Life in Munich is expensive for students, mainly because of the high rents. A cheap alternative are halls of residence, but if you want to get hold of one of the coveted places, you have to be very patient – or sometimes very quickly.
If he hadn’t responded to the email so quickly, Jan Schneider would probably still be living in Ingolstadt. But the 21-year-old student has been living in a bungalow in the Olympic Village for a good year. He had waited more than two years for a place in the student housing complex in Munich – but then every second counted. If places become vacant in a dormitory at short notice, the Studentenwerk sends a “quick letter” by e-mail to the applicants on the waiting list. Whoever responds first with the necessary data has the seat. “I’ve done that twice before and it wasn’t the first time. On the third try, I really answered after a minute and had all the documents ready.”