Third level accomodation in The Netherlands ... Impossible to find house to rent in Meppel/ Stenden

[bredab]

Could somebody PLEASE advise me !!!
There seems to be one college campus for housing after another but no houses with a few rooms to rent with other students.
My daughter doesn't want to live on campus in dorm like buildings within curfews and a few shared bathrooms for lots of students , which I Totally understand as she is 19 !!
Please advise . I'm kind of panicking now to find somewhere . Thanks

Try kamernet.nl, sometimes there's options on Marktplaats.nl as well. This isn't really a university town though (I think it's a Hogeschool not a university there?) so there won't be that many options. She might just have to do the dorms for a bit and find some friends to live with once she's there for a bit.

You may need to widen your search. There are very serious problems with student housing in The Netherlands (general housing crisis too). Students often live in different cities/towns to where they're studying. If she can get a place in a dorm I'd actually recommend it, because they're like hen's teeth.

Thanks so much.
I can totally understand a 19'year old not wanting to go into dorms with curfews and toilets right beside your bedroom, . I'd hate it myself . What about Groningen ? Is that too far away I wonder or mare there any other towns
??? Thanks

There's always some options on funda.nl (the national real estate site). There's also the process of 'hospiteren' in the Netherlands where you go introduce yourself to housemates at a sort of party and they pick the best fit but you really need to be in the area for this. However, Meppel is very close to the Dutch Bible Belt that is deeply conservative, I suspect most of her classmates will be living at home.

Closest large city to Meppel will be Zwolle, Groningen is too far. That's more of a student town but competition for a room is very big there.

This has made me remember I went to Warwick uni in the late 90s we had shared bathrooms mixed 20 men/women sharing a bathroom on my corridor. Inside the bathroom, there were individual cubicles with either a bath, shower or toilet. I imagine they have done away with them now but back then it was pretty standard. I was excited enough just to have a sink in my bedroom.

Really really appreciate all of these replies .
I can't get over that adults for 18-22 would all be living on a dorm like environment with curfews ! Sounds like a living hell to me not to mind a 19 year old about to take flight !!!
I'm going to look up all your suggestions soon

It's a Hogeschool, first year students can be as young as 16, usually 17, you need the equivalent of GCSEs to enter.

I suppose I don't understand as we have a completely different system in Ireland.
This is a four year degree programme , 40 hours per week in the University of Stenden in the Meppel campus for that particular course.

The dorms are only really for foreign students. Dutch students commute or get accommodation as a group of friends or via student societies/ fraternities. Most Dutch speaking student friendship groups obviously don't want a random foreigner in their house share so options for foreigners are very limited. It can easily take 9 months of sofa surfing to get a room if you don't opt for a dorm. It's nearly as bad if you are Dutch

Not sure what to suggest but you have my sympathies.
DD has just moved back from the Netherlands. Very difficult to find accommodation, including in Groningen. When she did find a nice room there it turned out she couldn't "register" there (that's a thing) so she couldn't stay there. She transferred to Amsterdam, but for every apartment or room there were loads of people viewing. She ended up finding somewhere via the "friend of a friend who knows someone" route!

Threads like this really do flag up that housing crisis is NOT limited to the UK. There are issues elsewhere in the EU.

The Netherlands is massively massively more densely populated than the UK. We do have a housing crisis, for different reasons than the UK. A large part of the problem in this case is that the Netherlands university sector is expanding really fast (partly as a result of the UK being so expensive and brexit!) but we have no tradition of living away for university and needing student housing, which hasn't kept up with demand. The UK had similar problems in the 90s and 00s when student numbers exploded.

A friend’s son (also Irish) had similar issues a couple of years ago. Ended up in a B&B which they thought would be temporary and that he’d find something once he got to know some people etc. He ended up giving up and going home. Took that year out and decided to do a different course at UCC.

@bredab the difficulty with 'renting a room' is that in most (all?) Of the NL it is not legal for more than 2 unrelated persons to share a residence or something like that. So unlike in the UK where student HMOs are so popular it isn't possible in the NL. Most International students live in dorms- I've never heard of anyone complaining or curfews. Or in 'student hotels'. Dutch students live at home or share with a friend. I understand there is a massive housing crisis there just now and even people with huge salaries cannot find housing. If she has an offer for a decent student housing just take it. They aren't traditional halls like the UK, more like the apartment living she is looking for anyway.

I appreciate all the replies . Hugely helpful and insightful .
The course my daughter has been offers is a four year degree programme, necessitating 40 hours per week on campus and then further practical assignments, assessment and study. The rent for what she wants including bill will come in ate550-600 per month for a ten month academic year.
She will not be able to travel, socialise or work part time .
She will also be in a course with 16/17 year old to start and is 19in a few weeks .
We've chatted and she's decided to let it go unless Ireland doesn't work out for her .
Here , the experience is largely different with many of her pals finished first year Uni already and not back until mid sept if not oct . This will suit better from
A work point of view and frankly I think she's crumble in the Netherlands with that level of intensity .
Thanks so much for all input.
It's been so beneficial in helping her make a decision for once and for all.

Honestly I think she had made the right decision.
There is a huge housing crisis in Netherlands - especially in the student housing sector. I am so happy my DC decided not to apply there.

She'll get Limerick but the public transport home is so bad ! By the sounds of her she won't be home too often 😂🤣

Is a similar course available at a university? The problem is that she's looking at a hoogschool which is actually more of a vocational college/ polytechnic. They translate as university in English but they're not really and the diplomas don't open as many doors. If you look at the traditional universities (universiteit) they will have accommodation and courses that are more like an Anglo experience with 20h contact time, normal halls of residence and expectation that you'll get a job.

dd ended up in an awful house
i was so relieved when she eventually got a place on campus, just before she came home! it was only for 6 months.

Yes a similar course here but the points are nuts . Looking at maybe equiv of 4 A's and 3 B's in honours subjects and one of those honours needs to be in Irish .
She should get it but it was the experience she was hoping for

I'm not sure a Hogeschool in Meppel would have been the experience she was looking for tbh. And as above, a Hogeschool is not really a university, and with those projected grades she'd probably be overqualified for the school and potentially bored. She's probably best off looking at the Erasmus programme for the experience.

I second @botemp ’s comment. It’s not easy trying to figure out which setting is right for you when you’re abroad and you can’t come and ‘try before you buy’. From what you are saying, I don’t think Meppel would have been a terribly exciting choice for your daughter.