Centrally located, spacious, affordable – everyone dreams of having an apartment like that. But how do you actually find one? A brief guide to finding your own place.

The search for an affordable place to live is one of the first challenges of student life. The good news is that it is much easier to find a room in Oldenburg than in many other university towns. Rent is also cheaper here than in southern Germany and in big cities such as Hamburg. All the same, finding a place to live at the beginning of the winter semester can be quite a challenge. If you are new to Oldenburg, it is wise to start looking for a place to live as soon as possible.

The first place to start is at the Studentenwerk (student services centre). With a total of 10 student halls of residence and almost 1,500 rooms, it offers the largest and most diverse range of student accommodation in the city. Rental prices (including utilities; “Warmmiete” in German) for a Studentenwerk room start at a relatively cheap €160 and go up to €456 for the individual apartments (up to 46 m²) in the OECO Centre on Uhlhornsweg. For a room in a shared flat (“WG” in German), you should budget for between €250 and €350 a month, depending on size and location.

Student residence or shared flat?

There are many ways to find your first own place: Student flats looking for new housemates often post ads on various notice boards on campus as well as on Stud.IP and on the website wg-gesucht.de. The Oldenburg housing association GSG also offers a wide range of apartments for a reasonable price. The Oscar-Romero House, which belongs to the Catholic Student Association, offers accommodation for 10 students and is located just a short distance from the university. The Hermann-Ehlers House, a private student residence, is also located near the university and offers single rooms with a shared kitchen and one-room apartments.

You can also find a place to stay through other online portals, local estate agents and classified ads in the print media. The Nordwest-Zeitung, the Hunte Report, the Oldenburger Sonntagszeitung, the weekly newspaper DIABOLO and the event magazine Mox have classified ad sections featuring private flat advertisements. If you are already in Oldenburg, you should also take a look at the AStA’s (Student Council) apartment board on the Haarentor Campus. This is located in the central area next to the Mensa in room M1-153. Studentenwerk has also provided more tips on its homepage under “Wegweiser für Erstsemester” (“Guide for first-year students”).