University possibly kicking me out of my dorm by march, what should I do?

22 comments

1. On the plus side, at least you know of the possibility now, and not at the last minute. I would think tight finances would play a role in the decision, but maybe not. Do you have, or have you considered, a part time job? –your English looks good, so some tutoring?

2. Do you get 120K a month total for living expenses? Does that need to cover tuition fees or just living costs? How much does the dorm cost?

   It’ll depend greatly on where exactly you are but student oriented housing can be had for 30-50K usually, and from my experience Uni dorm fees tend to be in the 40K ballpark anyway so I don’t think you’d be any worse off financially unless your dorms are incredibly cheap.

   My best advice would be to start looking around about Janaury for a new place, and have a few options explored if the worst comes to pass.

3. Maybe look into a share house. The cheap (and crappy) ones sometimes run campaigns in low demand seasons where they waive the initial fee and/or give half off for the first months.

4. You have any friends at school in the same situation? Maybe you could all pool in and get an apartment to share?

5. If you live in the inaka, look for a share house or some kind of a dorm with some of your fellow students. They should be really cheap (like 10k-20k Yen for each person). With your scholarship and some light baito job, you would have no trouble at all.

6. You’re a mext student right? I think you can easily find apartments for around 35-40k a month. I live in Chiba and that’s how much I pay. I also get 120k/ month without a バイト

7. Edit nvm, make sure to ask questions to institution

8. [deleted]

9. I found a fully furnished apartment in one day by going to the co-op office in the university, do you have this at your university? some kind of student support association?

10. Do you have a 生協 on your campus? They should easily find you housing that accommodates your expectations, probably they even have experience with foreign students like yourself. Sure, it will be more expensive than the dorm, but compared to other, non-MEXT sponsored students you’re in a better position.

    (Source: I was in the same situation back in the days, I had to move out after 6 months)

11. Have you checked with university COOP, if there are some options for you ?

12. Put ads up on community boards in the school for anyone interested in going in together to get a dorm house!

13. mext undergrad and you live in ibaraki? should be plenty of apartment there or leopalace fits under 5man per month. Be grateful you are lots more privileged than most of students here who have to pay for tuition and doing baito to keep them living in a shared room. School kids what can you be busy for besides just merely taking class

14. I mean, depending how inaka you are you can go to the local government center and have them set you up in an akiya.

15. I hated living in Japanese dorm. Too restrictive rules, be happy that they give you motivation to leave. Also, how can 120k not cover rent in private housing? What kind of lifestyle you have? And no time for baito while being at Japanese university? Unbelievable.

16. How did you apply to get 120k/month for free from the scholarship and pay 0 tuition? Local students normally get around 40k a month or use student loan and do part time jobs.

17. That’s the standard for all public universities dormitories, you should have known that or read it on your agreement.

    Go to student support division and inquire for options. They will recommend you real estate agencies that work with students or share houses.

    If you live in Tokyo, you can also apply for the international student dormitory in odaiba. Rent is not so expensive and facilities are other decent.

18. Reach out to other MEXT scholars in your area, people that have already moved out of dorms, that are leaving or have recently left etc. Someone might be in a building with a vacancy or have a student-friendly landlord with multiple buildings. You should be able to find something in the 30-40k range which is totally doable on the mext allowance.

19. Life is hard. This is one of those moments you have to put the “big boy” pants on.

    Your university education (which sounds like it is paid for) is likely to set you up for good career opportunities later on. Find a cheap place, eat cheap food, cut back on expenses. And all the while look around – the people picking up the rubbish, cleaning the streets, scrubbing the toilets, hawking stuff on the sidewalk, serving you at supermarkets all probably have it worse.

20. What kind of dorm contract do you have and what does your prefecture say about notice to kick someone out? It might be that you are on a 1-year fixed lease and they don’t renew it, which is probably what is happens and thus it’s not that they “kick you out”, but that they don’t renew your lease.

    I’d go consult in your City Hall Office about these details and don’t trust your university word at all, educative institutions in Japan will tell you “it’s this way/the law” even when it’s not if it benefits them. For example, they might imply they are going to renew you, then mess up and don’t give you enough notice for non-renewal, so you might be able to stay there for 1-2 more months (I’d consult a free lawyer in that case).

21. There are some cheap apartments in Kanto especially in inaka, but the apartment would ofc be a little shitty. Like bad ventilation so it’s cold in winter, but it’s not something you can’t fix with some heated blankets. My friend had an apartment in tokyo for 20k and it was near the train tracks so it was kinda noisy too. For baito you can try companies like LbE and ISA maybe they can offer some

22. Hate to say it, but You’re going to have to make time for Baito. Many of us without wealthy/helpful parents have been there, and done that when we were students.

    I didn’t get any help from my parents. When I was a student (granted not in Japan, but in my home country) to supplement my student loan, to pay for rent and living expenses etc I worked a mixture of part time at bars and full-time in summer holidays, landscaping. It definitely wasn’t easy, but it had to be done.

    So either get a Baito, or take out a student loan… or both.