U Michigan and housing
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Anonymous
| Hi. There are many things to love about UMich and it’s one of two schools my DS is considering for for ED (yes, I know it’s decision time week). One thing that worries me is that UMich does not guarantee housing after freshman year. Are there any parents with students at UMich who can comment on how hard finding housing is off campus, what it’s like for a sophomore to live not in a dorm (which Resident assistants to help if needed, dorm activities for social bonding etc). |
Anonymous
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My daughter was a recipient of a Shipman Scholarship.
She and other Shipmans rented a house right near the north edge of main campus. It was a great set-up. A certain dad had to be financially responsible for all of the rent, but so be it. I might add that such houses are not easy to get. One of the house mates was a fifth generation Wolverine and her parents led us to the place their freshman year. So the housing situation is not easy. |
Anonymous
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The school has an off-campus housing office:
https://housing.umich.edu/off-campus-housing/ |
Anonymous
| Yet another reason not to pay private oos tuition for a large public school… |
Anonymous
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I am a Michigan grad school alum and my kid is a sophomore. We are in-staters. My kid is in the dorms for a second year.
The Ann Arbor real estate market has been moving towards the provision of fairly expensive but very nice new high-rise apartment "spaces" for upperclassmen. I say "spaces" because some are rentable at the bedroom level. There is also a new Michigan dorm complex coming online. And more private buildings being built right now (foundations going in - I was in Ann Arbor yesterday). Older housing in Ann Arbor near campus tends to be a bit ratty - small older apartment buildings and wood-framed houses. But whether a living space is acceptable mostly depends on your roommates anyway. I would say that if price is not a real concern, there is a place for everyone near campus in the end. The demand for expensive apartments frees up less glamorous accommodations at the lower end. Students who are very cash-strapped are able to find better prices by commuting in from nearby towns that are on bus lines (more similar to what people might do after college when getting a first job). Regarding not having an RA, to be blunt, I've never found an RA to be useful for any purpose. And I lived in undergrad dorms for 4 years at two other flagships. They may handle extreme situations with official backup but in general I have found them mainly to just be trying to minimize their educational expenses and not particularly concerned about fostering dorm floor community. I agree with the advice to look at the student housing website to see what interests you there. I guess the simplest summary is: finding housing is manageable. Because a huge fraction of undergraduates do manage it. And the real estate stock is being modernized and expanding. |
Anonymous
PP. When you get your first job, nobody babies you and you have to make a lot of decisions quickly regarding finding your own housing. I see this as training wheels for life. It may not be a luxurious housing procurement experience but it's very realistic. |
Anonymous
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DD is a sophomore at UMich now. Loves it and has found her tribe for sure. The girls did a lot of the leg work themselves and had certain requirements - not too expensive (~$1100/room) and not too far from campus. They ended up in a 7 bedroom rental home from Sandlewood Properties https://sandlewoodprop.com. The group in the home prior to DC had been there for 4 years and were graduating. Our group hasn’t really had any issues with the home or landlord. I have kids in other college towns and Ann Arbor didn’t seem terrible in terms of finding housing for sophomore.
For what it’s worth Ann Arbor implemented ordinances preventing landlords from asking existing tenants to renew prior to like 6 mos in advance. Meaning the housing inventory isn’t really known until like Feb for Aug leases. This seems to prevent some of the panic in other college towns that happens around Oct of freshmen year. |
Anonymous
| I’m still stuck on the fact that OP’s kid doesn’t know which school will be their ED on October 25th! |
Anonymous
NP. My kid just decided a couple of days ago. Had two top choices, did all the essays for both, visited one recently and took time to synthesize and decide which was the favorite. We set this weekend as the deadline for a decision. No reason to rush if the work is done. |
Anonymous
| 11:25. A number of students live in Ypsilanti to save money and like you said, use the bus lines. |
Anonymous
Most sophomores live in one of the several (inlcuding brand new) private residences that are either just north west of the quad or south east of the quad. From there, they usually form groups and get houses in Prospect park or Further out. They have to get on it early or work out arrangements with existing tenants to "pass the leases" on. |
Anonymous
| Back in my day, most kids wanted to live off campus after freshman or sophomore year. The ones that joined the Greek system typically moved in their sorority/fraternity house sophomore because there was a requirement to live in the house for at least one year. |
Anonymous
| My kid chose not to ED to Michigan bc didn’t want to live in a north campus. Make sure your kid is okay with that option of having to take a bus to central campus every day. |
Anonymous
This is true at Michigan but some of the good large publics are a much better value than Michigan. I’m thinking of UNC, FL and GA for instance. Much less expensive than private school. |
Anonymous
None of those are top 20 schools. All are a tier, or two, below Michigan. |