Tuition fees are not the only expense students were asked to have on hand this fall.
Documents obtained by CBC News through access to information legislation show that Memorial University — aware of a worsening housing crunch in St. John’s — told some incoming students to have thousands of dollars ready for interim accommodations like hotels and Airbnb.
In several memos sent to students dating back to September 2023, MUN also told international students that it can take up to two months to find off-campus housing, at a potential cost of more than $2,000 per month.
Before arriving in Canada, single students were advised to book at least one month of temporary accommodations, and student families were advised to book at least two months.
The university’s Internationalization Office recommended hotels and hostels ranging from $100-$200 a night, Airbnbs from $50-$150 a night, and Vrbos from $90- $350 per night.
MUN said it is standard practice for the Internationalization Office to encourage students to pre-arrange housing before arriving in Newfoundland and Labrador — but there became a greater emphasis in 2023.
“With the increasing difficulty in securing housing, in 2023 we began encouraging students to have one to two months of temporary accommodations prepared before arriving to the province to ensure they have somewhere to stay while they secure a more permanent residence,” Chad Pelley, MUN’s communications manager, said in a statement.
$2K spent for just 10 days
Faiaz Halim, a graduate student from Bangladesh, moved to St. John’s with his wife and two young daughters to study software engineering in August 2023.
He knew finding housing would be difficult because of the school’s warnings. With hopes of avoiding a long-winded search, Halim started looking for housing in St. John’s long before his family left Bangladesh.
“All I was getting was scammers like ‘deposit this first, then we’ll talk,'” Halim said. “I also looked into Airbnb, and all the Airbnbs are full, and hotels were also full at that time last year.”
They stayed at the Sandman Signature Hotel on Kenmount Road for a week and a half before finding permanent accommodation.
Documents obtained by CBC show that Memorial University warned students that finding a place to live was so challenging, they needed a back-up plan for temporary housing. Students tell the CBC’s Jenna Head how expensive and stressful the process has been.
The stay was shorter than MUN estimated for its students, but the cost was much higher.
“We spent more than $2,000 just for 10 days,” Halim said, describing how he spent every waking second working his phone to secure a long-term rental.
“I called every property management company and apartments in St. John’s,” he said.
One property manager responded. He viewed a house and was met with silence afterwards.
“I literally had to send an email to kind of beg the property manager or the agent that if you don’t get us a house to stay in, we will be homeless,” Halim said.
The search was stressful for his wife. She offered to travel back to Bangladesh with their children if they couldn’t secure a place to live while Halim stayed to study.
“That is how stressful it was for her living in the hotel,” he said.
Halim said he signed a lease with the property management company after his pleading email.
They paid $1,750 a month for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house.
Surviving off savings
The family moved again this summer, and Halim said the search was just as challenging as it was last year.
“We have been messaging or mailing all the agents, all the people from [Facebook] marketplace. Whenever they hear I got two kids, one is an infant, and another is school going. They just stop replying, like no replies at all,” he said.
The family lucked out with a landlord who only wanted to rent out to professional families.
Halim is working while completing his master’s. They signed a lease. At $2,400 a month, it costs more than their previous apartment.
Savings are the only reason why Halim could afford these apartments.
“I kind of only survived here because I got money saved. I have almost 12 years of experience, so I have been working for 12 years,” he said. “I had to spend that savings here.”
$3,000 rent
Yuserah Shahzeb, a mom of two and graduate student studying business administration, found herself in a similar situation.
When her family first arrived in St. John’s in 2023, they followed Memorial’s recommendation. They booked an Airbnb for one month while searching for permanent accommodations.
The only space she could find suitable for her family was at Elizabeth Towers, a high-end apartment complex in the east end of St. John’s.
She lived there with her two daughters for eight months.
“I was so desperate to have a house for myself because I was with children, I decided to just go for it,” Shahzeb said.
The two-bedroom apartment was fully furnished and equipped. Shahzeb enjoyed living there, but the rent was much higher than she wanted to spend.
“I was paying around $3,000 a month,” she said. “The apartment was undoubtedly very nice. The landlords were amazing people. But at the end of the day, it was an extremely expensive place to live in.”
Shahzeb’s husband works in Ontario. He helped foot the bill, but the couple had to dip into their savings to make her rent every month.
“He lives and works in Ontario, so he had to maintain a space for himself as well, and then we had to maintain a space for ourselves here in St. John’s, obviously. It wasn’t easy,” Shahzeb said.
In an update on housing prepared by the internationalization office, MUN president Neil Bose was advised many student families are forced to take farther, older and more expensive housing options.
‘Winning the lottery’
Memorial University has accommodations for student families in its Burton’s Pond apartments, which date back to the 1970s.
Seventy units are equipped to house three- to five-person families.
Bruce Belbin, director of student residents and ancillary operations at MUN, said if students apply and there is space, they get the apartment — but he said it’s a bit like winning the lottery.
Shahzeb was on the waitlist for Burton’s Pond for months. She lucked into the accommodations when she was nearing the end of her lease at Elizabeth Towers.
She moved into a four-bedroom apartment with her two girls in May. Shahzeb said the rooms are smaller, but they save almost $2000 on rent — and living on campus has perks.
“I’m much nearer to my classes right now,” she said. “I’ve found it a very convenient option for my kids as well.”
But her family can’t stay at Burton’s Pond forever. Shahzeb will graduate in May 2025. Once graduated, Burton’s Pond is no longer an option.
Shahzeb intends to stay in St. John’s, but she is starting to worry about where her family will live after graduation since tourism season typically begins in May.
“Lots of houses and apartments are up as Airbnb, so it becomes even more difficult to find a place for oneself,” she said. “Finding an apartment or finding an accommodation nearby seems very unlikely, but I still have my hopes high.”
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