International students are struggling to find a place to live when they come to Australia.

Akash (not his real name) is a Nepalese student who moved to the northern New South Wales city of Port Macquarie to study at Charles Sturt University.

"I stayed in a backpackers at the start," he said.

"I was thinking I would stay for a week or two, but that got extended, and I had to stay a month and a half."

Diya (not her real name) was lucky to have family already in Port Macquarie, but she still struggled to find a place of her own.

"We had applied for so many places, and we got rejected because we are students and it's a high-risk factor for the agents, so getting our own place is quite hard," she said.

Last month, six international students were asked to leave the library, a 24-hour facility at Port Macquarie's Charles Sturt University (CSU) campus, after it was discovered the students had been sleeping there overnight.

CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Jenny Roberts said the students were offered a range of accommodation options.

"The students, who travel to Port Macquarie from Sydney each week to attend classes, were offered a range of accommodation options available through CSU in Port Macquarie," she said.

"The students have advised CSU they are now living with friends when they travel from Sydney to Port Macquarie during the week."

Public relations officer with the Council of International Students Australia Arjun Mathilakath Madathil said he often heard about students living at university facilities.

"Some students stay at hostels or AirBnbs when they first get here, but once that is done, they become homeless and they feel safer to stay on campus, or in a campus library," he said.

"It's a cultural difference, they don't know what is right or wrong, and they think this is the easiest and safest way for them to spend the night."

Housing scams a problem

Mr Mathilakath Madathil said it was also common for international students to fall prey to housing scams.

The Port Macquarie CSU campus where six university students were recently caught living in the library. ( ABC Mid North Coast: Sarah Maunder )

"That happens all around Australia, scammers will tell the student they have a house or room for them to rent and the student will pay money.

"Once the student arrives in Australia they realise there's nothing there, the room or house doesn't exist."

President of the National Union of Students Mark Pace said Australian institutions were attracting more international students than ever before, but the availability of affordable housing had not improved.

"Because of that we're seeing a huge increase in the demand of affordable housing, and landlords are quite often exploiting that, putting them into subpar accommodation, sometimes illegal, and quite often horrific," he said.

"I'm not surprised that students in this case have found they had to live on campus.

"It's obviously quite a concern; I just hope we see meaningful action from governments in terms of more affordable housing for students."

Federal Minister for Education Simon Birmingham said the reports were concerning.

"It is up to Australian universities to make sure that when they enrol students there is appropriate support for those students, as well as in terms of accommodation," he said.

"But it is also up to students to make sure they are meeting with their visa requirements, that do require them that they're able to support themselves financially while they're in Australia, including accommodation costs."