A good place to start
Check your institution’s housing guidance first, then discuss whether a private rental search is realistic for your budget and circumstances. Student support has its own scope and terms.
Nuffic counts degree enrolment at publicly funded universities and universities of applied sciences. This is the enrolled population, not new arrivals or available rooms.
Read the Nuffic sourceWhat your move needs
An honest view of the options
Separate university accommodation, student rooms and private rentals.
A budget that includes daily life
Plan for the rent, deposit, utilities and the practical cost of moving.
Documents prepared in advance
Discuss enrolment and any requested financial or guarantor documents.
A substantial student community, not a supply of rooms
Nuffic’s September 2026 publication documents the international degree-student population. Exchange students are excluded from that headline total. Large student numbers show why this is an important audience; they do not establish that a private rental is affordable or available for an individual student.
Your course location, timetable, household and budget determine the search. A student renting alone and two students hoping to share have different briefs. Discuss the actual arrangement rather than assuming one student package covers every situation.
Explore the institution’s routes first
Read your university’s housing information and follow its application process and deadlines. Ask which accommodation routes it recognises and what to do if those options are full. Treat a course offer and a housing offer as separate confirmations.
For a private rental, check the proposed occupants, address, contract, costs and move-in date. Do not treat a promise of housing as confirmed accommodation until the arrangements are properly checked.
Where YEB’s student service can help
We offer a dedicated student relocation service. Use the consultation to discuss the realistic search area, housing budget, support available and the documents required for your circumstances.
Read the student terms before engaging the service. Do not assume that individual-professional search terms or a general no-cure-no-pay headline applies to a student assignment. Confirm fees and cancellation conditions for the actual service.
Make the next decision from confirmed information
If a guarantor is part of your plan, ask whether the relevant property will accept that arrangement. Do not assume all landlords use the same criteria. If you hope to share, confirm that the intended occupancy is allowed before planning around it.
Keep the search and travel plan aligned. If accommodation is unresolved, speak with your institution and housing contact about your options before relying on a move-in date. A search service cannot guarantee a room or a specific completion date.
Bring these to your consultation
A few concrete details help us make the first conversation useful.
- Institution, campus and course start date
- University housing applications and responses
- Realistic total housing budget
- Who intends to share the home
- Available documents and possible guarantor arrangements
Common questions
Does YEB provide university accommodation?
We are a housing and relocation service, not a university accommodation provider. Check your institution’s routes directly and discuss our separate student service with us.
Do the same terms apply as for professional relocations?
Do not assume so. YEB publishes separate student terms. Confirm the applicable fees, scope and cancellation arrangements before engaging the service.
Are the 129,764 students all new arrivals?
No. Nuffic’s figure is the total international degree-student population enrolled in 2025–26 at the institutions covered by its definition.
Can I search for a home to share with other students?
Tell us who would live in the home and what each person can provide for the application. The intended occupancy and the property’s acceptance of sharing need to be confirmed before you plan around a particular rental.
Will every landlord accept a guarantor?
No. If a guarantor is part of your application, raise it at intake and check whether the individual property accepts that arrangement. Do not assume the requirements are the same across listings.
What should I include in my student housing budget?
Bring a clear view of the rent you can afford and account for the deposit, utilities and moving costs. Check what each advertised rent includes so you can compare the practical costs of different options.
What should I do if my course starts before housing is confirmed?
Contact your institution and housing contact to discuss the available options and your travel plan. A course place is separate from accommodation, so do not rely on an unconfirmed move-in date.
Sources & approach
These guides use published migration and education data to identify real audience groups. They describe situations we can discuss, not individual client stories. National arrival counts, student populations and permit-holder counts are different measures and should not be added together.
YEB’s figure of 1,400 expats helped is company-reported as of September 2026. Service details and statistics were reviewed on 15 September 2026; source years are stated where relevant.
- Nuffic, 4 September 2026: international students in the Netherlands, 2025–26
- Your Expat Butler: student relocation
