Regardless of whether you are arriving in Vancouver for the first time or have been living here for years, settling in prior to your studies is an important step in your preparation for the program.<\/p>\n
We encourage all students to be in Vancouver to find housing early in August as securing accommodation near the end of the month can be difficult. We expect that you will be fully settled by the start of Opening Week on August 26.<\/p>\n
Housing at UBC and in surrounding neighbourhoods\u00a0is competitive particularly by late summer as there are 40,000+ students returning to campus every school year.<\/p>\n
There are two options for housing:<\/p>\n
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The demand for on-campus housing greatly surpasses the supply so please be prepared for the likely possibility that you will have to look for off-campus housing.\u00a0 You can apply for UBC Housing<\/a> through their website<\/a>.\u00a0As the MBAN program runs from late August 2019 to August 2020, students are recommended to apply for year-round housing.<\/p>\n If you have any questions, please reach out the UBC Housing<\/a> directly. The RHL Office is not involved in the housing allocation process and we do not have access to your application.<\/p>\n NOTES:<\/em><\/p>\n You may find when you apply for residence on campus that you are\u00a0placed on a wait list. If you are placed on a wait list, check with UBC Housing<\/a> as to the likelihood of obtaining housing for September.<\/em><\/p>\n UBC has two residential graduate colleges that offer accommodation dedicated to graduate students, visiting scholars, and postdocs:<\/p>\n This type of housing is aimed at undergraduate students who typically study from September - April each year. Some residences are exclusively first year residences and are not open to MBAN students. These residences include Totem Park, Place Vanier, Orchard Commons.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n These housing options are located on campus, but not operated by Student Housing and Hospitality Services.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n We recommend that all students who need to secure off-campus housing arrive in Vancouver by the beginning of August at the latest. It is difficult to secure off-campus housing since Vancouver generally has a low vacancy rate and high demand. Before looking at rental properties, we recommend you read the off-campus housing guide<\/a>. Students who arrived too late to secure housing before Opening Week found it very stressful to house hunt while being in school.<\/p>\n In Vancouver, advertisements for rental accommodation are most plentiful near the end and beginning of each month. This is because most agreements require tenants to give one month notice if they plan on moving out. Landlords advertise the vacancy for the first day of the following month.<\/p>\n Selecting your neighborhood:<\/strong> Neighborhood cultures, living costs and transit routes are important factors when looking for housing. Vancouver is in general a safe city to live in but, as in any big city, you need to be aware of your surroundings and select accommodations and a location you are comfortable with. It is strongly advised to research and visit any area you are not familiar with before committing to renting a place.<\/p>\n If you are using Google Maps, you can do a search for \"2053 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC\" to zero in on the UBC Sauder School of Business and search locations close by.<\/p>\n The UBC AMS (Alma Mater Society) provides a listing service of available off-campus housing<\/a> for both students and landlords. You can utilize the web site to search for accommodation on criteria such as number of bedrooms, distance from the University and\/or neighborhoods. Other online sites you may wish to try:<\/p>\n As you may know, Vancouver is a very competitive housing market. While typically our students are able to find appropriate accommodations on- or off-campus and have rarely come across scams, it is important to be aware that scams do exist. Students should be vigilant when working to secure housing for their time during the program..<\/p>\n Some warning signs of rental scams according to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada<\/a>, include:<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n If you need a place to stay while conducting your accommodation search, there are a large number of hotels, bed and breakfasts, and hostels in Vancouver. This page lists a few of the options, but there are many more to be found by doing a web search.<\/p>\n On-campus short-term accommodation is difficult to find if you are not scheduled to move into one of the on-campus residences at the beginning of the school year. There are only a few options available:<\/p>\n Please note that RHL does not recommend any commercial enterprises, but provides these lists of local services for information only.<\/em><\/p>\n Options for staying off-campus include youth hostels, YMCA\/YWCA, bed and breakfasts (B&B's), or hotels. In any case, you should check what area of Vancouver they are located in for ease of travel<\/a>.<\/p>\n You may also find short-term accommodation listed on some of these rental listing websites:<\/p>\n In any case, you should check what area of Vancouver they are located in for ease of travel.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n UBC Transportation Planning<\/a> is responsible for all transportation planning at UBC and works to improve transportation choices for campus\u00a0commuters. Depending on your proximity to campus, the commute to and from the university can be time-consuming and expensive. Whatever your method of transportation, here are some resources getting to, from, and around campus<\/a>. UBC aims to assist students with inexpensive, environmentally-conscious ways of getting to UBC, including carpools, vanpools, public transit, and bike\/walking paths.<\/p>\n All UBC students are charged for the Compass Card <\/a><\/strong>transit pass which is included in student-levied fees, regardless of whether they choose to use the bus system or not.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n Find out what you need to set up a bank account and how to go about transferring funds if you have come to UBC from another country.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n UBC requires that all students, both domestic and international, have basic and extended health insurance for the duration of their studies.<\/p>\n All students must review the following web site to ensure they have proper coverage and understand what is automatically supplied by UBC and what they need to apply for themselves:<\/p>\n NOTES: <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n
\nSingle Student Housing (year-round)<\/h5>\n
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\nGraduate Student Colleges (year-round)<\/h5>\n
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\nWinter Session (September-April) Housing<\/h5>\n
Alternate On-Campus Housing<\/a><\/h3>
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Off-Campus Housing<\/a><\/h3>
House Hunting Resources<\/h5>\n
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Rental Listing Website<\/h5>\n
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Beware of Scams<\/h5>\n
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Short-term Accommodation<\/a><\/h3>
On-Campus<\/h5>\n
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\nOff-Campus<\/h5>\n
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Parking & Transportation<\/a><\/h3>
Transportation Options<\/h5>\n
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Banking<\/a><\/h3>
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Medical Insurance & Health Care<\/a><\/h3>
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Vancouver & UBC<\/a><\/h3>