Foreign students warned away from Dutch universities as housing shortage rises

The already existing shortage of student housing in the Netherlands is expected to double in the coming years. A number of Dutch universities are already warning foreign students to rather study elsewhere if they can't find a place to stay, Trouw reports.

The Kences National Student Housing Monitor showed that there was a housing shortage for 22 thousand students last autumn. That will increase to at least 50 thousand in the 2024-2025 academic year, Kences director Jolan de Bie said to Trouw. And that is the best case scenario in which the 18 thousand student residences planned to be built by 2024 actually materializes. 

Kences also expects " a sharp increase" in the number of students looking for homes this academic year. Because in addition to first-year students, there are now also second-years who did not move into student housing last year because of the pandemic. Foreign students who stayed away last year will also be added to the house-hunting crowds this year. 

The student housing knowledge institute also expects an influx of foreign students from other European Union countries in the Netherlands in the coming years, now that it is less easy for them to go to the United Kingdom. And foreign students in particular will have a hard time finding housing. Firstly because, unlike their Dutch counterparts, they cannot stay with their parents until an appropriate home opens up. But also because they don't know the Dutch housing market.

The University of Twente already appealed to foreign students who haven't found a room yet to rather go study at another university, according to Trouw. Other universities also issued housing shortage warnings. The University of Groningen arranged for "peak shelter" for the start of this academic year, where students can sleep in the hopes that rooms will become available in September and October.