Student accommodation in Zagreb: a dorm or a private flat

A dorm or a private flat: what you get

SC Zagreb (Studentski centar u Zagrebu, the student centre) runs four dorms: Stjepan Radić, known as Sava, at Jarunska 2; Cvjetno naselje at Odranska 8; Dr. Ante Starčević at Zagrebačka avenija 2; and Lašćina at Lašćinska cesta 32. Monthly prices on SC's 2026/27 price list, for students who won a place in the call:

• Lašćina, pavilions 2–7 and 9–10 (shared bathroom and tea kitchen on each floor): €40
• Lašćina, pavilion 1: €52
• Dr. Ante Starčević: €60 in a double room, €82 in a single
• Sava, pavilions 1–4 and 7–9 (shared bathrooms and kitchens on each floor): €74 in a double room
• Cvjetno naselje: €90 in a double room, €120 in a single
• Sava, pavilions 11 and 12 (flats of two double rooms sharing a bathroom and kitchen): €117 in a double room, €139 in a single
• Rooms adapted for students with disabilities (Sava pavilion 11 and Cvjetno naselje): €91

The rent covers hot and cold water, electricity, heating, internet, a linen change every 14 days, cleaning of common areas and repairs. You pay the first month's rent as a depositDeposit (polog)simplifiedMoney the tenant pays as security for unpaid rent, bills or damage, and gets back at the end of the lease. The lease sets the amount and when it's returned.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3. i 17., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary when you move in, and after that each month's rent by the 10th of the following month. You need a medical check certificate to move in.

A dorm place runs from 1 September to 15 July, and summer is arranged separately. Under the house rules there's no cooking in the room, and no electric or gas cookers, heaters, TV or animals in it. A guest may stay overnight for up to five nights a month, with your roommate's written consent and after signing in at the reception.

Students without the Ministry's subsidy, such as Erasmus or exchange students, pay €31.85 more in every category. That's the Ministry's monthly subsidy per dorm student.

A private flat has no call and no points, but you pay the rent and bills yourself. Flats for students shows, for every faculty, the neighbourhoods within 30 minutes on foot or by ZET tram or bus, their asking rents from real listings and the flats listed now. If you know your budget, Which neighbourhood suits me? shows the areas that fit it and how long the trip takes.

Check whether bills are included in the rent, and see what they cost in our guide to utility bills.

Who can get a dorm place

SC Zagreb allocates dorm places in a yearly call, under the rules on subsidised housing for full-time students (Pravilnik, NN 68/2023 and 77/2024). For 2026/27 the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth set a quota of 6,097 subsidised student-dorm places for Zagreb.

The call is open to full-time students who are Croatian, EU, EEA or Swiss citizens or are under international or temporary protection, to students with disabilities in doctoral study, and to others under special Ministry decisions. These conditions apply as well:

• Your permanent residencePermanent address (prebivalište)simplifiedThe address where you've settled for good, the centre of your life. You register it with the police within 15 days of moving in.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2.–4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (prebivalište) must be outside the place where you study. SC's rules exclude students whose prebivalište is in the City of Zagreb, so as we read them, a student from Zagreb County, for example Velika Gorica, can apply.
• You can't be employed or self-employed. Work on an ugovor o djelu (service contract) or an ugovor o autorskom djelu (copyright contract) is allowed.
• Students with fewer than 18 ECTS credits in the year they apply are excluded, with exceptions such as new first-years and some low-income cases, and so are students who averaged under 40 ECTS a year in earlier years.

Most places go by points:

• results: your grade average divided by the average of applicants at the same level from the same faculty (for new first-years: of all first-year applicants), times 1,000
• year of study: 100–300 points
• awards and the state matura: 200–400 points
• a shortage programme: 200 points (the 2026 list starts with Medicine, Pharmacy and Computing)
• social status: for example 750 points for a monthly income of €120 or less per household member, falling in steps to 75 points for an income up to €441.44

For students whose prebivalište is in Croatia, SC takes the household's 2025 income from the Tax Administration. Some students have a direct right with no ranking, among them:

• excellent students from households with a monthly income of up to €441.44 per member in the previous year, for example a new first-year with a 5.0 average in every year of secondary school, or a student with a 4.5 average and at least 55 ECTS in the current year
• children of fallen or missing Croatian war veterans, subject to study-progress conditions
• students without parents
• students with a group 1 disability

How the 2026/27 call ran

These are this year's dates. SC Zagreb publishes next year's deadlines, so keep an eye on its accommodation notices.

1. 1Applications ran online only, from 8 to 24 July 2026. You paid an €8 processing fee and uploaded Form A, certified by your faculty, plus a police (MUP) certificate of permanent residencePermanent address (prebivalište)simplifiedThe address where you've settled for good, the centre of your life. You register it with the police within 15 days of moving in.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2.–4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary or a copy of your ID card. It was the first fully digital call.
2. 2First-years (brucoši) have no separate call and applied in the same call and window. Those who finished school in Croatia didn't upload Form B, because SC takes their grades from e-Matica. Those without an AAI login could ask SC for temporary access.
3. 3The provisional list came out on 17 August 2026, with a cut-off of 1,387 points. Appeals were due within 8 days of it, by registered post only, and the decisions were posted on 4 September 2026.
4. 4The final list came out on 9 September 2026, and students had to move in by 21 September 2026. Anyone who hadn't booked or moved in by then was treated as having given up the place.
5. 5The cut-off was then lowered to 1,335 points on 1 October 2026, and again on 8 October 2026. SC keeps filling beds that free up during the year.

The cut-off depends on who applies each year, so this year's figure doesn't tell you next year's.

If you missed the deadline for a good reason, such as illness, enrolling later, transferring from another university or an exchange, you can apply late. You then move into a free bed during the year, depending on your points. If there's room and the waiting list doesn't stand in the way, SC can also give you a temporary bed at the full, non-subsidised price for up to three months.

State support for students renting privately

Students without a dorm place can get state support towards a private flat. The same students qualify as for a dorm, ranked by the same points (Pravilnik NN 68/2023 and 77/2024). The Ministry set the amounts and quotas for 2026/27 in a decision of 22 May 2026, which applies from 1 September 2026. Zagreb has two subsidies:

• €152 a month for the 906 students just below the dorm cut-off. It runs while Sava's pavilions 5 and 6 are renovated, a project funded by EU structural funds.
• €60 a month for 800 students who get neither a dorm place nor the €152, through a separate call. In 2025/26 the subsidy was also €60, with a quota of 1,000 students.

As of 19 October 2026, the call for the €60 subsidy for 2026/27 hasn't been published. SC Zagreb announced it for November 2026, and under the Ministry's decision it must be carried out by 15 December 2026 at the latest. The deadlines, documents and way to apply will be known only once the call is out.

Last year, applications for the €60 were made in person at Savska cesta 25, from 7 November to 2 December 2025. Among other things, they needed Form S certified by the faculty, a MUP certificate of permanent residencePermanent address (prebivalište)simplifiedThe address where you've settled for good, the centre of your life. You register it with the police within 15 days of moving in.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2.–4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary or a copy of your ID card, a MUP certificate of temporary address (boravište)Temporary address (boravište)simplifiedThe address where you live for a while without settling there for good. You register it with the police within 15 days if you'll stay longer than three months.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2., 4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary in the City of Zagreb or Zagreb County, and proof of your own bank account.

A lease wasn't on the list, though SC may ask for extra documents. This year's procedure may differ.

Students entitled to the €152 upload a MUP certificate of boravište in the City of Zagreb or Zagreb County and a bank-account confirmation to their web profile before signing a contract with SC, or bring them to the signing. Contracts are signed from 12 to 26 October 2026 at the Poslovnica, Savska cesta 25, on weekdays from 8:00 to 15:00, with your X-ica (student card) or ID card. Students who haven't signed by then are treated as having given up the subsidy.

The €152 can't be combined with a dorm place. If you move into a dorm later, you lose it from the month you move in, and the next student on the list gets it from the following month. Students placed in pupil dorms don't qualify.

Under last year's call, SC invoiced the Ministry and, once the money arrived, paid the subsidy into the student's bank account. Last year's €60 went out monthly in arrears: June 2026 was paid on 23 July 2026. Most students have no right to the subsidy from 16 July to 31 August, so July 2026 was paid at €30, for 1 to 15 July.

Report any change, such as dropping out, getting a job or pausing your studies, to SC within 15 days. The right ends from the following month.

City of Zagreb: scholarships, not rent support

We found no City of Zagreb rent subsidy for students on zagreb.hr. The City funds five types of scholarships, worth €520 net a month for students. They are scholarships, not housing support.

Under the 2026 draft decision, the scholarship based on socio-economic status requires a registered prebivalištePermanent address (prebivalište)simplifiedThe address where you've settled for good, the centre of your life. You register it with the police within 15 days of moving in.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2.–4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary in the City of Zagreb for at least one continuous year before the call is published and throughout the scholarship. A student who kept their prebivalište at home wouldn't qualify for it. Check the adopted conditions on the City's scholarships page.

Renting privately: reporting and your temporary address

The €152 requires a MUP certificate of boravišteTemporary address (boravište)simplifiedThe address where you live for a while without settling there for good. You register it with the police within 15 days if you'll stay longer than three months.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2., 4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (temporary address), and last year the €60 did too. Registering boravište at a landlord's address needs the landlord's consent. So in practice, without the landlord agreeing to your registration, you can't get the €152, and under last year's rules not the €60 either.

Among other things, the landlord must:

• Report the let to Porezna uprava (the Tax Administration) on Form RPO within 8 days of starting to receive rent, with the lease attached, through ePorezna, in person or by post, but not by email. If a notary certified the landlord's signature on the lease or drew it up, the notary sends it instead and the landlord doesn't have to.
• Report you and the address to the police within 15 days of letting you the flat, if it's for more than three months. The fine for not doing so is €60 to €660.

You register your boravište:

1. 1If you'll stay more than three months, register within 15 days of arriving, at the police administration or station for the flat's address.
2. 2Hand in your ID card, Form 1, a signed statement that you're staying there temporarily and the landlord's certified consent. The landlord can also consent in person at the police or electronically, through e-Građani.
3. 3Croatian citizens with an eOsobna (ID card with certificates) can register through e-Građani. PU zagrebačka (the Zagreb police administration) also accepts Croatian citizens' registrations by email, as PDFs, at zg.upravni.poslovi@mup.hr: Form 1, an ID copy, the landlord's consent statement and either the landlord's ID or a certified lease.
4. 4Boravište is registered for a year. For study it can last as long as your studies, with proof, but it must be extended every year.

If your prebivalištePermanent address (prebivalište)simplifiedThe address where you've settled for good, the centre of your life. You register it with the police within 15 days of moving in.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2.–4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary is in another county, a registered boravište also gives you the level 2 meal subsidy, worth two menu meals a day instead of one. Students who won a dorm place in the call get level 2.5. Dorm residents have boravište registered too, at the dorm.

The Zakon o prebivalištu (Residence Act) covers Croatian citizens. Foreign students follow other rules, set out in our guide for foreigners.

Agree on the boravište registration with the landlord before you sign, and preferably write it into the lease. Get the lease in writing. What else to check is in our lease checklist.

Sharing a flat

If you share, agree how costs are split before you move in. The rent split calculator splits part of the rent equally, the rest by room size and the bills equally, and gives you a link to send your flatmates.

Each flatmate who wants a subsidy needs their own boravišteTemporary address (boravište)simplifiedThe address where you live for a while without settling there for good. You register it with the police within 15 days if you'll stay longer than three months.Source: Zakon o prebivalištu (NN 144/12, 158/13, 114/22), čl. 2., 4. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary certificate, so the landlord has to consent to registering each of them.

• Write the depositDeposit (polog)simplifiedMoney the tenant pays as security for unpaid rent, bills or damage, and gets back at the end of the lease. The lease sets the amount and when it's returned.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3. i 17., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary amount, what it covers and when it comes back into the lease (our deposit guide).
• When you move in, record the flat's condition, the meter readings and the inventory in a move-in report, with photos.
• Don't pay anything before you've seen the flat and checked who the landlord is (rental scams).

Frequently asked questions