Your Guide to Off-Campus Housing

The decision to move off campus is not one that everyone can make easily. There are a lot of factors that can affect where and when you move out of your school residence halls to your own place. Most schools require freshmen to live on campus their first year, and some even through junior year. Before looking into off-campus housing, make sure to check your school’s housing policy. If you’re going ahead with the process, here are some things for you to consider.

I’ll start with the most obvious, paying rent can be considered both a positive and a negative. On one hand, the cost of renting an apartment for the year is often less than room and board costs. But, you also have to factor in electricity, heat (where applicable), water, and internet/cable. These expenses can add up, though if you plan on having roommates, your overall costs will be less. Even with these expenses added in, getting an off-campus apartment or house is usually cheaper than paying room and board.
So that’s the positive of paying rent, but what’s the negative? If you’re like most first-time college renters, keeping up with monthly payments can be difficult, especially if you’re not the most organized person. If and when you get an apartment, make sure to keep track off all of your payments made and future due dates, not only so you stay up to date, but so you have records of when you paid your last bill. On a similar note, if you do sign a lease, make sure you can sublet during the summer months, otherwise you’ll be stuck paying rent when you wont be living there.
Oh, and yes, you can usually pay for off-campus living through student loans.
On campus housing typically includes the cost of a meal plan. Should you decide to move into your own place, make sure that you are okay with losing the convenience of school food. Some colleges do allow students to pay for meal plans separately, so before this makes or breaks your decision, check with your college’s policies on meal plans and payment.
Part of the college experience is sharing space with other students. Living on campus can keep students involved with others both academically and socially and can be a very positive aspect of college life. Moving off campus can hinder this because hanging out with friends becomes more planned rather than impromptu; not to mention arranging study sessions and group meetings can be more difficult. These won’t be problems for everyone, but could play a factor in your decision.
Similarly, when you move off campus, you can take your friends with you. But be cautious- who you live with can change everything. If you and a roommate have a falling out, you will still be living together for remainder of the year. If I have one tip, it would be choose your roommates carefully, as best friends don’t always make the best roommates. Go over living habits together- are you both neat? If not, do you mind a little mess? Talk it over to make sure that your living styles won’t clash.
While in dorms, maintenance and cleaning are part of the package. If you decide to move off campus, you’ll need to clean your own place (or not clean at all if yours is like some of the apartments I’ve been in). You’ll also need to contact your landlord if anything breaks or requires maintenance. This is not a bad process if you have a good landlord, but if you don’t, it can be a nightmare.
College students who live in close quarters are breeding grounds for sickness. It seems that once one students gets sick, MANY will follow. By moving off campus, you can potentially cut your risk of getting these illnesses simply by not sharing bathrooms and other communal living spaces.
So, you’ve decided to move off campus. How do you go about finding housing? Some schools have directories of properties available within the community, so it can be helpful to start your search here. Next, reach out to students who currently live off campus (especially seniors who will be graduating). Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to snag an apartment of one of these seniors, making the search process minimal. Plus, you can talk to the current residents to see if they were satisfied with the rental.
Now that you know some basics on how to find your own off-campus housing, here are some current trends you may start to see:
If money is the issue, some parents have taken to actually buying property for their student to inhabit through their college career. This can be a wise investment depending on the community as parents can lease it out to future students as well. But if it’s far away, parents will have to hire someone in the community to serve as the on-site manager, upping the overall cost.
With the recent economic crisis, students are finding themselves hit even harder. This is why some have taken to sharing rooms, just like in an on-campus housing environment. This way, total costs can be broken down even further and each student pays significantly less.
The number of students entering college has been steadily growing. Colleges are receiving more and more applications and as populations grow, so does off-campus interest. In a move to provide more students with better housing on campus, colleges are beginning to build residences that focus on what the students are looking for. This means less traditional dormitory styles will be replaced with newer community style living environments with more individual space.
I’ve thrown a lot at you in this post, but my main point is to just make sure you’re ready to commit to an off-campus residence. If you have decided to pursue living off campus, then hopefully this info will be useful and make the transition a little bit smoother for you.
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