We all hate the housing lottery. Tension and emotions run high. We all have a dream that once we move off campus — if we are lucky enough to get permission — life will magically get better. But though there are many great things about moving off campus, it’s not as easy as we want to believe.
As someone who can still enjoy the perks of a dorm room but has the next year of living off campus to look forward to, I find myself evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of off-campus life. It’s true that many things will change for the better once I move, but I have also come to appreciate how much easier living on campus can be.
At Brown, we are — supposedly — guaranteed on-campus housing for all four years. About 79 percent of undergraduates live on campus. The selection process for living off campus means that sometimes where we live is out of our control, but it also means that we can take advantage of the comfort of living on campus for longer.
It’s true that on the whole, living off campus is cheaper. On average, students pay $7,200 for rooming at Brown, while my cost of living off campus next year — with a summer subletter — is about $2,000 less. Additionally, living off campus means students can pick the location and the temperature of their houses. Students have their own kitchens and are guaranteed a living room. More than anything, though, moving off campus can be construed as the first step into “the real world.”
For starters, the process of finding a house can be much more stressful than the housing lottery. It works on a first-come basis, yet depending on the number of people you want to live with, you have to find a house big enough that pleases everyone. The process of picking rooms can also be stressful if not everyone in the group is in accordance with what should be done. This means that choosing where you are going to live off campus can be just as stressful as the housing lottery. And given that the Office of Residential Life is trying to ameliorate the difficulties of selecting housing on campus, this will likely improve for those who decide to stay in University housing.
While Brown dorms aren’t the newest out there, they are not decrepit. Some of the off-campus houses have been around for years, and most haven’t been renovated recently. While Brown Facilities workers ensure that all rooms and buildings are in decent condition, nothing prevents landlords from refusing to repaint the walls, fix the creaky stairs or clean the trash-filled basement. We mostly like to complain — because that’s what college students do best — but in reality, our dorms are more spacious than those at many other schools.
After graduation, we will all have enough time to live in houses of our own. As students, we should appreciate the ease and comfort of living in dorm rooms. The biggest stress we face when we choose to stay on campus is finding a housing group and handling the results of the housing lottery. Once that’s over, there is not much else that can go wrong. While we don’t always get to live in the exact location we want to, we often don’t have to worry about cleaning a bathroom or a kitchen. We mostly don’t have to worry about strange people coming into our home — assuming students are being responsible. We don’t have to worry about paying bills or forgetting to pay them.
Living off campus can increase stresses we don’t experience living on campus. In dorms, Facilities is always available to fix the shower or the heat — even if they aren’t available on the same day. On the other hand, landlords aren’t always as available or willing to fix problems immediately. What happens if a washing machine breaks on campus? You use one of the other ones available. What happens if your washing machine breaks off campus? You wear dirty laundry for a while or carry your clothes to another location to wash them.
I am excited to move off campus and am not arguing that students should not live off campus. The experience of living outside of a dorm room can help students grow and prepare them for adulthood. At the same time, however, Brown students live under a pretense that things become easier when we choose to move off campus. In reality, they don’t.
The most important part of the housing process is keeping things in perspective. We all need to learn how to appreciate the things we have when we have them, and know that everything comes in due time. With a little bit of creativity, a dorm room can feel like as much of a home as a house can.
Sami Isman ’15 can’t wait to move off campus, but she will definitely miss her dorm.
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