“If they won’t let you do any of the above, just tell the landlord you won’t be showing up. What are they going to do, sue you? They’re legally obligated to look for other renters anyways.”
Well… yeah they could sue. I own a rental property and if someone signed a lease and didn’t show up, they are legally obligated to pay rent until I find a new tenant. At the very least I would file an incident with the credit reporting bureaus and if the amount in arrears ran into the thousands then yes, I would sue.
That said, I would try to get out of the off-campus lease first. As stated above you’ll be on the hook for rent until they find a new tenant, but that will probably happen pretty quickly in a college area. I also suspect the off-campus property owner will be more flexible and easier to work with than a university housing office.