Finding a room in Nijmegen from abroad: SSH&, the private market and what to check

What Radboud and HAN can arrange

Nijmegen has more than 45,000 students, and Radboud University is direct about what that means: it cannot facilitate housing for all incoming international students. Exchange and Master's students can apply for help with housing, but you get only one offer and nothing is guaranteed. International Bachelor's and pre-Master's students have to find housing themselves. Those who would travel more than two hours to reach Nijmegen are entered into an SSH& lottery with travel priority, which starts on 1 June. Radboud can't provide emergency accommodation if you arrive without a room.

HAN University of Applied Sciences runs HAN Housing for non-EU students on full-time bachelor's or master's programmes and for exchange students from its partner universities. It offers furnished SSH& rooms — in Nijmegen at Boeckstaetehof, Hoogeveldt and Vossenveld — with utilities and internet included, but not to anyone over 30 at the start of enrolment. HAN says most of its Nijmegen rooms cost €500 to €700 a month. If you're an EU student on a HAN degree, you aren't in that group and search like everyone else.

How SSH& works

• Who can register

  International degree-seeking students on a full-time programme in Nijmegen or Arnhem, aged 16 to 30. The profile is free. Exchange students can't register; they go through their university instead.

• The weekly lottery

  New rooms are published every Wednesday at noon. You can respond to one advert a week, until the following Wednesday, when the rooms are allocated by random draw. It's fair, but it rewards persistence: enter every week.

• What you get

  Mostly unfurnished rooms on indefinite contracts, so you can stay for your whole degree, with energy, water and internet included in the rent. Radboud lists €447 to €642 a month for a room of your own in an SSH& complex.

• First-year Master's students

  You can register with SSH& and apply while you're still abroad, and you can also apply through Radboud for a temporary furnished room. Doing both is sensible.

What rooms cost outside SSH&

Radboud's housing pages give these ranges: €475 to €750 a month for a room through other estate agents, €750 to €1,200 for a studio or apartment, and €350 to €650 for a room sublet by a student going abroad. Its general guide is that rent can vary from €500 to €1,000 a month.

Not every price you see is legal. The investigative programme Argos collected room adverts on Kamernet from 26 June to 21 August 2026 and checked them against the points system. Of the 52 Nijmegen rooms in its data, 65% were priced above the maximum, by €182 a month on average; nationally it was six in ten. Argos also found that Nijmegen had issued no fines and lowered no rents.

So the check is worth doing yourself. The Huurcommissie's huurprijscheck calculates the maximum rent for a room from its size, the shared spaces, how many people share them and the property's WOZ value. If you think you're paying too much, Huurteams Nijmegen helps tenants free of charge.

Where to look

• Kamernet, Pararius, HousingAnywhere and Funda

  The big platforms, all named by Radboud or HAN. Radboud also lists Marktplaats and Huurwoningen.nl. Expect competition and reply quickly.

• Guesthouses for internationals

  Radboud points to Guesthouse Nijmegen, which specialises in renting rooms to international students. HAN also lists Stay4Pro and GuestHouse Vertoef.

• Facebook groups

  Both universities point to Facebook groups, where rooms are advertised free of charge. Radboud also warns that lots of scammers have been active in groups like these in recent years.

• A room in a host's home

  Hospi Housing places students in a room in someone's home. Both the municipality and HAN mention it.

• Sublets

  Students going abroad sublet their rooms. Before agreeing to one, ask whether the main tenant is allowed to sublet and whether you can register at the address.

Arnhem and other places nearby

Arnhem is the natural second search area. SSH& lets rooms in both cities, its registration is open to full-time students in either, and HAN has a campus in each. HAN says most of its furnished rooms in Arnhem cost €530 to €630 a month. The legality problem comes along, though: Argos found 67% of the 36 Arnhem rooms in its data priced above the maximum, by €117 on average.

HAN also mentions Velp and Westervoort around Arnhem, and listings across the German border near Nijmegen. If you look in Germany, work out how registration, health insurance and your residence permit fit together before you sign: other Dutch universities, such as Maastricht and Saxion, say a study residence permit requires you to live in the Netherlands, so check with Radboud first.

Radboud's main campus is Heyendaal Campus, and HAN's Nijmegen campus is a two-minute walk from Nijmegen Heyendaal station. When you compare rooms, check how each one connects to that part of the city.

Scams aimed at students abroad

• Money before a viewing

  Radboud's advice is to avoid transferring large amounts of rent before you've seen the room. Insist on a viewing, by you or someone you trust, before any money moves.

• Mediation fees and key money

  Radboud says never to pay a 'mediation fee'. Under Dutch rules, an agent who works for the landlord can't charge you one, no landlord may ask for key money, and for contracts since 1 July 2023 the deposit is capped at two months' basic rent.

• A request for your ID

  Radboud warns to be careful with landlords who ask for a copy of your ID. A genuine landlord needs it eventually, not before you've seen the room.

• A holiday let posing as a room

  Check the address to make sure it's student accommodation and not, for example, an Airbnb. A street-level look at the building tells you a lot.

Registering your address

If you'll live in the Netherlands for at least four months, you register in person with the municipality within five days of arriving. Bring your passport or ID card, your residence permit if you need one, and a rental contract signed by both parties — or, if you live in someone else's home, their signed permission and a copy of their ID. Registration gets you your BSN, which you need for things like health insurance.

Radboud runs registration appointments for its international students at the Stadswinkel — in 2026, between 20 August and 18 September — where the BSN is issued during the appointment. If you're staying less than four months, you register as a non-resident (RNI) instead.

Because all of this hangs on the address, a room where you can't register is a real problem, not a detail. Ask before you sign, and get the answer in writing.

What to check at a Nijmegen viewing

• Can you register here?

  The first question, for the reasons above. A no means the room doesn't work for a new arrival.

• Is the rent within the legal maximum?

  Note the size of the room, the size of the shared kitchen and bathroom and how many people share them, so you can run the huurprijscheck.

• What does the rent include?

  SSH& rents include energy, water and internet; on the private market, ask what the service costs cover and what gas, water and electricity usually cost a month.

• Furnished or not?

  SSH& rooms are mostly unfurnished, and HAN notes that many private listings are too. Arriving from abroad with a suitcase, that changes your first-month budget.

• Deposit and contract

  How many months' deposit and how it's refunded, the contract type and length, the notice period and the move-in date.

• The room itself

  Damp and mould, heating, how many people share the shower, noise from neighbours and the street, and somewhere safe to keep a bike.

Getting a Nijmegen viewing attended

If you can't travel for a viewing, SpotView can arrange an ID-verified viewer to attend it for you. You book the slot with the landlord or agent and tell them someone is coming on your behalf. We offer the job to viewers in and around Nijmegen; if none of them can take it, we cancel the booking and refund you in full. Tell us the address when you book.

SpotView doesn't find or allocate rooms, and it can't take part in the SSH& lottery or win a room for you. It's for the viewings you've already arranged: private rooms, studios, sublets, and any listing you want seen before you pay.

What you get back

It costs the standard €29, BTW included. Your viewer checks in at the door with GPS, photographs and films the room, scores 24 checks, asks your questions and writes a verdict. We hold your payment until the report is delivered. If the viewer is refused entry, you get 50% back and still receive a neighbourhood tour and a legitimacy check on the address.

We haven't attended a Nijmegen viewing yet. Our one public report is from our pilot viewing in the Delft area, with the address masked, so you can see exactly what a report contains before you book.