The University of Sydney

Payments must be made through Sydney’s Convera account by credit card (Visa and MasterCard) or wire transfer.

For instructions on how to use Convera, see Paying Via Convera.

#OzTREKKTip: Do not pay by bank draft or cheque.

If you plan to pay your acceptance deposit via credit card, contact the credit card company and advise them that a large payment will soon be processed in Australia, in Australian dollars, as it may be deemed a possible fraud attempt.

These residences are privately owned and run independently from the university. There will usually be students from several different universities staying in the apartments. The apartments come in a variety of styles including a studio, one bedroom, and two bedrooms. These residences are furnished and residents have the choice of staying in a self-contained unit or in a share unit.

• UniLodge
• Iglu
• Sydney Student Living
• Semester in Australia
• Arundel House (for female students)
• Epworth House
• Flo Harris Lodge
• The Terraces
• Scape

StudentStay Australia provides quality temporary accommodation on short- and long-term basis for students and visitors (over 18 years). Shared houses are located 15–30 minutes to Sydney City Centre by public transport, walking distance from shopping facilities and bus/train stations, and have fully equipped kitchens. Weekly prices include all extra costs such as water, electricity, gas and free unlimited Wi-Fi internet usage.

Iglu Central is within walking distance to the University of Sydney. The area buzzes with shopping centres, cinemas, cafes and restaurants, fitness centres and the list goes on. And, it’s just a two-minute walk to Sydney’s Central Station and bus interchange.

All-inclusive weekly rental fee includes

• air-conditioning and heating (in all apartments and bedrooms)
• high-speed broadband internet and wireless access (throughout the building)
• HD flat screen television (one per apartment)
• bed, study desk and bookshelf
• built-in wardrobe and storage
• en-suite bathrooms
• all utilities (gas, water and electricity)

2023 Intake Reviews

Commerce student
Private, Kirrawee, Sutherland Shire Sydney, arranged before arrival. I love that my suburb is close to the beach and there is a never ending amount of things to do. However, it is far from Sydney with a 30 minute minimum train ride to the city and 25 to school but it’s totally worth it!

Dental student
Parramatta, around $400/week. I do [like it]. Arranged before arrival. Keep looking and you will find something good.

Dental student
Private rental, North Bondi, $500/week. Took 3+ weeks to find. So close to beach, far from clinic.

Dental student
Private rental, Chippendale. $750 a week. Arranged before arrival. Central Park is quite expensive but is very convenient to stores and transportation. Use domain or real estate.

Dental student
Sancta Sophia College Sydney, Camperdown $675/wk. Arranged before arrival. Highly recommend it. Sophia provides meals so you can focus on school. Right on campus grounds, which makes going to classes easy. Also nearby are shopping centres and multiple bus routes. like: close to campus, easy access to public transit, lots of nearby restaurants and shopping malls. dislike: expensive, crowded, lots of traffic. If planning to stay in student accommodations, do it early as the rooms get filled quickly.

Dental student
Iglu Central Park, Chippendale. $608/week. Arranged before arrival. This was excellent for short-term (first 6 months) to meet great people and have a place arranged before moving. I loved it, but due to the cost, it is not feasible for the long-term. It is a good res experience without being 1st year undergrad res experience (on campus). Location was close to everything! Close to shopping, groceries, Sydney Dental Hospital, campus, Central station, and more. I can’t even think of a dislike. Setting up something before arriving can reduce huge amounts of stress when moving to a new country across the world. You can look into uni-affiliated residence colleges or independent student housing.

Dental student
Private rental in Burwood. $400/week. Arranged before arrival. Garbage, greenhouse so hot and stuffy. Lots of pollution and area is dirty, building is falling apart, roaches and mold can be found in the building. Good public transit, lots of amenities. The suburb isn’t bad, very lively.

Dental student
Private rental, Alexandria, $450 per week. Took 2 – 3 weeks to find. Transit is good, and my flat is good, but be prepared that Sydney is a very expensive city. Close to school, can be decentralized from groceries and other amenities. Be ready to do a LOT of inspections, and there will be a fair bit of competition so know your budget and what is in your affordability. Live on a train line!!!!!!

Dental student
90 Carillon Ave, Sydney, NSW 2042, Blackwattle building. $362.50/week. Arranged before arrival. No A/C. Lots of restaurants and very close to campus but can be a bit pricey. Pick anywhere on the train line and you’ll be fine.

Dental student
Private rental, Parramatta. $600/week. Close to the train station but takes an hour to campus with the walk. Took 3+ weeks to find. Try to arrive early and look for accommodation because the market is crazy.

Dental student
Potts Point (4 Macleay St), $380/week. Took less than 1 week to find. It’s a bit older but EASY to transit from. Everything is close by and gorgeous too! Very pretty and scenic! But a bit pricy. Still super close to campus and anything you will need! Ask older students!! I can’t say it enough but they know LOTS and can help anytime!

Law student
Private rental, Burwood. $225 per week. Took 1 – 2 weeks to find. Burwood is a hot spot for amazing food and Asian culture (specifically Chinese)! Go with someone who can drive in Aus, you’ll have to attend dozens of open houses and fill out so many applications so make sure you have your paperwork ready as well.

Law student
Private rental, a one room flat in suburb near the uni, $1000. Took 2 – 3 weeks to find. The Sydney housing market is really difficult from my experience. Unfortunately you pay a lot money, often for a old flat. Finding somewhere to live is disheartening and I would definitely recommend coming ahead of the program to sort it out. Temporary accommodation like hotels are also very expensive. Plan to put in the work ahead of the semester so you can get the stressful stuff over before your studies start. Near the uni, many cafes nearby, but takes a long time to get to the beach. It’s pretty green and in walking distance to Newtown – a really trendy student area with great bars and restaurants. There are other really good neighborhoods but would make the daily commute longer. you’ll likely pay more than you’ve ever paid before. For instance, for what I pay you could likely get a two bedroom, new build in Ottawa. Here it’s a 1 bedroom very old basic apartment. Also, unfurnished often means you need to get your own fridge and laundry machine which was a surprise.

Medical student
Private rental in Burwood, NSW, $300 per week. Arranged before arrival. Really convenient, but kind of busy, close to everything you need. like: close to everything dislike: the suburb is too busy sometimes but good for someone who doesn’t mind the noisiness. Private rental is better than student accommodations (cheaper, better amenities, bigger rooms).

Medical student
Private rental, Westmead. $450/week. Took 2 – 3 weeks to find. Proximal to westmead clinical school but take a while to go campus, old buildings usually have no AC/heating and sound proof not perfect. public transit is nice but not very convenient grocery shopping.

Medical student
Sancta Sophia College, $675 (going up to $736 next year). Arranged before arrival. Yes I would recommend to other students. Proximal to all necessary things. Food catering is HUGE saviour. If take into consideration food (grocery shopping + time cooking), electricity, wifi, transport, cost ends up favourable in Sancta I think. Like: Proximity to everything, pools, cycling areas, campus Dislike: Expensive, busy (I don’t like high people density). If possible, consider college.

Medical student
Private rental in Surry Hills, $480/week. Took 1 – 2 weeks to find. It’s a cute suburb and it’s close to everything. It’s too loud for a student, there are always things happening. Show up to open houses, and see what the place looks and feels like.

Medical student
Private rental, Chippendale $460/week. Took 2 – 3 weeks to find. It is within walking distance to USyd and UTS. The building is fairly well-kept, albeit a little old. There isn’t a bus stop nearby, but it is close to a major train station. It is close to school, train station, and city center, making it a convenient place to have access to everything. Only caveat is that everything is more expensive here. Start looking well before you land. Research all the necessary information on locations and rental laws. Come up with a list of needs and wants before your search, and be ready to search hard. It also help if you have some fund in your bank account and Australian IDs.

Medical student
Private rental, Sydney, Erskineville 2043, $490/week. Arranged before arrival. I was lucky to find a place with many appliances and bills included in rent already. Also very close to campus. I started in homestay which is also a good option, not nearly as close to campus but far more affordable. Likes: Close to campus, bike lanes around, lots of restaurant options. Dislikes: only small grocery stores are near. My strategy was to book a homestay before arriving (cheap & had airport pickup). Then after initial influx of new students, I looked for private rentals on the Usyd website in March.

Occupational therapy student
Ultimo NSW, $2600/mo.  Took 1 – 2 weeks to find. Sydney can be expensive and if you want to live alone I would budget between $1700-$2000 a month not including bills but with shared living and student accommodation this is much cheaper!

Occupational therapy student
Darlington, Abercrombie, $488/week. Arranged before arrival. I live in the Abercrombie studio building. It is on the smaller side but it has your own bathroom and kitchen. And wifi and utilities are included. There are common areas in the building and they have events every month where you can mingle with other people in the building. I like that it’s super close to the train station and campus (within 10 min). It’ super safe. There’s nothing I dislike. Look at suburbs close to train stations. Look out of the suburbs close to the university which are within a transit range.

Occupational therapy student
Private rental, Botany NSW. $510/week. Took 3+ weeks to find. Look for something with all amenities included. Wish I was closer to campus but public transit is easy to use and is near. Just keep looking and applying to places you will get something even if it takes long.

Physiotherapy student
Forest Lodge, $300/week. Took 2 – 3 weeks to find. Close to campus, big house, gym & coffee shops nearby, rare find! Pros – Quiet, residential, close to glebe/Annandale shops and about a 10min walk to my classes on campus. Cons – quite far from the beach by transit. Flatmates – find an established house first, easiest option! If you’d like to rent a place, know that it’s expensive & you may need a cosigner unless you have an Australian credit card (takes 3months to get) and a job.

Physiotherapy student
Mosman, Sydney $335/week. Took 3+ weeks to find. I love just over the harbour bridge, halfway between the northern beaches and Usyd. I like that I “leave” the city at the end of the day. It helps to switch off from school. The neighbourhood is beautiful. Lots of costal walks close by. Wish it was closer to the beach. Love how beautiful it is and how much more greenery is around. Start looking early. Try calling real-estate agents for private viewings if rentals.

Physiotherapy student
Private rental in Ashfield $570/week. Took 3+ weeks to find. Clean and amazing manager. Close to campus. Start looking and emailing prior [to leaving].

Physiotherapy student
Private rental, Dulwich Hill which is a suburb just outside the Sydney CBD/downtown. $1660 a month in rent and approximately another $100 on utilities. Arranged before arrival. I chose this building with my roommate after our first semester. We chose it because it has everything nearby including transit and amenities, plus its a nice building. It is true that it is hard to find accommodation in Sydney especially in February time. Best advice would be to have everything ready for a rental application. This can take a few days to get ready with references, rental ledgers and identity documents. As well as finding a way to prove you have the adequate funds to pay rent. You will also need a statement basically explaining why you would like the place and why you would be a good tenant.

Physiotherapy student
Private rental, Marrickville, Biweekly $2600 but between 3 people, utilities $160-$180. Took 3+ weeks to find. Nice place to live if your a student. 30 min bus ride to usyd. Close to bus, train station and grocery store. Dislike how the train station is always under maintenance. Start looking for accommodations as soon as your arrive and have some inspections lined up before you arrive too.

Physiotherapy student
Private rental, Marrickville, $600 per week. Took 1 – 2 weeks to find. The neighbourhood I live in is about a 30 min direct bus to the campus and the city. It has a great selection of Vietnamese food and breweries but is not as lively as some other suburbs. It is a safe, convenient area to live in! I like how there is a large selection of delicious food/restaurants/breweries and how it is close to school and the city. I dislike how the suburb is not as modern and lively compared to others. It is also far from the beaches. Use realestate.com.au or domain to find accommodation. It may be discouraging to attend many inspections with lots of other people and submit multiple applications. Don’t give up, you’ll eventually find one!

Physiotherapy student
Private rental, Kensington, Sydney, $350/week + quarterly hydro and monthly wifi ($30). Took 3+ weeks to find. 35 min bus to campus close to beach. It’s very hard to find accommodations in Sydney due to the rental crisis and it’s very expensive.

Speech language pathology student
Ultimo, Sydney, NSW UniLodge $439/week. Took 1 – 2 weeks to find. It is old and a bit dirty but very close to many things. In a very conveniently located. I like how close it is to campus and stores and transit. I dislike how busy it can get sometimes. Get in touch with as many people as you can. A lot may not reply but try to reach out as much as possible.

Undergraduate veterinary student
Private rental in Roselands, NSW, $300/week. Arranged before arrival. [It’s] good. Budget. Location. [Think about] proximity to stores/transit etc. It is in a quiet area for a city that is very loud, but it can take upwards of 30 minutes to get to campus which is a small downside.

 

2022 Intake Reviews

Dental student
I live in a studio apartment in Camperdown. I really like Camperdown – it is a nice area, close to Newtown and campus, and a short bike ride and bus ride to Sydney Dental Hospital. I found my apartment when I moved here (I stayed in a temporary residence for a week and a half while I looked around for places). The apartment was listed online. Future tips: Come early – if school starts beginning of February come late December early January, because before school starts there can be a lot of competition for securing accommodation. Also, bring letters from previous landlords, old utility statements, letters of reference from previous roommates etc.

Dental student
It’s expensive everywhere. This may be unconventional advice but for the first year at least, try to get a convenient location because it makes your life a lot easier. Your overseas experience is lot to take in and you don’t have a whole lot of time to process everything. You may not even have an accurate idea of what’s a “good deal” so there’s not a whole lot of benefit from stressing out over that kind of thing. You’ll have a better idea in second year what’s cheap and where’s a good place to live. – Try to room with classmates. It’s nice to have someone close to you that understands what you’re going through and has the same schedule as you do.

Dental student
I would personally recommend the Iglu accommodations as they are very clean and modern and well located, but they are definitely very expensive. It is super nice to be able to organize your accommodation prior to arrival, but I know many friends who opted to go the private route and very few are unhappy with their choices. The main things to consider are whether you want to live alone (I very much did), how many roommates you are willing to have, and which neighborhood you want to live in. Any neighborhood can be fine, and my cohort is spread out throughout many many different ones, but the most important consideration is easy access to trains or buses. Being close to a train line means it is very easy to get to both Uni and to the Dental Hospital.

Dental student
I would recommend securing accommodation before arriving. it will make things less stressful once you arrive. Also for dentistry, living very close to campus is not all that important because first term you are on campus most days however second term you’re on campus maybe once every two weeks, the rest of the days you are at Sydney Dental Hospital. whats important is to live close to the train line. the train system is very good in sydney so regardless of how far you live from campus, commuting will not be a problem as long as you live somewhere on the train line

Dental student
Glebe, like it. I went through the real estate agencies and it was not an easy process. Took me just over two weeks. They only show apartments on weekends and make sure you take lots of pictures when you first move in and document everything that may be wrong. My biggest tip would be that a lot of students end up opting for student housing like urbanest etc because it’s easier but I would suggest you taking the harder route and finding private accommodation because it’s way cheaper and you usually get more space too

Law student
Iglu, a student-purposed (privately managed) accommodation in Chippendale. It’s clean and nicely located but it’s expensive and small $650 per week.

Medical student
Student-purposed, privately managed accommodation in Glebe. $220/week

Medical student
I was fortunate enough to get a spot at Abercrombie Student Accommodation which is right next to campus and there are many other students scattered across the student housing but I would say a large chunk of students have found their own space or have become roommates with fellow Canadians once they landed in Aus. Time is the most important factor as you have to attend viewings in order to place an offer so it can be very time consuming. $408 weekly rent.

Medical student
For the rental market: Make sure you know what you want. Come early/start emailing realtors early. Be prepared with documents needed to apply in the rental market. If possible, have a bank account with a lot of money, lol. We were asked by one place to show at least 20k balance in the account. Have reference letters ready from previous landlords or at least from someone who can vouch for you. An Australian referee is highly recommended. If the asking rent is 450$ a week, if you really like the place when you see it, bid a little higher. Ultimately, thats what got us the place we are at. PLEASE don’t confirm any place without inspecting it in person.

Medical student
Camperdown, a suburb right on campus. I got here about 2.5 weeks before the commencement of my program and it left me with enough time to get a suitable place. Go online (realestate.com.au, domain.com.au) and find the listings you like and call to make an appointment to view it. If you like the place grab an application from the real estate agent and get it in ASAP. Make sure you have things like reference letters from old landlords or even your parents, a bank statement with your huge loan in it, and your CoE. If you’re ok with living in adjacent suburbs where you’ll have to take a bus in to campus or ride a bicycle then it shouldn’t be a problem to find a place. Suburbs like Camperdown, Newtown, Glebe, and Chippendale are very competitive around January-February.

Medical student
I live in Newtown at Sydney University Village. I am living in a one bedroom apartment. The place is very nice but I dislike how much I am paying. It occasionally gets noisy but it is manageable. I found the accommodation through the university of Sydney website.

Medical student
I live in Annandale, northwest of campus, about a 15/20-minute walk from the centre of the main Sydney Uni campus. I live in a small one bed (effectively a studio with a wall). Annandale is a great little suburb – It has a quite town-like feel, but is just off a main thoroughfare (Paramatta Road) and close to uni. Rent is expensive in Sydney. Be prepared to up your budget, no matter where you’re looking. I searched online through www.realestate.com.au and saw about a number of places over a week and a half before I found my apartment (mainly because I was picky and wanted to find a place with a full kitchen in my budget). Be prepared to do a lot of research online, and do a lot of walking and visiting apartment viewings (often on Saturdays). Also, studios often don’t have full kitchens (no oven) due to fire regulations. I came in December, which, despite the amount of time required, was better than coming in January. Many of the realtors told me and others who were here early that the rental market gets overwhelmed with applicants, mostly students, in January. Bare in mind that most real estate agents close the last week of December through the middle of the first week of January, and are often keen to get units occupied so they’re more likely to approve applications during the period before the break. The biggest piece of advice would be to come prepared – have letters of recommendation from former landlords, roommates, and even parents (it does make a difference!), as well as copies of documents (passport, driver’s licence, birth certificate) and proof of enrollment and visa information. All (legal) rentals in Australia go through real estate agents, and their allegiance falls to the landlord (who pays them) and rarely to the tenant. They often don’t get back to emails in a timely manner, but are friendly overall.

Pharmacy student
I heard about Unilodge from a friend. It’s a 10 minute walk from the University of Sydney. It’s in a really great location because it only takes 15-20 minutes to get to Chinatown, 25-30 minutes to get to Darling Harbour, and is really close to the train and bus stations. Although it’s pricey, the services that are near Unilodge, ex. Broadway shopping centre, makes living there, worth the price.

Physiotherapy student
Iglu in Chippendale –It’s great student accommodation. $550 per week. Has social events happening during the week. Train, bus, light rail services near by. Shopping near by. Close to CBD.

Physiotherapy student
I live in Pyrmont (private rental). Area is very good, but somewhat far from university and cleanliness problems. Rent price is high ($400 per week) but reasonable given area and unit.

Sydney veterinary student
I live on campus (Darlington) in Abercrombie Student Accommodation. Its comfortable and has good location but socially leaves more to be desired. $419 per week (changing soon though, rents are increasing)