As most international students know, the easiest and cheapest option for accommodation is a room in a Studierendenwerk dormitory. Unfortunately, there are not enough dormitory rooms for all students and the duration of the rent contracts is limited.

We recommend to apply for a place in the dormitory as early as possible, even prior to your admission by the university. If you are admitted, forward the admission letter by email later. If you are not admitted, just stop confirming that you want to remain on the waiting list.

Website: my-stuwe.de/en/housing/housing-infos/
Online application: my-stuwe.de/en/housing/online-application/
Contact: wohnheimverwaltungspam prevention@sw-tuebingen-hohenheim.de

The dormitories of other institutions in Tübingen are listed here with contact details, so that you can call or write an email directly.  

en.my-stuwe.de/housing/halls-of-residence-other-organisations

Important note about the radius: 
Please search not only in the city of Tübingen, but also in the surrounding villages and towns. This increases your chances of finding a room enormously. 
As an example: Dusslingen a small town 10 km away from Tübingen. From there it takes you 8 minutes by train to Tübingen, so you don't need much longer to get to the university but a room or apartment may be less expensive.

We have compiled a list of suitable cities in the vicinity of Tübingen (updated 20th February):
List of well connected towns around Tübingen

It is important not only to read and contact the offers you find. Writing your own accommodation request in social media and on websites like wg-gesucht.de is essential.  
Because: The people who publish a free room there receive 50-100 messages within one hour from people looking for a room. If you write a very sympathetic request, people with free rooms will contact you and your competition is much lower.  

Therefore we strongly recommend you to create your own search request.
For example, a search request on WG-gesucht (and other websites) or in social media, especially facebook groups such as "wg gesucht Tübingen" or similar. Please make your request appealing and detailed, it is important that you come across sympathetic.  

We'll be happy to help you write an engaging text!
You are welcome to book an appointment with our Online Help Desk (select general questions in the online section)  
Or send us the text or a link to your request to international-helpdeskspam prevention@zv.uni-tuebingen.de, we will look at it and give you feedback.

Now, let your profiles and posts work for you, while you parallel look for a room actively.

For the room search, you can of course use various websites that they can easily find with a search engine online. But we encourage you to try also the less used ways.

On facebook there are several groups for Tübingen in which rooms and flats are offered and searched. We recommend the following groups:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/107132940081488
https://www.facebook.com/groups/428431190642303
https://www.facebook.com/groups/152488708290943
https://www.facebook.com/groups/296932930424766  

Other ways to search for rooms that tend to be less used:

The Studierendenwerk not only operates the dormitories, but also a so-called private room accommodation service online. There private persons can offer rooms. If you are not sure if a city is within the naldo area (the area where you can use public transportation for free with your semester ticket), you can look it up in the map: Semester ticket area (naldo area)
If you are unsure, just drop us a line, we’re happy to help.  

Private accommodation service of the Studierendenwerk:
https://tl1host.eu/SWTUE/#privateroom
Please note that the offers there are not verified. So follow our advice to avoid fraud.

An ad in the local newspaper of Tübingen (tagblatt.de) or of Reutlingen (gea.de). The ads there are read mainly by older people who do not use the Internet. You won't find their rooms on wg-gesucht.de and other websites - but they might respond to your ad.

A notice with your room request on bulletin boards in supermarkets, the university, smaller stores, housing projects, etc.

For all of this:
We'll be happy to help you write an engaging text!
You are welcome to book an appointment with our Online Help Desk - or send us a link to your request to international-helpdeskspam prevention@zv.uni-tuebingen.de, we will look at it and give you feedback. 

We must advise you to be careful. The very difficult housing market is also exploited by scammers.
Do not transfer money to an other country for a room in Tübingen. Those offers are usually scam. In case of doubt, you are welcome to show us the room offer.
Based on our own work against scammers, we have created a handout to help you identify fraudulent offers and strongly recommend to read carefully and follow our advice:
Guidlines to avoid scammers

If you have any doubts, please decide against a transaction in any case and contact us so that we can have a look at it: international-helpdeskspam prevention@zv.uni-tuebingen.de

We are currently working on a small glossary in which we will explain terms you might hear in connection with renting your accommodation but also other student housing tips.
This glossary is certainly not complete and may never be. But we learn from the questions we receive from you at the helpdesk or by mail and update and add to it constantly.

Glossary, updated August 2022