Hi,

I work at UNIL, right next door to EPFL. I live in Malley (just inside the Renens commune border) which is pretty much halfway between the Uni and the centre of Lausanne. I find it a really good compromise. If I want to I can easily take the M1 metro to uni (about 5 mins) or into town (again, about 5 mins). Alternatively, if the weather is sunny then I can take the beautiful walk to work along by the lake. There are also a couple of supermarkets (COOP & Migros) in the immediate vicinity. I don't know what the average rental prices are, but I pay just over 1k for a 2.0 apartment.

Hope this helps, best of luck,