<p>My daughter is a freshman at CMU and is adamant about moving off campus to a house on Beeler with 3 of her friends (all design students).</p>
<p>I am very concerned about this for a few reasons:
1. The added responsibility
a. Making sure the rent & utilities getting paid on time.
b. Shopping and cooking
3. Potentially less interaction with on campus activities
4. Losing the option of ever coming back to on-campus housing</p>
<p>Her work load is pretty high and though she will get used to it next year, it still seems like a lot of responsibility. I didn't move off campus until my junior year, but this was a long time ago and at the University of Maryland.</p>
<p>My daughter lives in “off campus” housing that is administered by the University. (They basically sublet it). The “rent” is paid directly to the University, so there is no problem with one roommate not coughing up monthly rent and everyone else scrambling to cover. Always nice if one roommate tends to be more flaky than another… They have their own kitchen, so they cook and shop for food. This is a big savings over the dining plan, plus my daughter is a vegetarian and the campus options for that were seriously lacking.</p>
<p>The walk to campus is about 10-15 minutes but it’s on a route filled with people, so my daughter feels safe. It is also serviced by the campus shuttle and campus security, which has some advantage. It has good proximity to where you pick up the city bus, which enables them to get to a good sized food store as well as for the occasional trip to the Waterfront shopping area.</p>
<p>My daughter has considered the savings of a totally off campus place but one of the issues is the summer lease. There was also an issue with a roommate this year who had to leave school and with a regular apartment, dealing with that would have been far more difficult and potentially costly. They did find someone to assume the room obligation in their campus controlled housing. If they had been unable to do so, they would not be on the hook for the additional rent. </p>
<p>Perhaps a set up like that would be a happy medium - with some level of autonomy for cooking and being “off” campus but not so totally off the university grid?</p>
<p>I’d recommend off campus as long as she’s really good friends with the people she plans to live with. Having just finished one semester with these people, though, it may not be the best idea to try and commit to paying rent/utilities as a group so soon. </p>
<p>I technically live in Fairfax, but my boyfriend has an apartment in Squirrel Hill, so I basically live there. Living off campus is a lot of fun, and isn’t lonely, honestly - many upperclassmen I know live off campus in that same area, so it’s easy to meet people on Murray Ave for dinner or something and then head home from there. Like the other poster above me said, there are shuttles and buses that are free for students, so it’s pretty easy to get back and forth. It takes me maybe 20-30 minutes to get to school every morning from Squirrel Hill, which is only slightly more time than it takes walking from Fairfax to campus.</p>
<p>Paying rent and utilities isn’t a big deal. Neither is buying groceries. She’ll be doing that after freshman year anyways, unless she’s staying on the meal plan (but all of her friends will be off it, so… probably a bad idea). </p>
<p>I do agree with ColorMaven in that the University is really cool about handling issues for you when you live in an off campus apartment that is CMU owned. I started off this year living with one of my friends in Fairfax, but she had a medical issue and had to take the semester off. I did not have to incur any more costs, and the university automatically found a new roommate for me. Had we been living in an off-campus apartment that wasn’t CMU owned, it would have sucked a lot more to deal with that.</p>
<p>So my advice: go off campus for junior year once you’re certain you know who you want to live with. Before that… try out Fairfax or Shady Oak first. They’re nice places, they’re large and roomy, and there’s no reason not to use them as a “trial run” for leaving the housing system.</p>
<p>Also have your daughter keep in mind that once she leaves university housing, it’s almost impossible to get back in. So unless someone wants to pull her into a suite, she’ll be stuck off-campus for the next 3 years even if she ends up hating it.</p>
<p>kat is correct. If you lived off campus apartment that is also leased by CMU, the life is good. All of those apartments are on CMU bus route, and buses run very frequently (24/7). Our son (not under grad) lives in Fairfax. Fairfax is the most ideal and safest place to live. It is between UPit and CMU, it is always buzzing with kids. He comes home @ 2 or 3 in the morning. It is on a city bus route. Eating places and shopping are also walking distance. From airport to Fairfax is basically a door-to-door service (CMU kids ride free). Although, it is bit expensive property - it is worth it.</p>