Certains étudiants habitent en France, de l'autre côté de la frontière, où les loyers sont plus bas. Cela fonctionne, mais cela change votre permis et votre annonce de domicile.
Le marché le plus tendu du pays. Un taux de vacance proche d'un tiers de pour cent signifie que les régies peuvent choisir, et un étudiant international sans dossier suisse est rarement celui qu'elles choisissent. Ceux qui réussissent ici commencent presque toujours en colocation et déménagent ensuite.
Apply to Cité Universitaire the day you are admitted — the list runs 5 to 9 months, so it rarely helps for your first semester, but it costs nothing and it helps for your second. Everything else means the private market.
File your residence permit dossier about three months before you arrive; processing runs eight to twelve weeks and nothing downstream starts until it is in. Register at your commune within fourteen days of landing, and sort health insurance within three months. The full timeline.
Campus is at Plainpalais. Choose your neighbourhood by commute rather than by postcode — a cheaper room forty minutes away costs you two hours a day for a year.
Most University of Geneva applicants get stuck on the same thing: an agency that wants someone resident in Switzerland to co-sign. We do that, for 3 months' rent — after we have read your file, and we do decline some.