College Housing Decisions: Moving Off-Campus

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As your freshman spring semester draws to a close, you will face one of the biggest decisions of freshman year - and one of the decisions that is likely to have a significant impact on the rest of your college career: where and with whom you are going to live next year.

For students moving into a fraternity or sorority house next year, this choice is not a choice at all, as both your accommodations and your roommates have been decided for you. Similarly, for those of you attending colleges where rooming on campus is mandatory until the junior or senior year, the choice is easier. At a great many colleges and universities, however, students have the option to move off-campus after their freshman year - and this is where the choice becomes considerably more difficult.

How do you make this important decision?

On Or Off Campus?

There are a few factors to take into consideration when you are trying to decide whether to live on campus or off. As the two experiences can be radically different from one another, it pays to do a bit of research on this issue up front.

Majority Rules

The first thing to consider is what choice predominates on your college campus. Do most students live on campus in dorms, or off-campus in the surrounding community? Remembering that ready exposure to other students both in class and around campus is one of the most important parts of college, you are generally safe following the trend of the majority on your campus. If almost everyone stays on campus, you should too. If many or most students move off-campus and into the surrounding neighborhoods after freshman year, then there is less holding you to the campus, and you should feel free to join the exodus yourself.

Financial Aid

You should also consider what your financial aid package will cover. If you are getting an allotment for room and board, does this allotment require that you live on campus, or is it transferable to off-campus housing? Be sure to get a definitive answer to this question before you commit to moving off-campus. You will also want to check with your college or university to determine whether you will still be eligible for some iteration of the campus meal plan (if you want it) if you move off-campus, and whether or not you will be required to pay a premium for this privilege because you are not also living on campus. Do the math and figure out if the economics make sense.

Living Conditions

The advantages and disadvantages of living off-campus are very dependent on your particular college or university. At some schools, on-campus housing is expensive and overcrowded, in which case there can be a distinct financial and comfort advantage to finding an apartment just off campus to share with a few friends. In other cases, off-campus housing can be very expensive and no more spacious than that available on campus, in which case the hassle of having an absentee landlord responsible for your maintenance issues may not be worth it.

Legal Considerations

Obviously, living off-campus frees you from any rules governing conduct in your dorm rooms. It does not, however, free you from the rules of conduct of the university as a whole, as you are still a student no matter where you choose to live. Although you may be liberated from the watchful eye of a tyrannical RA or an overzealous campus police force, you will be trading in that oversight for the jurisdiction of the city or town police. Note well that campus police are often much more forgiving of lapses in judgment than the town or city police will be.