Student sublets near Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University

Dorms are the closest you'll get to your lectures, but there's no promise of a bed. Tel Aviv University runs two complexes, Broshim and Einstein, and says plainly that a dorm place is not guaranteed; international students are told there's no guarantee even after the housing application is in. The Hebrew University has dorms on Mount Scopus (the Student Village, Bronfman/Idelson and Maiersdorf/Reznik), at Givat Ram (Zweig and Lieberman) and in Ein Kerem and Kiryat HaYovel, plus separate housing for the agriculture faculty in Rehovot. There too, paying the dorm registration fee doesn't guarantee a place, and for international students rooms go first come, first served.

A sublet solves a different problem: it starts and ends on your dates. A furnished place for the semester means no fridge to buy and no 12-month lease to pass on to someone else when term is over. The catch is that nobody screens anything for you: the flat, the host and the agreement are yours to check.

Our advice: apply for the dorms early and look for a sublet in parallel, without committing to anything until you hear back. Money is a good reason not to rush. At Tel Aviv University, an international student securing a dorm room pays a non-refundable down payment equal to the first month's rent. Eligibility, prices and deadlines are on each university's housing pages, so check them there. Not in a Facebook group.

The campus sits in Ramat Aviv, in north Tel Aviv across the Yarkon. TAU itself notes that from Ramat Aviv you can walk to class. Neve Avivim, for one, ends at the corner of Haim Levanon and Einstein streets, which is where visitors enter the campus. The downside is atmosphere: these are quiet residential neighbourhoods, and nightlife means a ride into town.

Most international students who stay longer than a semester choose nearby off-campus apartments, according to TAU's Faculty of Exact Sciences, and the choice it lays out is simple: Ramat Aviv, near the university, or the city centre, near the beach and the action, with a 20–40 minute bus ride. If you want something in between, try the Old North, whose northern edge is the Yarkon: closer to campus and still very much the city.

Without a car there are two main routes. Israel Railways stops at Tel Aviv University station, and during semesters a free university shuttle leaves from the station; Dan and Egged buses also serve the campus. The light rail Red Line doesn't run through Ramat Aviv, but if you live along it you can get off at Arlozorov, change to the train at Savidor Center and ride one stop north.

In Jerusalem the first question is which campus you're on, because Mount Scopus and Givat Ram are far apart. Humanities, social sciences, law and business are on Mount Scopus. Maths, the natural sciences, engineering and computer science are at Givat Ram, on the Edmond J. Safra campus; medicine and dentistry are in Ein Kerem, and agriculture is in Rehovot.

For Mount Scopus, the natural address is French Hill. The Student Village is there, within walking distance of campus. The university is upfront about the other side: from the dorms, the city centre is a bus or light rail ride away. If you'd rather have the city than the short walk, live in Nachlaot or Rehavia and head up the hill each morning.

For Givat Ram, the neighbour is Beit HaKerem: it lies just west of campus across the Begin Highway, and a footbridge links the two. Nachlaot, Rehavia and Baka, which the university lists among student favourites, are a ride away. The light rail Green Line is opening in stages: its first section, from Malha to HaTurim, has run since August 2026 and passes right through the campus. Before you choose a flat by the line, check which sections are running that month.

Bezalel is no longer on Mount Scopus. In 2023 the academy completed its move to the Mandel campus in downtown Jerusalem, at the Russian Compound, while its School of Architecture stayed in the historic building on Shmuel HaNagid Street. So Bezalel students have no reason to look in French Hill: the city centre and Nachlaot are close, sometimes walkable. Lean on an older guide and you may end up flat-hunting on the wrong side of town.

In Tel Aviv, the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo is in Jaffa, so its students have no reason to live in Ramat Aviv. Shenkar in Ramat Gan and Reichman University in Herzliya are outside both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Studying there but living in Tel Aviv? Time the commute at 8 a.m. before you sign.

The academic year starts in October, after the autumn holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. For 2026–27, the Hebrew University's first semester begins on 11 October 2026, and Tel Aviv University opens its year on 18 October 2026. Both universities' full calendars are linked in the sources at the bottom of this page.

TAU tells international students to allow two to three weeks for the flat hunt, and the Hebrew University points out that flats in Israel are rarely advertised months ahead: many rooms go up only a few days before they're free. Plan the move-out too, because a semester doesn't end with the last lecture: the Hebrew University's first semester ends on 15 January 2027 and its exams fall in the break that follows, so a sublet that runs to mid-January leaves you without a bed in the middle of exams. Match your move-out to the end of the exam period.

Take official prices from the source, since they change every year. The Hebrew University publishes a dorm price list for each academic year, linked to the consumer price index, and Tel Aviv University posts dorm prices and contracts for each year on its site. Off campus there's no price list at all, and the Hebrew University warns that studios in Jerusalem are hard to come by.

Flatmates bring the cost down. According to TAU, a standard apartment shared with one or two people can cost the same as the dorms, or even less. It works the same way with sublets: a spare room in the flat of someone who's away for the semester costs less than a whole apartment.

The thing people forget to ask about? Bills. Electricity, water, gas, arnona (municipal tax) and va'ad bayit (building fees) are usually not in the advertised rent, and the Hebrew University advises factoring them in. On Home Sublet there are no agency fees and no renter fees, and rent and deposit go straight to the host at the key handover. Until then, get in writing what's included, and ask for a signed receipt for every payment.

If you're coming for one semester on exchange or a study-abroad programme, you don't need a 12-month lease, and a sublet is built for exactly that. The hard part is distance. From abroad it's difficult to tell whether a flat is real, whether the street is quiet at night, and whether the host is even allowed to sublet it.

Before you pay, check five things. First, the landlord's consent: under section 22 of Israel's Rental and Borrowing Law, a tenant may not sublet without the landlord's consent, given in advance and in writing, unless the lease says otherwise; on Home Sublet, a listing that comes with signed consent carries a “Landlord approved” badge. Next, what the monthly price covers, internet included, and whether you can get the agreement in English. Finally, the deposit and when it comes back, and whether the key handover date lines up with the start of term.

The safe pattern: arrive a few days early, stay somewhere short-term, and view flats in person. The Hebrew University's Student Village rents guest rooms and apartments to students from abroad for anywhere from a week to three months, based on availability only, which makes a handy bridge while you search. Have to commit from abroad? Do a video call from inside the flat before any payment, and never send money “to hold it”.