<p>So, my 22 year old son is deciding between these options</p>
<ul>
<li><p>$3,900 per semester University apartment - all bills paid, internet, furniture, one-bedroom</p></li>
<li><p>$450 a month non-University apartment - maybe water paid, possibly internet available, furniture, shared with 3 -4 people, but with own bedroom and bathroom</p></li>
</ul>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>You can buy a lot of internet service and pay heating bills with the $3,000 difference for ten months, and you are not kicked out of your living space for vacations or the end of the year. You do have to deal with other people and their drama.</p>
<p>is this an undergrad or grad student?question is based on age of 22yrs.
It makes a big difference b/c grad housing will be different from undergrad…no moving out for holiday periods,etc.
D went with independent housing for grad school b/c of the quality and location of the grad housing at her University . It made her first grad year a little lonelier at first since she wasnt surrounded by other grad students. She wanted to live alone by the way and her location made that financially feasible.</p>
<p>He is an undergrad, but he will not have to move out during breaks, according their website.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your reply.</p>
<p>The non-univ apt, will he know the other people or is it one of these places where you rent your “room” and the other people rent theirs, but each has a separate lease? D1 has rented a regular 3 br apt with friends (all on the same lease) and she has a friend in another state who has rented a “student apt” where she shares with strangers and each has their own lease. Pros and cons either way. Eventually you know the strangers, but do they become friends? Or do you wind up hiding out in your br, with the common areas intolerable? In the student apt each br had a separately locked door so you could have security from the roomates. In the private apt situation, you always have the possibility that one roomate will leave before the lease is up and stick the others with the rent, so there is the mad scramble for a replacement roomate. Cost of utilities varies from month to month and creates an issue sometimes with the roomies. Like the girl who turned off the a/c when she went to work in the summer and the apt was 90 degrees when the others came home. It costs more to bring that down to 72 than if you’d left it at 78 or 80 during the day, but they couldn’t convince the other one. It all worked out, but these are some issues. If you are sharing with good friends, that’s usually better than strangers, but I have seen it done both ways. Depends on what you’re comfortable with.</p>
<p>Our son moved to an off campus apartment soph year and it was great for him. He saved about $4000/yr in room/board and had a place to stay 365 day/year. One summer he was doing summer research with one of his profs and the apartment was there for him.</p>
<p>In addition he learned the joys of housekeeping(sort of), grocery shopping, cooking, paying monthly bills, and other minutia of adult life.</p>
<p>Our son is in a private apartment - we couldn’t get dorm space. Some comments based on our experience:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>A lot of university students live like pigs. I did look at a few places, some occupied, some not, and was disgusted with how some of these kids live. Because of this, the landlords aren’t always willing to keep the properties well maintained.</p></li>
<li><p>Make sure the building is up to code. CO and fire detectors, working alternate exits. Sprinkler system a big plus. Check the crime statistics for the area and building and the security for the building.</p></li>
<li><p>How far away from the campus is it? If it’s right on the campus, the student can use it as a book repository between morning and afternoon classes. Life is easier when it rains or snows. If it’s far away, a bus or train ride can take a while and a car usually means parking issues.</p></li>
<li><p>Is it convenient to food, groceries and laundry?</p></li>
<li><p>What do you do with trash? If there’s a chute or dumpster, things are probably easy. If someone has to take it out on the sidewalk at 6:00 in the morning, then someone needs to do that regularly.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Our son’s apartment is for non-undergraduates only. I managed to get our son into the place after meeting with the management of the property management company. Above him are two male grad students. In the adjacent building, there’s four female grad students and a single guy. Only have the units are occupied. The place was empty for about six months before they rented to us. Basically they’d rather leave the units empty than have bad tenants.</p>
<p>Does the university apartment have security of any kind? The private apartment probably will not. If the school is in an urban area security of some kind is a consideration and IMO is worth spending extra money.</p>