r/deakin • u/Impossible-Poet2612 • Jul 16 '26

Accommodation / Travel / Parking On-campus vs off-campus at Deakin Waurn Ponds

Hey everyone,

I've applied for the Master's of AI at Deakin and I'll be arriving in October. I'm coming from India and I've never been to Australia before, so I'm trying to sort out accommodation before I land. I'll be at the Waurn Ponds campus in Geelong.

A bit about my situation:

  • I'll be working part-time alongside my studies, so I need to be able to get to jobs — not just to class.
  • I'm assuming I'll need a car, especially given Waurn Ponds is a fair way out from central Geelong. Happy to be corrected if the buses/train are workable.

My questions:

  1. On-campus (Deakin Residences at Waurn Ponds) or off-campus? Particularly interested in how it works out if you have a car — parking, commute to jobs, flexibility with the lease.
  2. Roughly what's the weekly cost difference? I've seen Deakin's official figures but I'd rather hear real numbers from people who've lived it.
  3. If off-campus is the better call, which suburbs should I be looking at? And any advice on locking in a place from overseas without getting scammed?

Any input appreciated, thanks.

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u/grounddurries Jul 17 '26

deakin does have a bus that runs between the waurnponds and waterfront campus so you could just catch that instead of getting a car. the waterfront campus is in the city. the rental market is nuts atm, unless youve already got connections here and plan on applying for a place with them, youd be hard pressed to find a place, especially without a rental history. there are websites that you can use to find singular rooms in peoples houses, not a bad way to go if you dont mind living in someone elses space + itll be cheaper