Housing options

Currently, there are 11 halls of residence on campus as well as close to the campus and downtown, operated by the regional branch of the German National Association for Student Affairs (Studentenwerk OstNiedersachsen) and by the local association Campus Wohnen.

The halls/dormitories consist of apartments with 2-6 single rooms*, 1 or 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. Sharing a flat is called in Germany “Wohngemeinschaft” or “WG” as short term, which means something like living in a community. All halls of residence are co-ed and so are most of the WGs, but there are also all-female and all-male WGs.

For organizational reasons, both providers do not rent rooms directly to incoming exchange students. However, Leuphana holds a limited number of rooms in different halls of residence for exchange students, that can be rented through the Leuphana Accommodation Service on a first come first serve basis. The rooms available through the Leuphana Accommodation Service are located within WGs consisting of German and/or international students.

*In Germany, it is not common that students share a room for a semester or a longer period of time. Thus, only single rooms are available in the halls of residence.

Private (shared) apartments

There are several kinds of shared apartments or houses outside of student residence halls. In Lüneburg, the most common type is a flat shared by students, mostly for financial reasons.

Living in a flat-sharing community is an excellent opportunity for international students to feel at home in Lüneburg very quickly, get to know other people easily, as well as to improve their German language skills. There are different types of flat-sharing communities: some WGs spend a lot of time together, for example, do the shopping and cooking together and share leisure time activities. In other WGs, the flatmates keep for themselves or just occasionally spend some time together. However, in order to avoid conflicts it is very important to agree on some basic rules. For instance, adopting on cleaning plans that regulate common tasks like dish washing, bath cleaning, taking out the garbage, etc.

If you prefer to live on your own, you may look for a single apartment. However, the number of furnished single apartments suitable for a longer rental period is limited. As a rule, single apartments are much more expensive than a single room in a shared apartment.

In addition, there are furnished rooms available from private landlords or landladies in their own houses or flats, sometimes with the option to share the family life, e.g. have meals together, etc. The transitions between renting a room in a private house and staying with a host family are often fluent.