Students in the Netherlands wait twice as long as their degrees to get student housing 

If you’re a student in the Netherlands, it seems like your luck has run out as the waiting list for student rooms lasts nearly half a decade on average. 

The housing crisis in the Netherlands is reaching a seemingly ridiculous peak, with students now waiting for a room longer than they would be studying for the actual degree. 

And, if you want to study in Amsterdam, Leiden, or The Hague, you’ll be waiting nearly seven years, reports RTL Nieuws

READ MORE | No more camping! Dutch cabinet to build 60,000 new student houses

Endless waiting

Students who want to study in Leiden are waiting up to six years and eight months for rooms from housing associations.

We’ve known for yonks that there was a severe lack of student housing, and this year, universities took the stance of simply telling students who hadn’t found rooms to just not come to Amsterdam. 

Great solution, lads. 

While Leiden is the city with the longest wait time, cities such as Delft, Amsterdam and Wageningen fall shortly behind, with students waiting up to five and a half years for a room.

Parents of students in the Netherlands are often found to be searching for housing on their child’s behalf.

Sure, in that time, a student could not only have finished their Bachelor’s degree but be well into their Master’s – all before they’ve even stepped foot into a room! 🥴

Lack of affordable student housing 

The lack of student housing, especially affordable student housing, is creating year-long waiting lists. 

In Utrecht, some students waited up to ten years to become eligible for a room. With rents for student accommodation rising as high as €1,400 per month, it seems hopeless that students would wait for a third of their lived experience just to rent out an uber-expensive room in a massive building. 

Lottery rooms becoming the new trend

Housing associations such as SSH& have chosen to move away from long registration periods and towards lottery systems. This way, each student is given an equal chance to get the room.

However, the major issue with lottery systems is that thousands of students can sign up to avail of one room, and, of course, this room will go to one person only. 

Other student housing associations, such as OurDomain, have also chosen to avoid long waiting periods. Instead of registering for rooms, the website has timed windows in which available rooms are posted. 

This gives students the riveting, not at all anxiety-inducing, chance to race through the application process. Basically, whoever can fill in the online form first gets it. 

Get those typing hands ready, folks, for speed is of the essence! 

What do you think of the long wait times? Tell us your thoughts in a comment below! 

Feature Image:Depositphotos
Heather Slevin
Heather Slevin
Heather is a Dublin native, addicted to catching the Luas, the Irish version of a tram, for one stop, and well used to the constant rain and shine. Seeking to swap one concrete city for another (with a few more canals and a friendlier attitude to cyclists) here she is with the Dutch Review! As a Creative Writing student, she can usually be found sweating over the complicated formatting of her latest poem or deep inside the pages of a book, and loves writing, writing, writing.

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