<p>Hi everyone. I'm moving to Buffalo to transfer to a college there this fall and i found a college housing that is 825 monthly and it includes EVERYTHING such as heat, water, cable, internet, transportation to school, gym and many amenities.</p>
<p>I'll be living in a single studio apartment and the price for 2 semesters would come out to a total of about $9K, which I will take out a loan for. If I live on campus, its going to be no more cheaper than this because you have to pay all the extra fees and meal options and stuff.
I think on and off campus will both come out to over $9K+...so i thought why not go somewhere where i'll have more options and amenities and plus more privacy, which i won't have in the dorms right?</p>
<p>Do you think it is reasonable? The price? Would you live here?</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any opinions. Please and thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this makes you feel any better, but housing is always expensive unless you have a lot of roommates and you split the rent. My situation is that my dorming is going to be a total of 12K for one year (meal plan included), my state & University grant & Cal Grant that I’ve received only covers dorming, and I’m taking out a loan for my tuition.</p>
<p>thanks for your answer.
Yeah with roommates it is cheaper, but im a private kind of person…even though i do want socialize as much as i can…but i need all the privacy when im studying, which i think would be hard to do so in the dorms and with roommates around all the time.</p>
<p>are you getting over 10K in grants? That is really amazing wow.</p>
<p>I personally really enjoyed the privacy of living off campus, but I would not do it if it was noticeably more expensive than a single in the dorms.</p>
<p>
Can you actually get a contract for 2 semesters, or do you have to sign a 12-month lease for the apartment? How much money did you budget for food? Do you like to cook or would you buy a meal plan for the campus eateries anyway?</p>
<p>Amenities like a gym don’t really matter because you’ll probably get a free membership to the university gym anyway. Unless you really dislike the university gym for some reason.</p>
<p>I have to sign a 12 month lease actually. I’m planning to take care of tuition and off campus budget with grants/loans…and i will get a part time job for my personal expenses like food. I have 2 years to graduate…so its going to come out to over $20K in total for tuition/off campus living by the end of 2 years but going to college isn’t a piece of cake and definitely not cheap at all right?</p>
<p>Im doing some calculations and comparisons.
A single dorm at buffalo state college is about 4260 per semester…so for 2 semesters the total is around $9,240, which does not include the meal option fees. So both are kinda equal. If i live in this place, its not really gonna be much cheaper or expensive than the single dorm. I could even save on food expenses by cooking at home.</p>
<p>im sorry i wrote a lot lol. I just really need opinions and advices. What would you do in this situation? Was it really nice to live off campus :)</p>
<p>Are there no other housing options in houses? The apartment you’re looking into looks a lot like the ones in my college town that are “college apartments” with the typical amenities that are much pricier than regular apartments or houses. I don’t know Buffalo so I don’t know if $825 is fine for a studio, but I paid around $650, including all utilities, for a studio where I live vs a “college apartment” studio where rent would be close to $1000. Again, I’m not familiar with Buffalo, but look at other off-campus housing that isn’t geared towards college students.</p>
<p>I mean, it depends on your market. I live in NYC and here, $825 for a studio would prompt the question “What’s wrong with it?” That kind of pricing is unheard of, and you can expect to pay at least $1100/month for a decent studio. So if you found a nice studio for that price, you’d have to get it that very day or it would be gone the next. But I don’t know the Buffalo rental market, so…not sure?</p>
<p>If you’re asking about living on v. off campus, there’s always a trade-off. Living off-campus brings privacy and a sense of detachment from the campus; you can drive in just for class and retreat to your private cocoon. You’re exempt from any silly housing rules that the campus may have (moving off-campus was popular at my women’s-only undergrad because we had rules about men in the residence halls that were straight from the 1950s). You have a permanent place over the summer, if you want to stick around in the area.</p>
<p>But the trade-offs are that unless you already have a strong friendship base, you may distance yourself from your friends in the res halls; you may waste a lot of time on transportation; you don’t have the protection of your housing network if something goes wrong (you lock yourself out, your toilet leaks, your next-door neighbor plays violin at 2 am); you have to prepare all of your own meals (this is a plus in my eyes, but some college kids won’t eat properly with this constraint), and other things I can’t think of right now.</p>
<p>@julliet, love your response. Very informative, thanks a lot.
The Buffalo market/city is obviously not quite as BIG as NYC but it is a large city with lots of things to do. </p>
<p>Off campus seems more ideal for me at the moment because like you said there are certain rules you have to follow in dorm living and certain fees you have to pay. And the meal options always seem like nonsense and the food isn’t always the best. So I have heard anyways.</p>
<p>So anyways, thanks a lot for all the responses. I think I will go with this place and see if I like it. Plus, i dont have to worry about not being able to socialize as this village place seems a good way to socialize with other students just like in the dorms.</p>
I sublet a room in a privately-owned apartment complex for college students once. Not a single person used the common areas to meet new people. Instead, people moved into the apartment complex with a group of friends and socialized with those friends exclusively. That was completely different from the dorms, where students were generally open to small talk with strangers.</p>
<p>Your place might be different. I just wanted to point out that the social dynamics off campus might be different from the social dynamics on campus because the two housing options attract different sorts of students.</p>
<p>I always thought dorming was such a scam, but it is really about the some price you would pay to live anywhere else (in most circumstances). I live in a really cheap part of America, so dorms are a little more expensive.</p>
<p>When you look at it, it is at least two people spending a good deal of money for a closet sized prison cell. My college is fairly okay with the price; $7000/school year for your dorm and meal plan. (Sadly, that’s what I make working 26 hours a week) That is pretty much a flat rate, but some people are getting the short end of the stick. There are three dorms: three person with an on-suite and a private common room, two person with a common room and a public bathroom (cr and br are shared with three other rooms), and a two or three person dorm with a public bathroom. The problem? Everyone pays the same rate!</p>
<p>One university that I looked at had the most ugliest, dirty, and spartan dorms. They were charging $8k/year with no meal plan. So stupid when you could rent a decent apartment with all the utilities and groceries for the same price (housing and food is pretty cheap where I live).</p>
<p>In Columbia, that’d be pretty expensive. I mean… that’s more than my parents pay on their mortgage per month (and I don’t live in some small one bedroom house).</p>
<p>I think most studios around here go for around $600-800 a month. But most people I know share an apartment (even if it’s two bedrooms/two bathrooms) and their rent is only around $500 or $600 a month. I have friends who are sharing an apartment next year and between the four of them, their rent is going to be $220 a month.</p>
<p>So yeah. It definitely varies from location to location.</p>
<p>thanks a lot the two above for ur answers. :)</p>
<p>This place is in Buffalo. It’s only about 9 minutes from the school (Buffalo State College). This place provides a free shuttle every day, which is one of the reasons why i chose it here instead of renting a regular off campus apartment.</p>
<p>It actually does sound expensive. When I first found this place, i thought it was very expensive but after thinking it through…its actually not that bad for a one person studio. I could share an apartment but if i wanted to live with others, i can go dorming instead. I really need all my privacy and personal space. </p>
<p>If If i went to a college in the city (NYC), studios are over 1+K per month.</p>
<p>825/mo is going to include everything that I needed besides food expenses, but i will get a job for that. I guess I’ll see how things turn out. College isn’t cheap. As long as I can get a job fast when I graduate, i can slowly pay my loans within a couple of years.</p>
<p>I also go to school in upstate New York (SUNY Binghamton), and for the market around me, that’s quite expensive. You can find much cheaper housing by searching for a non-“student living” apartment (in a home or a small apartment building). Try looking at the BufState student newspaper (they frequently have advertisements for off-campus housing). Local landlords are much cheaper than those corporatized student condo complexes, albeit less reliable. If you want the definite experience of living with other students, go live in the dorms, but otherwise get a regular apartment. It generally works out to be the same price, and you’ll have the convenience of living on campus. </p>
<p>And generally, schools either have a off-campus bus service or even work out a deal with public transportation to provide low cost or free ways to get to campus. Paying that much in rent just for that isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>Lastly, this is a detailed list of the amenities and stuff.</p>
<p>Features and Amenities
Apartment Design Conducive to Professional Students Study Demands
Gated Community with Courtesy Patrol
High Definition Movie Theater
High Tech Computer Lounge
Free Stand-Up Tanning
Multi-Function Study Rooms
Multi-Screen High Definition Gaming Center featuring XBOX 360’s
Shuffleboard and Pool Tables
Outdoor Grilling Stations
Wi-Fi in all Amenities Areas
Authentic Harwood Floors
Brand New Deluxe Furniture Package
Completely Modernized and Renovated
Individual Leases
Full Indoor Basketball Court
In Ground Pool
Off Street Parking</p>
<pre><code>Public Transportation
State Of the Art Fitness/Health Center
Luxurious Residence Club with Wii Gaming System
Time Warner Cable TV
Sundeck
Bedrooms with Private Baths
Free Internet/Cable
Serving All Grad, Undergrad & Professional Students
Sleek Kitchens/Modern Appliances
</code></pre>
<p>Floor Plan Features & Amenities:</p>
<pre><code>Washer/Dryer in Unit Apts
Central Air Conditioning
Courtyard
Dishwasher
Refrigerator
Window Coverings
Free Heat & Hot Water
Furnished Apartments
</code></pre>
<p>At USC (in Columbia- confusing, I know), that price would not be good. Student apartments that come with ALL of that stuff are still under that price range.</p>
<p>The market is different all over the country though. Why don’t you go on to Craig’s List and do some investigating or call a realtor and see what the local pricing should be?</p>
<p>We can sit here all day and give you advice, but almost none of us can give you any real answers because we all live in different economic areas of the country.</p>
<p>Take a look at all the dorming options. The school that I previously looked at was about $8K/year for a double, but they had an Arabic club with an Arabic speaking house with singles for $700/month. Super cheap and you have more privacy. That sounded a bit crazy, but I was planing on majoring in international business with a minor in some foreign language.</p>
<p>One other university that I looked at had older double occupancy dorms with a public bathroom. For the same price you could get into the brand spanking new dorms/suites that shared a common room and bath but had separate bedrooms (singles) that locked.</p>
<p>Anyway, talk with actual students and see what deals or steals you can get.</p>
<p>Son is at UBuffalo and is living in a one BR apt off campus this Fall. Paying about $850/month plus. You have lots more included, but a studio. Sounds like the average Buffalo price to me. Sharing an apt is always cheaper but difficult when you want quiet.</p>
