us, and we had to tolerate a lot of pressure just before moving to a new country we knew nothing about.”

In 2020 and 2021, students in the whole world, but also in Luxembourg, had to face a unique and unprecedented situation of a pandemic, a situation that for many meant putting their plans and studies on hold for several semesters. In fact, numerous students decided to prolong their studies with extra semesters in order to cover up for the lost time or the difficulties the pandemic and online classes presented them with.

However, already in March 2022 the University of Luxembourg, in order to provide a solution to the housing issue of incoming students, introduced a new policy regarding the maximum amount of staying in a room or studio in their residences. More specifically, for students following a Bachelor program the maximum duration would be 36 months while for Master students it would be 24 months.

And while that seemed to relieve the stress for the University on an administrative level, a lot of students found themselves struggling with having to relocate in the span of a few months, if they wanted to continue their studies.

Tatia

For Tatia, 27, who already knew she had to prolong her studies, her housing situation became a huge insecurity overnight. “It is really a matter of survival”, she says.

“Looking back, it definitely affected my academic performance. I lost focus.”.

by Eleni Mouzakiti