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The ideal situation would be to have prearranged student housing on campus before you arrive in Canada. It’s convenient and adds to that “university experience,” but it can fill up fast and comes with certain restrictions. Costs vary depending on the institution, as do types of housing — from shared rooms to independent studios to family units. Note that not all postsecondary institutions have campus housing; generally, only the larger universities do. Check with your school to find out more information about student housing.

If you had no luck in securing on-campus student housing, your next option is an off-campus rental. Depending on how much you have to spend on rent, you can look for the following:

• A room to rent in a house (with shared bathroom and kitchen) is around $400 or more per month.

• A separate suite in a home (often a basement suite) is around $600 or more per month.

• A bachelor or one-bedroom apartment in an apartment building is around $600 or more per month.

Many students also look for a roommate to share accommodation. In some cases, two or three roommates together could even afford to rent a small house with three bedrooms, which would cost upward of $1,000 per month. Of course, rental costs vary widely across the country and between cities, so these prices are general estimates. Some rentals include the cost of electricity, heat, and water, and sometimes even have cable included. Finding furnished accommodation is also possible. Also note that some landlords will require you to sign a lease and pay a damage deposit or first and last month’s rent.

To find available rentals, look in the newspaper classifieds, on bulletin boards at your school, and on the Internet. Some campuses have webpages dedicated to helping students find off-campus housing such as the University of Ottawa (http://www.residence.uottawa.ca/en/och/).