The City of Waterloo
The City of Waterloo has accommodated our students and alumni for a generation. It's truly a student city, through and through. While our campus itself is self-sustaining for student fun, engagement, housing, and opportunity, the city is an indispensable part of your experience at the University of Waterloo.
Campus is situated between Uptown (downtown) Waterloo and the Mennonite communities of north Waterloo, providing a perfect balance between technology and entertainment, and rural charm and culture. Transportation within the city is easy; students have access to public transit busing and the Region's state of the art light rail, which connects the cities of Waterloo and Kitchener by train. Students may visit Mennonite markets on their off-days (expect to see horse and buggies along the way), or take the ION light rail into Uptown Waterloo to sample the cafes, restaurants, squares, breweries, community centers, parks, and activities.
The city has a palpable energy to it that attracts tourists and future students alike. See for yourself why the City of Waterloo remains such a sought-after hub of culture, entertainment, research, and technology.
Images provided with the consent of Waterloo Regional Tourism and Explore Waterloo Region.
Housing
The City of Waterloo presents itself as a commuter city; it's only an hour from Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. Regardless, many students do choose to live here during their studies. Fortunately, there are plenty of on-campus and off-campus housing opportunities for students.
The University of Waterloo has allocated two residence complexes for graduate students specifically. Both Columbia Lake Village South and Columbia Lake Village North are townhouse complexes on campus that provide accommodations to graduate students and the family units of students. Both CLV complexes offer a quiet, supportive, and convenient community that allows graduate students to focus on what matters most: your studies.
Off-campus housing is plentiful in the City of Waterloo; it is a student city after all. There are dozens of apartment buildings, condos, and residential neighborhoods around campus that take pride in housing the thousands of Waterloo students that move to the city each year.
The property you choose is entirely up to you. Students may choose to live with roommates or friends, or rent a single apartment that promises privacy and independence. Before searching for off-campus housing it's important to know your budget, the dynamics around holding a lease, preference for amenities and location, and transit routes to and from campus if you're not within walking distance.