Student housing in Amsterdam

Information about housing

• General information about housing

  • Housing prices via VU Amsterdam vary from €450 to €1,350 per month, but the average rent for VU housing is €700 per month. The number of cheap rooms with shared facilities is limited.
  • VU Amsterdam only offers housing for your first year, even if your programme lasts 2- or even 3 years. You will need to find accommodation by yourself after your first academic year.
  • Many Dutch and international students are looking for student accommodation, and rental prices on the private market are high, often starting at around €750 per month. We recommend beginning your search as early as possible and being open to surrounding towns and villages. Make sure to check our tips and read more about the Dutch student housing market in general.

  Watch our informative webinar

  • We hosted a webinar about accommodation in Amsterdam on the 1st of May 2025. You can find the recording of this webinar here.

• Eligibility

  Who can apply for accommodation?

  All students who have been (conditionally) accepted will receive an invitation to confirm their participation on VU.nl. Once you have confirmed your participation, you will be able to apply for accommodation on the VU-Dashboard. You can only apply for accommodation from VU Amsterdam when you meet the following criteria:

  • You are enrolled in an English-taught degree programme;
  • You are a first year student;
  • You have a non-Dutch nationality. Please note that when you have dual citizenship of the Netherlands and an EU/Non-EU country, you are not eligible for accommodation via us;
  • You have to be admitted based on a foreign diploma;
  • You have never lived in the Netherlands before.

  First-year students from Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, and Saba who are interested in housing can contact us.

• Accommodation types and contract information

  Accommodation in Amsterdam

  Our accommodation consists of furnished and unfurnished (single) rooms with private or shared facilities. It is common that men and women live together in the same flat. Given the shortage of accommodation, you may find the room you get is smaller than would be expected at home. Accommodation in Amsterdam is not only limited but usually expensive too. Thinking about these things in advance could help avoid unpleasant surprises later.

  Contract types

  Rental contracts for Bachelor's and (pre-) Master's students:

  • Rental contracts for a fixed period of 1 year
    • Please find the room types in this document rooms for 1 year
    • Contracts cannot be extended.
    • Note: Bachelor’s students will need to arrange their own accommodation for their second and third years. Master’s students enrolled in two-year programmes, as well as those who do not complete their programme within one year, will also need to find accommodation themselves after their first year.
    • The rooms for this contract are furnished.
      
  • Campus contracts
    • There are very limited rooms available for this type of contract. The location is Student Experience - Amsterdam Amstel.
    • These rental contracts cover the total duration of your study program. You can stay in this type of accommodation as long as you enrolled at VU Amsterdam.
    • Rooms with a campus contract are not furnished.
    • Campus contracts have flexible end dates, which means that it is possible to cancel the contract at any point with a one-month notice.

  Couples rooms

  We have a very limited number of rooms available for couples. Most couple rooms are offered through DUWO Accommodate and are located at Cornelis Lelylaan, Pierre Lallementstraat, and Uilenstede. We also offer a small number of couple rooms in Amsterdam North at BOLD, managed by De Key. Most couple rooms contain one larger bed.

  To be eligible for a couple room, at least one partner must be a VU student. Couple rooms are assigned on a first-paid, first-served basis, based on the date we receive the housing fee. Once both partners have paid the housing fee, please contact us to indicate that you would like to be considered for a couple room. In your message, include the student number and the name of your partner. If your partner is not a student, please include your student number and your partner’s full name. You can find more information about couple rooms in this document.
  

  Rental prices and fees of housing corporations

  The rental prices listed are per month and vary depending on the type, size, and location of the accommodation. Service costs (such as water, electricity, and internet) are included in the price.

  All rents are subject to change; no rights can be derived from the prices shown. You can find the applicable rental price ranges in the accommodation type documents listed above. Some types of accommodation may be eligible for housing allowance. Please see ‘Taxes and Housing Allowance’ for more information.

  Please note that, in addition to the rent, housing providers may charge an administrative fee, a deposit, and/or require payment of the first few months’ rent in advance.
  

• Application procedure and waiting list

  Application procedure Pre-Master’s students

  For Pre-Master’s students, the housing application must be completed manually. You may choose to apply for housing either during your Pre-Master’s programme or for the first year of your subsequent degree programme. Please note that if you apply for housing during your Pre-Master’s, you will not be able to apply again for the following academic year.

  To apply for housing during your Pre-Master’s, please send us a message, as applications cannot be submitted through your Personal VU Dashboard. We will send you a form to apply for the VU housing service, along with further instructions by email. From that point onward, you can follow the standard procedure starting at ‘Step 3: Pay the housing fee’ in the instructions below.
  

  Application procedure Bachelor’s and Master’s students

  • Step 1: Please confirm your participation in your personal VU dashboard.
  • Step 2: Select your budget category
    During your application, you will be asked to indicate your budget category. Please note that this is for administrative purposes only and does not affect room allocation. During the booking process, you will be able to choose from rooms in all budget categories. Therefore, we do not guarantee a room in any specific price category, as we have a limited number of rooms available.
  • Step 3: Pay the housing fee

  Please transfer the housing fee. Accommodation will be assigned based on a first paid, first served system. The date on which VU Amsterdam receives the payment will determine your place in the queue. As soon as you finish the housing application, a link to pay the housing fee online will become available within 12 hours within your personal VU Dashboard. 

  The housing fee is necessary to cover the costs of VU Amsterdam in providing the housing service to international students and staff.
  The fee is used to reserve affordable housing specifically for first-year international students, who often have great difficulty finding housing due to the scarcity on the housing market and high rents. The fee is refunded if VU Amsterdam is unable to offer a room from its reserved.  VU Amsterdam would like to emphasize that the services are only cost-covering.

  For Bachelor's and (pre)-Master's students the fee is €500 for all contracts. We advise you to use the online payment tool, but it is also possible to pay the fee via bank transfer. The bank details are as follows:

  Account name:      Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  Name of bank:       Deutsche Bank

  Address of bank:   De Entree 99-197, 1101 HE Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  IBAN:                       NL49DEUT0488004470

  BIC:                          DEUTNL2N and DEUTNL2A for non-SEPA

  Please state your name and S+ student number (e.g. s1234567). When paid from abroad, all banking costs are to be paid by the applicant. You can pay your visa and housing fee in one transaction. Applications for accommodation will not be dealt with until VU Amsterdam has received this payment.

  • Step 4: Your application is completed!

  Within a few weeks you will receive a confirmation e-mail from the VU Accommodation Office. You are now added to the accommodation queue. You have completed your housing application and there is nothing left to do at this moment.

  • Step 5: It’s now time to book your room

  In May or June, you will receive further instructions from the VU Accommodation Office by email. You will then be able to book a room through the Room University Housing booking system, based on your preferences and the rooms still available at that time.

  Students are given access to the booking system in batches, following a first-paid, first-served principle. Students who paid the housing fee earlier will be given access earlier and will therefore be able to choose from a larger number of available rooms.

  You may book one room only, and it is not possible to change rooms after completing your booking.

  • Step 6: Finally, let’s sign your rental contract

  Once you have reserved your room in the booking system, you have almost completed the procedure. You will receive further instructions via e-mail in order to sign the rental contract with your housing provider. Your housing provider will ask you to complete a few more steps before you can officially sign your rental contract. These steps may differ depending on your housing provider.

  Waiting list

  In case all rooms are booked, students will be placed on a waiting list. We are not able to give information about your position on the waiting list. Please keep in mind that the waiting list does not give you any guarantees to get a room via VU Accommodation Office. We are fully dependent on cancellations. We advise you to search for a room independently. 

  Video

  We created a video about this process, which you can find here.

• Cancellation refund policy, terms and conditions

  Cancellation refund policy

  Your housing fee can only be refunded when you cancel your application before July 1st 2026, 23:59 CET (Amsterdam time). Even if you have already received a housing offer through us, it is possible to cancel and receive a refund if you do so before July 1st 2026. 

  You can request the refund by sending us a message using this contact form. After 1 July 2026, it is only possible to request a refund of the housing fee  when the University Accommodation Office has not yet given you access to the booking system. After 1 July, as soon as you have been offered a room or you have been given access to the booking system UH.ROOM.nl, your housing fee becomes non-refundable. 

  If you wish to cancel your application, please inform us using this contact form as soon as possible.

  Terms and conditions

  • When you depart at the end of the rental contract, you must have paid all outstanding invoices in full.
  • As a tenant, you are responsible and liable for the accommodation you are renting. The accommodation and the shared facilities must be left in a good and clean state. 
  • All refundable costs made to the housing provider (i.e. security deposit) will be refunded by the housing provider after cancellation.
  • As a tenant, you are not allowed to sublet your accommodation. This includes platforms such as AirBnB and Wimdu. The only exception to this rule is when you go abroad as part of your study programme or for an internship. Please contact us if this is the case.

• Route descriptions from Schiphol to housing providers

  Amsterdam-North

  • BOLD
  • Student Experience Minervahaven

  Amsterdam-South and Amsterdam-Buitenveldert

  • De Boelelaan
  • Student Experience Zuidas

  Amsterdam-New-West

  • Cornelis Lelylaan
  • Krelis Louwenstraat
  • Mosaic World
  • StuNest
  • The Social Hub West

  Amsterdam-East

  • Eerste Ringdijkstraat
  • Pierre Lallementstraat

  Amsterdam-Bijlmermeer and Diemen

  • Student Experience Amsterdam Amstel

  Amstelveen (including Uilenstede)

  • Uilenstede

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