Dal exchange students face housing issues on both sides of the Atlantic

For many Dalhousie University students, studying abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When Dal student Sophia Catarino failed to secure a sublet, her excitement was dampened long before she could leave Halifax. 

Catarino, a third-year microbiology and immunology student at Dalhousie, is spending the semester abroad at the University of Oxford. She left Halifax without securing a sublet for her room. 

Her initial sublet fell through shortly before she was set to go on exchange, which left her “unable to find a sublet.” She says she listed the room on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, gradually lowering the price every few days.

“Our rent is absurdly high for what we have,” she says. “It’s a hard sell trying to get someone to pay upwards of $1,200 a month for half a house.”

Students are often locked into year-long leases that don’t align with the length of exchange programs and are forced to either scramble to find sublets for their rooms or continue paying rent while abroad.

“I was deeply frustrated,” Catarino says. 

As the semester begins, exchange students are either beginning semesters abroad or arriving in Halifax as part of the program. High living costs and limited availability continue to shape the housing crisis in Halifax.

International exchange students are eligible to apply for housing within Dalhousie’s residence buildings, said Janet Bryson, Dalhousie’s media relations director, in an email to the Dalhousie Gazette. However, access for those travelling into the city is not guaranteed. 

Housing challenges

Paige Berthiaume, a third-year international business student at Dal, is spending the semester abroad at NEOMA Business School in Rouen, France.

Because her program requires an exchange, Berthiaume knew well in advance that she would be leaving after the first semester of her third year. She proactively reached out to Dalhousie’s exchange office to offer her room in her apartment to incoming international students.

In late November, she heard from the office that a student from France needed housing, relieving the stress of finding a sublet.

Despite finding a sublet, Berthiaume described the process as difficult and frustrating, saying she posted her room on “every platform that exists” before eventually securing a subletter through the exchange office.

However, housing challenges followed her abroad. Of the 15 Dalhousie students sent to NEOMA, Berthiaume said she was the only one placed in the university’s residence.

“They made residence sound a lot easier to get into than it actually was,” she says. 

“I got lucky.” 

Cost of living

Affordability remains a major concern for students on exchange, many of whom end up subsidizing rent either at home or abroad.

“I don’t know a single person who has a sublet who’s paying their full rent,” Berthiaume says. “Everyone is subsidizing it somehow or covering utilities.”

Bryson said that residence placements are first come, first serve, meaning exchange students may still be left without on-campus housing.

“When they are finishing their exchange, they notify the university that they will no longer need the residence space and are paid only for the time spent in residence,” said Bryson. “It is the same process for domestic students living in residence who are going on an international exchange.”