It seems more and more schools, especially in the south are having housing issues. I am wondering if South Carolina has issues getting housing on campus for freshman and moving forward, if it is relatively easy to find off campus housing for future years. Is this one of those school where if you do not pay a housing deposit right when you are admitted you will not find housing?
Thankfully South Carolina has not gone the way of UT Knoxville. Plenty of housing for freshmen, plenty of off campus housing for everyone else (some upper classman on campus housing, but a lot of it is either fully reserved for honors kids or booked by Honors kids because they get first dibs). Rent in off campus housing in the student apt complexes are a bell curve: rents start lower when they become available to lease in the fall, they rise through the Spring, and then go down/are incentivized in late Spring/summer for unleased bedrooms. So it just depends on how picky you are about location and roommates, but you absolutely can find a place to live. Closest/nicest are most expensive of course, but there are places for all reasonable budgets.
My daughter is a junior and her freshman year they went by the date you actually sent your commitment to the university, not the day you sent the housing deposit. But it’s still not that big of a deal because she waited to pay the deposit until scholarships were out and she still had a first day pick.
2 Likes
Great to hear. Auburn, Bama and UTK all sound like horrendous stress-inducing nightmares, especially for kids who are trying to decide which school to pick. S24 was admitted to Auburn and Bama so far (loves both), waiting to hear from UTK and South Carolina so isn’t ready to commit yet. And of course we are stressed that if he doesn’t deposit now he will be SOL for housing. And Bama requires the students actually enroll, not just pay a housing deposit. It is a lot.
Not sure about the schools mentioned but housing deposits can be refunded. Send early to hold a spot and refund if circumstances change.
My daughter didn’t commit until last January, and still got a great dorm. She ruled out Bama because if the housing—by the time she was ready to decide on a college, it was too late for good housing at Bama.
Can you give an average cost of what your daughter’s rent is? We’re trying to compare costs between several schools and one of the things that I’m trying to show my daughter is what costs will be after she’s in the dorm freshman year. Some schools the off campus apartments are $1500 per month which I think is high. My D21 pays $700 per month for her apartment. I know it can be a big range, but hoping for a little insight to help my daughter with her decision. Thanks!
When I was looking (my daughter was also HS class of 2021, so late fall/early spring 2022), for a 4BR, the closest walking distance apartments were: $660 (unfurnished), $895 (unfurnished), $880, $759, $840-935, 965+, $650-700 - these are each different complexes (I have a spreadsheet). There are also houses, but the rental cycle for them is different than apartments, so if you don’t know anyone who is giving up their house, it’s uncomfortable to get one for sophomore year unless you are willing to wait until March when the leases start being available, but a lot of kids just get too nervous to wait.
My daughter chose to move across the river to a student complex with a shuttle (under a 10 minute ride to campus) and has paid $590/month all in (no extra for utilities) for the last two years and for next year as well.
I have not been closely watching the rates since my daughter keeps renewing, but they are constantly building new complexes and her complex obviously doesn’t feel like the market will bear raising the rent. Basically, the fancier the complex, the higher the rent, but you can still find reasonable rents within walking distance, and if you have a car or don’t mind a quick shuttle/ cheap uber if after hours, you can save quite a bit.