The beginning of the academic year might still be a recent memory, but many juniors have already committed to off-campus housing for next year, even though the off-campus permission process did not officially begin until Monday.
Although finding off-campus housing is notoriously stressful, many juniors this year report experiencing little drama. One frequently recommended strategy is to pursue students already living off campus who can put prospective tenants in touch with landlords. Asking around lets students "get a feel for what rent is like, what landlords are like" and gives students a better overall sense of what they will be getting into, said Harry Anastopulos '09.
But the search process is still "daunting," said Leah Rosenbaum '09. "There's pressure to get something good before it's all gone," she said.
Students begin signing leases as early as Sept. 1, which makes the entire process "more cut-throat," said Courtney Byrne-Mitchell '09.
One complicating factor is the high percentage of juniors studying abroad. Byrne-Mitchell is looking to live with six other students next year - five of whom are currently in Europe. For her group, the "hardest part (of searching) has been communication."
"With seven people, different people want different things," and having only two representatives from the group on College Hill is "stressful in itself," she said.
Studying abroad forces students to examine their options and make housing decisions far in advance. "I made some choices sophomore year about the environment I wanted to be in, talked with some friends and this year had a friend in Providence broker the deal for me," wrote Jacob Winkler '09, who is currently studying in Tokyo, in an e-mail to The Herald.
The prospect of studying abroad also affects some sophomores, as they look to secure off-campus housing for their junior years. "If we weren't going abroad next year, we wouldn't mind living on campus," said Maddie Wasser '10, "but the issue is that nothing is guaranteed." Wasser and her friends are planning to study abroad in the fall, which prevents them from securing housing through the housing lottery this spring.
But their decision is not so simple, because Wasser and her friends do not know if the Office of Residential Life will grant them off-campus permission as rising juniors. The online application to obtain off-campus permission became available yesterday and is available through next summer.
Though Wasser and her friends did locate off-campus housing, they said they were hesitant about putting down a deposit in case ResLife requires them to live in dorms. But they expressed worry that if ResLife grants them off-campus permission, by that time, "there will be almost no apartments and off-campus housing options left. Things get taken so quickly," Wasser said.
Nonetheless, they plan to apply for off-campus permission, but because so many off-campus options have already been leased, they are unsure of what to expect.
The overwhelming sentiment among students is that "it's never too early to start looking," Anastopulos said.
"Doing it earlier will make you happier" because it ensures finding housing that satisfies your expectations, said Darshan Patel '09.
Looking early is also a necessity if price is a concern. Though most students spend an equivalent amount of money living on or off campus, it is possible to save money by living off campus, and "the earlier (you start looking), the more ability you have to weigh the costs," Patel said.
Extraneous costs vary greatly among off-campus options. While some off-campus residences include parking spaces and laundry facilities, many students still have to pay additional fees. What adds up is "all the little things you don't think about," Rosenbaum said, including, among other things, utility and furnishing costs.
Distance strongly influences rent: the closer to campus, the steeper the price. "I would have liked to live closer, but it's monetarily less feasible," Byrne-Mitchell said.
But that doesn't mean students will be miles from the Main Green.
"I will be, in some cases, closer to my classes than when I lived on Pembroke," Patel said. As long as you are "proactive," he added, it is possible to live close to campus and still pay relatively low rent.
Though prices between on- and off-campus housing may be comparable, on-campus living offers less to many students. "If I lived in Young O(rchard Apartments), I would be living the same distance away, but the rooms are tiny ... and I would be dealing with accommodations that are not as nice. It just makes sense to live off campus," Anastopulos said. "I told myself I was going to live here all four years, but I'm sick of dealing with ResLife and Facilities."
Many students said they would choose to live off campus even if more apartment-style dorms were available - a construction project the University is considering.
"I always planned to live off campus as a senior," Rosenbaum said. "It's not that I don't like Brown housing per se, but there's something really nice about living in your own place."
One large incentive for students is "not wanting to be on meal plan and being able to have a nice kitchen," Byrne-Mitchell said. For students who cook, off-campus living is far less expensive, Patel said.
Students are also able to live in larger groups off campus, which is often impossible through the University's housing lottery. For Patel, finding off-campus housing was ultimately less complicated than the lottery, because fewer things "were up in the air." Byrne-Mitchell said she felt the same way, since her group of seven would have had a hard time finding on-campus housing together.
Though University officials have expressed concern about the separation from campus life that results from living off campus, many students said off-campus living provides a strong community environment. There are generally "hubs of off-campus Brown student activity ... where all houses are inhabited by Brown students," Anastopulos said. "It's a different kind of community."
But isolation from campus life is still a concern for some, and missing things like table slips at the Sharpe Refectory makes off-campus life a "step away from being at college," Byrne-Mitchell said.
And for most students, living off campus is "practice for living in the real world," Rosenbaum said.
