<p>Rent is very high in Boston and if you do want to live off-campus, you’re going to want to find a group of other people to live with. I would say that the average college student’s share of the rent is in the $700-$900 range, not including utilities (which can be negligible if you’re sharing the apartment with enough people).</p>
<p>I have to disagree, though, with the savings not being much. It will depend on your living arrangements, but living off campus can lead to substantial savings. Assuming that you’re getting nine months use (which is really overestimating it, as you don’t get to use your dorm during breaks and intercessions), rent comes to about $750 for a double in a dormitory. Not too terrible, but you can definitely do better. If you want a single in a dorm without a private bath, you’re paying almost $1k a month. What really tips the scales is the cost of food–the dining plan costs over $400 a month. While the food can be good, it certainly isn’t THAT good.</p>
<p>BU has many strengths–cost is not one of them, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Last yr my S paid 665 for his share of a 3 BR. This year his new apt. is 700 per student and there are three again. Both in Allston, right off campus, but this year they found a much nicer building. I’d say these are typical rents. Because he did not stay in Boston over the summer, the extra three months rent meant that it was actually a little more than the dorm. Some kids sublet for the summer or stay and do an internship which makes it more cost efficient.You can go on Craigs List-Boston or campuscribs.com and see pix of apartments with prices to get ideas, although the cheap student apartment ads don’t go up until April-Aug.so whats on there now are not the student type apartments.</p>
<p>As dogs implies, all leases in Boston run for a year, most from September through August, with the first day after Labor Day being traditionally “key day”. The streets are then full of moving vans. In other words, you may be able to sublet but odds are pretty good you’ll pay more months than the school year.</p>
<p>What concerts are you necessarily looking for?</p>
<p>If you are interested in classical music, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has a same day rush on certain days of the week (check the website at <a href=“http://www.bso.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.bso.com</a> for more details on this). Tickets are $8.</p>
<p>And if you are interested in all kinds of other music, Boston has plenty of venues that host concerts. The TD Banknorth Garden is a popular venue for more mainstream artists of today. Avalon, which is a dance club, sometimes has concerts. The Wang Center for the Arts recently had a James Taylor concert…this venue is more intimate (much smaller than the arena). Aretha Franklin also recently came to the Opera House in Boston.</p>
<p>Maybe this is a weird question, but what banks does BU have on campus?
I want to get an account all set up ASAP so that I don’t have to transfer money later or pay ATM fees and all that jazz.</p>
<p>The main banks in Boston are BofA and Citizens Bank. Sovereign is a lesser presence. You can find Citizens ATM’s and branches everywhere and BofA are a little less common.</p>