Griffith University runs genuine on-campus residential accommodation at only two of its five Queensland campuses: Nathan (Brisbane South) and Gold Coast. Students at South Bank, Mount Gravatt and Logan have no university-operated halls to apply for and instead rely on a short list of partner buildings, most of them a walk or bus ride from the lecture theatre rather than next door to it.
That split matters more than most prospective students realise. A first-year enrolling into the Gold Coast nursing program can log into Griffith's own accommodation portal and book a studio in the same village as the pool and the gym. A first-year enrolling into a creative arts degree at South Bank cannot do that at all: Griffith does not own or run housing there, and the student is sent to UniLodge, Scape or Student One instead, paying whatever rate those operators set that week.
This guide goes through what actually exists at each campus, what it costs according to the operators' own pricing pages, and when to apply. Where Griffith or a provider has not published a number, we say so rather than guessing.
adelaide City properties
Find your perfect student accommodation
Griffith accommodation at a glance
| Campus | Accommodation type | Who runs it | Approx weekly rent |
| Nathan (Brisbane South) | On-campus halls (Bellenden Ker, Barakula, Kinaba, Girraween, Carnarvon) | Griffith University, Campus Life | $185 to $195 (2025 rates) |
| Gold Coast | On-campus village: studio, 1-bedroom, 5-bedroom shared | Campus Living Villages (Griffith University Village) | $330 to $598 depending on room type |
| South Bank | Off-campus partner towers near campus | UniLodge (Southbank, Park Central), Scape, Student One | Not published; varies by provider |
| Mount Gravatt | Off-campus partner towers, bus or drive to campus | CoVE Upper Mount Gravatt, UniLodge Park Central, Scape, Student One, Genesis 1 | Not published; varies by provider |
| Logan | Off-campus private apartments near campus | UniCentral Griffith | Not published; contact provider |
Nathan is the only campus with true university-run halls
Brisbane South, usually called Nathan, is where Griffith owns and operates its own residential accommodation through its Campus Life team. The halls sit inside the Nathan campus grounds, in bushland next to Toohey Forest, and the university's own room options page lists four buildings with 2025 weekly rates: Bellenden Ker (single bedroom, from $195), the Barakula, Kinaba and Girraween cluster known as KGBC (five or six bedroom flats from $190, seven or eight bedroom flats from $185), and Carnarvon (four bedroom flats from $195, reserved for postgraduates).
Those are genuinely low numbers next to inner Brisbane private student housing, and that is before utilities are counted, since Griffith's on-campus rate typically bundles them in. The trade-off is that these are shared flats inside shared buildings with communal kitchens and bathrooms in most configurations, not the private studio apartments a commercial provider sells. Nobody should expect resort amenities here. It is a university hall, run like one, with a residential life program attached rather than a concierge desk.
Griffith is explicit that eligibility is limited to its own enrolled students, that there is no bond, and that confirming a place means paying a confirmation fee plus six weeks of rent upfront according to the offer's fee schedule. Two separate levies, a Maintenance and Development Levy and a Residential Life Levy, are charged on top of rent per trimester. Pulling out of a signed contract early costs a flat $360 cancellation fee, and leaving at the end of a contract still requires four weeks' notice through the accommodation portal.
If you are weighing this against a private building, the trade-offs are the same ones that apply everywhere: a university hall buys a shorter commute and a built-in social program, a private operator buys more privacy and, often, a nicer room. Our comparison of university halls and private PBSA covers that decision in more depth than space allows here.
Griffith University Village at Gold Coast is the other real on-campus option
Gold Coast is Griffith's second and only other campus with on-campus accommodation, and it is a different model entirely. The building is Griffith University Village, and it is not run by the university directly: it is operated by Campus Living Villages, a commercial student accommodation company that also runs villages at other Australian universities.
Pricing on the Campus Living Villages booking site is per room type rather than a flat rate, and it moves with term and availability, so the ranges below are a snapshot rather than a fixed number:
- Shared apartments (up to five bedrooms, shared bathroom in some configurations): roughly $330 to $447 per week
- Studio apartments (private ensuite): roughly $461 to $598 per week
- One-bedroom apartments (private, self-contained): roughly $515 to $536 per week
All three options include utilities and unlimited WiFi in the quoted rate, and a 4 week bond applies on top. Terms run by trimester or by full year, and some room types were showing waitlists rather than open availability when we checked, so booking early matters more here than the marketing copy suggests. The village has a resort-style pool, gym, communal study spaces and secure bike storage, which is a genuinely different proposition to the plain, functional halls at Nathan. It also costs noticeably more for a private room than Nathan's shared flats do, which is the usual trade between a shared university hall and a commercially run village.
Gold Coast students who miss out on the village, or who want something closer to the beach than the campus itself, are not short of nearby private options, but Griffith's own partner list for Gold Coast is thinner than Brisbane's: University Square, University Village and Metro on Central are the three named partners, and none of their rates appear on Griffith's own pages.
South Bank and Mount Gravatt have no on-campus halls at all
This is the fact that surprises a lot of students researching Griffith accommodation online: South Bank, Griffith's creative arts, music and film campus in the heart of Brisbane's cultural precinct, has no Griffith-operated residential building. Neither does Mount Gravatt, the smaller campus that mainly services Griffith Business School and some health programs and sits a short bus ride from Nathan.
Students at both campuses are directed to Griffith's list of off-campus preferred partners. For South Bank and Mount Gravatt combined, Griffith names five providers: UniLodge Park Central, CoVE Upper Mount Gravatt, Scape (across its Merivale, Regent, South Bank and Tribune buildings), Student One (Adelaide Street, Elizabeth Street and Wharf Street sites) and Genesis 1. None of these are Griffith buildings. They are commercial PBSA (purpose-built student accommodation) towers that happen to sit within a workable commute of these two campuses, and Griffith's role is limited to naming them as preferred and, in some cases, negotiating a referral arrangement.
Separately, Griffith also states a formalised agreement with UniLodge specifically covering UniLodge Brisbane City, UniLodge Southbank, UniLodge Toowong, UniLodge Park Central and UniLodge Herston, serving Brisbane City and Nathan students as well. If you are looking at a UniLodge building near Griffith, UniLodge Toowong is one of the named partner sites and worth checking against the others on price and distance.
The practical upshot: a South Bank or Mount Gravatt student should treat their accommodation search the same way a student at a university with no halls at all would, comparing private operators directly rather than expecting a university portal to sort it out. None of these buildings publish Griffith-specific discounted rates on Griffith's own site, so the actual weekly cost depends entirely on which building, which room type and which week you book.
Logan campus: one option, run by a private operator
Logan is Griffith's smallest and most isolated campus for accommodation purposes. The only named option, on-campus or otherwise, is UniCentral Griffith, a privately run building at 66 University Drive, Meadowbrook, a five-minute walk from the Logan campus gate. It offers four-share apartments with a private ensuite in each bedroom, a double bed, study desk and high-speed internet, plus an optional carport.
UniCentral Griffith is not owned or operated by the university, despite the name. Griffith's own accommodation pages list it as the Logan-area partner and mention a promo code for a "Griffith preferred rate," but neither Griffith's site nor UniCentral's own page publishes an actual weekly figure, so you need to contact UniCentral directly (phone +61 7 3200 4444, or info@ucg.net.au) for a current quote before assuming anything about cost. Given how few alternatives exist within walking distance of Logan campus, students who want to live close rather than commute should start this conversation early rather than leave it to the week before term starts.
What Griffith accommodation actually costs, campus by campus
Put the numbers next to each other and the difference in cost of living by campus is not subtle. A Nathan hall room at $185 to $195 a week is, before utilities savings are even counted, roughly a third of the price of a private studio at the Gold Coast village. Shared rooms at Gold Coast narrow that gap, landing around $330 to $447, still well above Nathan's shared flats.
South Bank, Mount Gravatt and Logan sit outside this comparison entirely because none of their providers publish headline rates on Griffith's own site. Based on typical Brisbane PBSA pricing, expect these to land somewhere between Nathan's on-campus rate and Gold Coast's private studio rate, but confirm directly with the operator rather than relying on a third-party estimate. For a broader sense of what Brisbane living costs beyond rent, our Brisbane cost of living breakdown for students and the city's most expensive suburbs are useful cross-checks, and our companion piece on Griffith's cost of living by campus goes further into the day to day numbers.
How and when to apply
Griffith's own guidance for on-campus accommodation at Nathan is to apply as early as possible, and the university specifically says you can apply before you have a QTAC offer. Rolling applications are assessed on a first-come basis by application date, and anyone who misses out on a place is added to a waitlist rather than turned away outright. Griffith notes most applicants for the next year should be lodging applications from around September, which lines up with Australia's main domestic offer rounds.
Once assessed and offered a place, you accept through Griffith's own accommodation portal, which also requires confirming your enrolment and academic place first. There is no bond for on-campus accommodation, but you do pay a confirmation fee plus six weeks' rent upfront as set out in your specific offer.
Gold Coast's Griffith University Village runs its own separate booking system through Campus Living Villages rather than Griffith's portal, with the same broad advice applying: rooms with waitlist status when we checked this page suggest booking well ahead of term start rather than after enrolling. Off-campus partner buildings at South Bank, Mount Gravatt and Logan each run their own application and lease process independent of Griffith entirely, so timing follows that operator's own calendar, not the university's trimester dates. For a general walkthrough of booking housing from overseas before you land, see how to book student housing before you arrive in Australia, and our step-by-step guide to applying for Griffith housing specifically covers the portal mechanics in full.
Wassup
Instagram??
Frequently asked questions
Does Griffith University have on-campus accommodation at every campus? No. Only Nathan (Brisbane South) and Gold Coast have residential buildings that Griffith or its named operator runs as on-campus housing. South Bank, Mount Gravatt and Logan have none.
Who runs the halls at Nathan campus? Griffith University's own Campus Life (Accommodation Services) team runs the Nathan halls directly, not a third-party operator.
Who runs Griffith University Village at Gold Coast? Campus Living Villages, a commercial student accommodation company, operates Griffith University Village under agreement with the university.
How much does on-campus accommodation at Nathan cost? Griffith's published 2025 rates range from $185 to $195 a week depending on the building and room configuration, covering shared flats from four to eight bedrooms plus a single-room option.
How much does Griffith University Village at Gold Coast cost? Shared apartments run roughly $330 to $447 a week, studios roughly $461 to $598, and one-bedroom apartments roughly $515 to $536, based on current pricing on the operator's booking site. These move with term and availability.
What accommodation options exist near South Bank or Mount Gravatt? Griffith names UniLodge Park Central, CoVE Upper Mount Gravatt, Scape, Student One and Genesis 1 as preferred off-campus partners for these two campuses, alongside a separate formal UniLodge agreement covering UniLodge Southbank, Toowong, Park Central and Herston.
When should I apply for Griffith on-campus accommodation? As soon as you can, ideally from around September for the next year, and before you need to have a confirmed QTAC offer. Places go by application date, with a waitlist for anyone who misses the available spots.
Bottom line
Griffith accommodation is not one system, it is two on-campus buildings plus a referral list. If your campus is Nathan or Gold Coast, apply through Griffith's own channels early and expect either a cheap shared hall room or a pricier private village room. If your campus is South Bank, Mount Gravatt or Logan, skip looking for a university portal: go straight to the named partner buildings, compare their rates directly, and book on that operator's own timeline rather than Griffith's trimester calendar.