At the end of March, the first students moved into the new building on the Costerweg. Among them is master’s student Biotechnology Oscar Elizondo. Photo Sven Menschel Student housing agency Idealis strives to have each first-year student in need of a room provided with housing before the first of May. Last year, they failed, but this year the deadline has been successfully met.
Thus states Idealis spokesperson Hellen Albers. ‘Eighty per cent of the first-year students managed to find housing via the student housing platform ROOM, on which we advertise our vacant rooms, in the first quarter of 2023. The remaining 20 per cent has not reacted to a room, and, at present, no first-year students are replying to vacancies. Hence we may conclude that we will fulfil our wish to house all the first-year students seeking a room by 1 May.’ In addition to Idealis, there are also other parties and individuals that rent rooms to students. Moreover, some students find rooms in student clubhouses.
At the end of March, Idealis added a whopping 264 rooms to the Wageningen student housing market by opening the student building Costerweg 65. Albers: ‘We monitor supply and demand and respond accordingly, for example, by building this new housing facility, which has helped us achieve our goal. We are proud to have done so.’
Wageningen was proclaimed the best student room city in the Netherlands by the National Student Union last year. Wageningen offers the second cheapest rooms, after Enschede. The union also praised the collaboration between WUR, Wageningen municipality and Idealis.