How important is 4 years of campus housing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with off campus housing is if your kid does study abroad. My DD and her three roommates were all gone for the spring semester and couldn’t find any subletters, so we ended up paying for 12 months of rent when the girls actually lived in their apartment from late August to mid December. It was aggravating.

You would still pay for on campus housing (room and board) whether you're abroad for a semester or not, no? And a meal plan too, right?

At my university (when I attended) students did NOT pay for room or board at the main campus while taking a semester abroad.

The university might assign/rent the overseas student's previous dorm room to someone else, of course. Returning students had no difficulty getting university housing on their return to main campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a rising Freshman and I was a little worried about it when we toured South Carolina. My son isn't much of partier and probably isn't interested in joining a fraternity. At South Carolina, most sophomores live off campus. We were aware of the housing time frame but didn't bring it up or make it a big deal. I think most state schools have the same housing issue.

Same reaction. They try to spin it that “sophomores can live on campus,” but when we pressed the tour guide, she admitted it’s almost always honors college students and athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was important to me since paying for room for 9 months is cheaper than a yearlong rental.

Unless the cost of that 9 month dorm room is jacked up to equal or exceed the cost of an off-campus 12 mo. lease.

That is how it is at the ones we looked at though it is actually the opposite--the university has pushed hard to get the adjacent dorm-like apartments to stay reasonable.

Parents should do due diligence and investigate off campus options at schools that do not provide 4 yrs, or those such as UVA which provide it but the vast majority of students only stay on campus one year.
Costs are upwards of $2500 per month per person for a single bedroom and shared LR, and still require a car at many universities. We have students at two different ivies and the off campus housing options, common for seniors, walkable or next door to the school, are $1200-1700 per person per month for separate bedroom units. It is the same or cheaper per month than dorms. Many high-endowment schools heavily influence local prices and keep them reasonable. I used to live in Palo Alto and Stanford did the same, close options technically off campus yet reasonable compared to palo alto rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with off campus housing is if your kid does study abroad. My DD and her three roommates were all gone for the spring semester and couldn’t find any subletters, so we ended up paying for 12 months of rent when the girls actually lived in their apartment from late August to mid December. It was aggravating.

You would still pay for on campus housing (room and board) whether you're abroad for a semester or not, no? And a meal plan too, right?

At my university (when I attended) students did NOT pay for room or board at the main campus while taking a semester abroad.

The university might assign/rent the overseas student's previous dorm room to someone else, of course. Returning students had no difficulty getting university housing on their return to main campus.

That is how it is currently for campus housing, if you go abroad you do NOT pay for the dorm nor food, and you have a dorm spot for the other semester. We just went through this. Almost all her friends at various schools who traveled abroad junior year were the same. The off campus kids had to sublet which is easy at some schools(you swap with others going abroad the opposite semester), not at others.