Living in Mannheim

Living Situation

In general, the living conditions in Mannheim are relatively unwound, especially in contrast to other university towns.

Although there is enough living space available at adequate price you often need some luck to directly find a flat which completely fits to your wishes.

Especially at the beginning of the fall-term when many freshmen move to Mannheim it is quiet difficult to find an appropriate flat.

This applies to private flats as well as for a place in one of the dormitories. Because of this you should start as soon as possible to search for a flat, especially when you are sure that you want to study in Mannheim.

Own flat, shared apartment or dormitory?

Basically you can not answer this question in general as it depends on your personal preferences.

Because of this it is advisable to intensely ask yourself which aspects are important for you before you finally decide. In general, you can say that each dwelling form has its advantages and disadvantages.

Here we can also advise that many freshmen first search for a flat or a small room in a shared apartment as interim tenant. This offers the ability to have a whole semester to search for an adequate flat or to open a new shared apartment with new friends you have met in Mannheim.

Residential areas

Like in every city also Mannheim has typical neighborhoods where most students live. These are especially the Quadrate, Jungbusch and partly also Neckarstadt Ost & West. According to the rents the Quadrate are in general a bit more expensive than Jungbusch and Neckarstadt. But also within the Quadrate there are huge differences.

Most of the student live takes part within the Quadrate as most pubs, clubs, cafés, cinemas and stores are located here. Another advantage adjacent to the central position is the closeness to university which can be reached by food within 10 minutes.

Searching a flat

When searching for a private flat you should first seek advice from the typical Webpages (WG-Gesucht.de, immobilienscout24.de). Here you can find many offerings for available rooms in shared apartments, flats and also offerings for interim tenants.

But you should pay attention if the offering is from a private person or an estate agent, because in the latter case you often have to pay a serious commission.

Moreover, the Studentenwerk offers a limited number of private rooms. The number of requests through bulletins has noticeable decreased but you can still find attractive offerings at the bulletin board at the university.

For a place in one of the dormitories you can apply online and without obligation on the webpage of the Studentenwerk Mannheim. You can also find additional information concerning habitation there.

Furthermore you can apply for a place in the Alfred Delp Haus (ADH), which has an ecclesiastical funding body, or the Curt Sandig Haus (CSH) with a private funding body. But here the applications are a bit more time-consuming and selective.

If you can not directly find anything despite of all these offerings, it is important to keep calm and maybe look for offerings in other parts of Mannheim.

For the worst case, Asta and the students’ council for business administration offer couchsurfing for the first days of the semester.