College room contract - boarding house or live in motel?

[AmyontheFarm]

My dd will be living off campus for her second year at an agricultural college.

 

We are wondering what should be in the room contract? She has two choices.  Both are the same price.  Both are in equally safe locations.  Both places are 7-12 mins away from the college.

 

One is in a private home with 4 other boarders.  All girls.  Previous boarders said the wall are so thin you could here the next person think. They provide all three meals, except on weekends but you can use the kitchen.  Our dd comes home on the weekends so this doesn't really matter.

 

The other room is in a newly renovated motel. It has a pool.  She would get a continental breakfast each morning.  There is a kitchenette she can use everyday for lunch and dinner.  OR she could pay extra and eat at the college but she doesn't like the food there. 

 

The motel makes the bulk of their money during non-school months.  So, they are working hard to attract the students.

 

The contract is handwritten.  They are just starting this for Sept.  They even asked the students what they thought should be in the contract.

 

Do any of you have any examples of rooming contracts or concerns you think we should be aware of?  We don't know anyone who has lived in a motel before.  So, please send us advice! :)

[foxbridgeacademy]

No help or advice except to say they did the motel into "dorm" rooms in my hometown and they were very cool.  A friend lived in one, she loved having her own bath, mini-fridge, microwave and (outlawed) hotplate.  They would even do sheets and towels for an additional fee, but she had use of a laundry room. 

[katilac]

I would totally do the motel! 

 

First, I have a weird love for motels and 'free' breakfast. 

 

Second, a professional business will make it easier to stay on a business footing, as opposed to staying in a private home. 

 

A motel is intended for many people, so it seems like you would have less trouble with enough hot water and so on. When something breaks, they have a handyman at the ready. If something can't be fixed, you move to another room. 

 

I'd be curious as to how they provide 3 meals a day in a private home, presumably with many different schedules. And I'm just not social enough to want to play happy families with a bunch of people in a private home. 

[scoutingmom]

I also say the motel sounds great. More privacy, a pool.... less personalities involved.

 

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[Carol in Cal.]

I would check out whether the motel has a lot of traffic noise.  That really can get annoying, especially if it's on a truck route with semis going back and forth all night every night.  Also, motels are notoriously thin-walled themselves--check on that, too.

 

I wonder about how hard it would be to shop for food and cook at the motel.  I'd think that through pretty thoroughly before agreeing to it--for instance, if all that is there is a mini-fridge, a microwave, a coffee maker, and a bar sink, she will have to shop often and wash dishes by hand constantly.  That's a real time suck, and if she's in a STEM field it might get pretty onerous. 

 

If those two concerns are settled well, I think the motel would be better.

[J-rap]

It depends on your daughter, I think.   I have one daughter who is super social, but whose quiet, alone time is extremely important.  She pretty much needs that at some point every day.  So for someone like her, I'd probably steer her toward the motel and it'd be great.

 

Another daughter is shyer and quieter and yet really gets her energy and confidence in being part of a unit.  Even with the noise, I know she'd be much happier in a boarding house situation with other girls, where she doesn't feel so alone.

 

 

[Guest]

Id go for the place with a real kitchen. Unless there was something actively wrong with it. Criminal boarders, creepy hosts or weird rules.

[Another Lynn]

As an introvert who hates to cook I would totally go for the motel! 

[justasque]

My dd will be living off campus for her second year at an agricultural college.

 

We are wondering what should be in the room contract? She has two choices.  Both are the same price.  Both are in equally safe locations.  Both places are 7-12 mins away from the college.

 

One is in a private home with 4 other boarders.  All girls.  Previous boarders said the wall are so thin you could here the next person think. They provide all three meals, except on weekends but you can use the kitchen.  Our dd comes home on the weekends so this doesn't really matter.

 

The other room is in a newly renovated motel. It has a pool.  She would get a continental breakfast each morning.  There is a kitchenette she can use everyday for lunch and dinner.  OR she could pay extra and eat at the college but she doesn't like the food there. 

 

The motel makes the bulk of their money during non-school months.  So, they are working hard to attract the students.

 

The contract is handwritten.  They are just starting this for Sept.  They even asked the students what they thought should be in the contract.

 

Do any of you have any examples of rooming contracts or concerns you think we should be aware of?  We don't know anyone who has lived in a motel before.  So, please send us advice! :)

 

--Will the motel have non-student guests while your dd is there?

--Does she have any friends who might join her at the boarding house?

--Is the boarding house food healthy?  What about the motel food?

--Would she enjoy family style meals with the other girls at the boarding house?  Or would she prefer to eat alone at the motel?

--Would she have cleaning responsibilities or other chores at either place?

--When you say the cost is the same, is that comparing room + 3 meals to room + 1 meal?  How much would the other two meals cost, and how does that affect the total financial picture?  Similarly, would she be able to take advantage of all 3 meals at the boarding house, or would she end up eating out anyway?  That is, could she ask for a bag lunch if she will be on campus?

 

I'd tend to lean towards the boarding house, due to the built-in social support of peers she would find there, and due to the experience of the folks running it (vs. the motel in its first year working out the details), especially if the food was healthier.

[J-rap]

As an introvert who hates to cook I would totally go for the motel! 

Except it's the boarding house that provides meals... That might be a deal breaker for some of my children!

[Farrar]

Will she adequately cook for herself if she goes for the motel? Will it end up costing her a lot more because she'll end up eating out? What about nutritionally?

 

I agree with J-rap that it depends on her personality. I think a lot of young people that age - even introverts - would be happier in a group situation and the boarding house is much more like that - it's a ready made social unit. Of course, that can backfire if the personalities don't mesh and the motel is appealing as well. I'd mostly go with whatever she wants...

[Mergath]

My two issues would be secondhand smoke and noise. Is the private home smoke free? Is the motel? Being exposed to secondhand smoke in either place would be a deal-breaker for me, though it would be slightly easier to control it in the motel.

 

Also, though the motel sounds like it would be quieter at first glance, that might not be true if they let other students have parties around the pool every night.

 

As far as the contract goes, will all utilities be included in the private home? If your dd would be responsible for any portion of the heat or electric, that could add up quickly. 

[lllll]

nm

Edited January 31, 2016 by - 8 95

[Dmmetler]

Are the boarding house meals actually

A) scheduled af times it's reasonable for her to eat them

 

And

 

B) stuff she'll eat?

 

I learned in college that a meal plan for the cafeteria was less useful than putting the same amount of money on a flex plan that could be used on other on campus things, including a small store with some grocery items and a food court open between meals as well as at meal times-because I often ended up with classes either most of the way through the meal period, or just plain too far across campus to get there, eat, and get back for my next class (admittedly, I was a music major, and music has a tendency to have one credit classes that meet for 5 hours a week, and a lot of rehearsals for student groups ended up finding that meal times were the one time everyone had free).

 

And I know quite a few students with restricted diets, either for medical reasons or by choice that found that provided meals were basically useless for them because they simply couldn't eat much. Living on cold cereal, lettuce, and rice isn't a good choice for anyone (that was one vegan friend of mine-even the vegetables tended to have butter or bacon on/in them).

 

This usually applies to dorm life, but I could see it applying to a boarding house that includes meals, too. It's a shame to pay for meals, and then end up having to eat all meals out or cook for yourself anyway.