How many of our current college freshman living in dorms are going to move to apts next year

[Chris in VA]

And if so, could you talk about what their situation will be, and what you feel they will need? Kitchen stuff? How many roommies? Is it more expensive? Are you still doing some sort of meal plan? 

Dd's situation--She will be in a quad apartment where each girl gets their own walk in closet, bathroom and bedroom, and there is a common livingroom and a kitchen. It's furnished, but IDK about dishes and such in the kitchen. She gets a large closet because she will have her cat (very excited about that). It doesn't cost as much as the dorm room, either, but it's slightly farther away (she is on the edge of campus as it is, and has a 15-20 minute walk to class , or a short bus ride, right now). She does have a car, which makes it easier (can't really park it near the dorm now, so it is just used to come "home" and to shop, at the moment). 

And, what made you decide to not have your kid live in the dorms a second year (or what made them decide and you supported it)....

[teachermom2834]

My ds is in a dorm this year and moving to an off campus apartment next year. It made sense for him for pretty much all the reasons.

1) Cost- His expenses including groceries should be about the same for the twelve month lease as it was for two semesters in the dorm. So almost four more months of room and board for the same cost. He does plan to stay over the summer so it is not as if he is paying for a room he won't be using. I don't expect to do a meal plan for him but that is an option if he finds that would work best for him. Will depend on his daily schedule, probably.

2) He will have his own large bedroom and bathroom and in unit laundry.  He was in a double with a problematic roommate this year so he is looking forward to living with three friends and having his own space. His apartment comes pretty well furnished though I expect he'll need a few basic kitchen items. Very minimal, however. He won't cook anything fancy and he doesn't like alot of stuff.

3) He is right on the edge of campus and will likely walk to class even though there is a bus that runs regularly. His campus is huge and this off campus apartment is actually closer to his classes and the rec center than was his on campus dorm. So I think that will be okay.

It totally makes sense for him for most of the reasons, mainly because on campus housing is so expensive that the surrounding apartments can offer very nice amenities and still be cheaper. I'm supportive of it but I do have some concerns. Mainly I feel like we lose a little bit of security being off campus. On one hand, even though he had a problematic roommate there were some avenues to deal with it. The RA tried to intervene. Ds was stubborn about not wanting to ask for a change and move out, but when he finally did request a change he had a new room in 24 hours. The apartment complex isn't going to move him if he has roommate issues. So there is the layer of supposed administrative support I feel like we lose going off campus. Also, his college is in an urban area with a significant amount of crime. He is pretty cautious but it is the nature of where he lives that he has to always be security conscious. There is frequent bike theft and regular auto break ins even on campus so the off campus areas are even more vulnerable. There was a report of an armed home invasion at another apartment complex last week. That stuff definitely happens around there. So there is that. 😞

I don't know that he was much safer on campus. It is a big open campus and they certainly have lots of people that don't belong there hanging around. He also has a job downtown and drives through all kinds of areas back and forth to work, sometimes late at night so I don't know that his move off campus is such a big change in his personal safety situation. Oh well. 

 

[Bootsie]

One of the main questions I have had as my children have discussed moving into apartment style living is whether these apartments are part of university housing.  Is there a lease for a particular room or is there an apartment lease that all roommates are equally responsible for?  What happens if one of the four does not return to the university?  Will someone randomly be placed in the room or do the existing roommates have a say in who will be in the room?   What happens if one of the students withdraws during the semester--can that student remain in the housing?

[GailV]

Dd hopes to live in a house off campus next spring (she'll be overseas for fall semester).  Typically students have to spend their first 2 years in the dorms, but she thinks she can use her DE credits to argue that she should have the same latitude as the transfer students -- it's a small school, so the powers that be are a little more open to considering individual cases.

The cost will be about the same, I think.  She dislikes the dorm food, and wants to have a kitchen. Her dorm roommate moved out during the 2nd week of school, so, honestly, she's had a pretty cushy dorm situation so far.

The house she's considering is very close to campus.  It's considered one of the "department houses" -- usually lived in by students in her department.  She's been invited by the student who has that house's authority to invite other students. Most of the houses like this have room for 5 or 6 kids; they share in the house rent and utilities, negotiate who purchases toilet paper and who cleans the kitchen, etc.  

Then when they graduate, groups of students move to NYC or Chicago, and rent apartments together, pretty much doing the same sort of thing as they did in the houses, now that I think about it -- older DD was in a house for 2 years, then graduated and moved to Brooklyn with one of her housemates, plus a student from another house, and a random person they picked up along the way, and they're still having "house meetings" to figure out how to handle purchasing the toilet paper and dish soap (last I heard it was an Amazon subscription).  These days she rarely posts sink-shaming pictures of the dirty dishes left by roommates, so I assume everyone is getting a little more mature now that they're out in the real world ....

It's easier to navigate since we've been through the entire thing with an older student.

[Bambam]

Both my girls will have to live in campus housing for their first two years. School now requires students to live on campus as freshmen and sophomores unless they live within a 50 mile radius of schools. I'm used to the requirement for freshmen but not for sophomores! Oldest now lives in a house that has been broken up into apartments. Last dorm setup was shared kitchen/living room, individual bed/baths. We sent a skillet, a couple of pots, mixing bowl, mixing utensils, misc plates, bowls, cups, flatware - never expecting to get any of it back. Rooms were furnished with beds, desk, couch, chairs. Everything else you provided. 

She had a lot of it left when she moved to her house-partitioned apartment (having a yard was very important for her).  She found a roll-up type bed thing on Amazon (think like a very thick yoga mat) and wanted it so we got it. We sent our patio table (small) and two chairs. She has went to garage sales/estate sales/thrift shops to find the other stuff she needed.

Non-dorm living was much cheaper - mostly due to the fact there was no school-required outrageously priced meal plan.

[ThisIsTheDay]

On 3/13/2019 at 4:05 PM, Chris in VA said:

And if so, could you talk about what their situation will be, and what you feel they will need? Kitchen stuff? How many roommies? Is it more expensive? Are you still doing some sort of meal plan? 

Dd's situation--She will be in a quad apartment where each girl gets their own walk in closet, bathroom and bedroom, and there is a common livingroom and a kitchen. It's furnished, but IDK about dishes and such in the kitchen. She gets a large closet because she will have her cat (very excited about that). It doesn't cost as much as the dorm room, either, but it's slightly farther away (she is on the edge of campus as it is, and has a 15-20 minute walk to class , or a short bus ride, right now). She does have a car, which makes it easier (can't really park it near the dorm now, so it is just used to come "home" and to shop, at the moment). 

And, what made you decide to not have your kid live in the dorms a second year (or what made them decide and you supported it)....

 

It sounds like your dd already knows her roommates, so perhaps they can discuss the kitchen situation, if they will share dishes/bakeware/utensils, etc or if everyone will have what suits them.

My son goes to a very large urban university and wasn't eligible for on campus housing, as he transferred in as a junior after CC. (Chris, we talked about our kids' schools last year, I think I remember where your dd goes.) In my son's case, there are several off campus options owned by private companies but run like dorms--roommate matching, individual leases, etc.  He shares a 4bed/4ba with three other guys. It is a bit more expensive than living in school housing, mostly because they have their own bathrooms and a washer/dryer in the apt, and they have very cool amenities (that really no one uses). I would not pay for a meal plan--we bring him frozen food frequently, and he's two blocks from a large chain grocery store, so it's easy for him to prepare his own food. We pieced together what he would need, dishes, glassware, pots/pans, silverware, baking things, coffeemaker, crockpot, from Goodwill, Walmart, and extras we had at home.

Like on campus housing, his rent includes bedroom/dining & living room furnishings, all utilities, high speed internet, cable tv, security guard, plus it has all of the key card precautions to enter the building and elevator. It is really a swanky place, and we've told him he can expect to not live in such a nice place again for a long time! He has already signed a lease in the same building with two of his three roommates to live together next year (fourth roommate is graduating). He does not have a car; his building is on the edge of the campus, and he walks about 10 mins to most of his classes. (Cars on campus or in big cities mean paying $$$ for parking, so it wasn't even an option really.)

My daughter went to a different school and lived on campus all four years. For the last three years, she lived in apartment style housing on campus, with a full kitchen/living/dining plus individual bedrooms and bathrooms shared by 2 or 4 girls. It was several thousand dollars more than her freshman dorms BUT she was no longer on a meal plan, so we saved $4000 a year by skipping that and instead brought up much prepared food for her and she cooked her own meals. (The meal plan had been a terrible fit for her.) She had all of her own kitchen items (as did everyone else). She never had the same roommates, preferring each year to pair up with a random person and find two other people.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Dd doesn't know what she will end up with next year.  Her school requires living on campus for 2 years.  She and 2 other girls applied for a campus apartment, but they don't know if they will get that or be in the dorms.  Sophomores get last pick of living situations so it is less likely that they will get the apartment.  Either way, she will still have to have a meal plan, but it is scaled back for apartment living (flex dollars.) 

When ds lived in a college owned apartment, he did get a meal plan since he doesn't like to cook, but I think it was one meal a day plus some flex.    

[Chris in VA]

17 hours ago, dirty ethel rackham said:

Dd doesn't know what she will end up with next year.  Her school requires living on campus for 2 years.  She and 2 other girls applied for a campus apartment, but they don't know if they will get that or be in the dorms.  Sophomores get last pick of living situations so it is less likely that they will get the apartment.  Either way, she will still have to have a meal plan, but it is scaled back for apartment living (flex dollars.) 

When ds lived in a college owned apartment, he did get a meal plan since he doesn't like to cook, but I think it was one meal a day plus some flex.    

Gosh, at dd's uni, they all have to decide NEXT year's living arrangements by OCTOBER of the previous year--isn't that weird? But they really want sophomores to stay on campus, so they actually get FIRST choice. (There are some Freshman-only dorms--sophies can't choose those, of course.) 

AFA meal plan, yeah, I am thinking maybe a 10 meal option, so that she can get lunch or dinner on campus instead of having to pack or go back to the apartment--she often has a late class or a day where she goes all day and running home is hard. Also, if they don't use the week's meals, they can get, I think, 8 bucks a meal to spend at this little store-like food place--like, it's ala carte, and they have fruit and vegs, baked goods, and some packaged chips and things. She's done that this year. She doesn't eat breakfast on campus because it is difficult to find dairy-free breakfast foods. 

[KarenNC]

Mine is going from a traditional double dorm room with bathroom down the hall to an on-campus apartment. She'll be sharing with three others, one she knows and the other two they think will likely be freshmen, as they haven't been assigned yet. The school lost a substantial amount of housing due to the hurricane (a set of apartments had to be torn down a year earlier than expected) so things are a bit jumbled. She's excited that she'll have her own bedroom with a *door she can close*! 🙂 They'll have a shared common room with couch and chairs as well as a full kitchen, so we're going with a meal plan the first semester that works out to about 5 meals per week but can be added on to if needed. We can re-evaluate for the spring. She and the known roommate won't have cars, but they do have friends with cars and there's a shuttle that includes a local grocery store. 

It's about $1k more expensive per semester but hopefully some of that will be offset by lower overall food costs and not having to rent a microfridge. She's already eating some of her meals in her room even with the required unlimited meal plan for freshmen. I'm anticipating primarily having to send a few more kitchen items, since the bed size is the same. We've been decluttering our kitchen and putting things aside for her "moving out hope chest" anyway, supplementing with thrift store finds, so I expect a lot will come from that. I like the safety net of on-campus living still at this point. 

[katilac]

On 3/14/2019 at 11:36 AM, Bootsie said:

One of the main questions I have had as my children have discussed moving into apartment style living is whether these apartments are part of university housing.  Is there a lease for a particular room or is there an apartment lease that all roommates are equally responsible for?  What happens if one of the four does not return to the university?  Will someone randomly be placed in the room or do the existing roommates have a say in who will be in the room?   What happens if one of the students withdraws during the semester--can that student remain in the housing?

 

That varies by school and apartment. My youngest's school does have apartments that are part of university housing. More common is university affiliated, which generally means that the university worked with them to develop housing and agreements but the housing is owned and operated by a third party. The university will not intervene in roommate issues, tenant complaints, and so on. The lease is usually for your own room with affiliated housing, so you are not responsible for someone else leaving early - but you do share responsibility for any damages done to common areas. If the residents have someone at the ready to fill a vacant spot, they are usually fine with that. If they don't, some places may do a roommate match kind of thing while others simply insert the next person on the waiting list. You need to check the particular agreement for that kind of details. 

On 3/13/2019 at 3:05 PM, Chris in VA said:

 She gets a large closet because she will have her cat (very excited about that). It doesn't cost as much as the dorm room, either, but it's slightly farther away (she is on the edge of campus as it is, and has a 15-20 minute walk to class , or a short bus ride, right now). She does have a car, which makes it easier (can't really park it near the dorm now, so it is just used to come "home" and to shop, at the moment). 

 

She needs to ask fellow students about the parking situation, if it's actually realistic or a time-saver to drive to campus and find a parking spot. Not being able to park near the dorm when she lives in the dorm does not bode well for a good parking situation, lol. Even if her usual spot is closer to her classes, it might be much harder to get a spot when she's driving in for a morning class. At one of my dds' schools, there's no problem finding a spot for an eight o'clock class. It's a lot fuller by nine o'clock but you can usually find something. The lots are packed after nine and there may be no spots available, meaning you park off-campus or arrive way before your classes begin. 

My oldest will be in the dorms all four years because she has a housing scholarship. My freshman will remain in the dorms next year and there's a good chance she will stay there. There are university apartments but they are more expensive (so she would have to pay the difference) and I do like the extra layers of security in the dorm housing. The school is bounded by single-residence neighborhoods on three sides and a lakefront on the fourth side, so there aren't really any other options nearby.  

They don't have cars, so any discussion of being off-campus is purely theoretical at the moment, lol. 

[Chris in VA]

@katilac Oh, it's not because of a lack of spaces. She couldn't park close in  this year because her freshman exemption (because we are out of the country and she needs a car) put her in one of the farthest lots. All parking on campus is by permit, even for visitors. Next year she will be permitted to park in the garages and other lots, close to her classes, and of course her parking spot at the apartment is right in front of her home. The only reason she got a car at all was because we aren't there to use it .😁 As it is, our cars leave much to be desired--although in great working condition,  hers is a 2003. And mine is a 2003 minivan!

I was surprised that there aren't on street free spaces there, but being by permit does mean you can a space pretty easily. Good point, though, at many other schools.