Auburn is now a contender for my son but we have not submitted a housing deposit. Does anyone know if he would have a chance of getting on campus housing? Where do the freshman who don’t get housing live?
My son began in fall 2013 and I know housing would have gone to a wait list by now. However, he lived off campus for the last 3 years (and does now in graduate school) and I wish I had done that to start with - there are lots of apartments, some are very old but it’s a great college community and the Tiger Transit stops at most of them.
My daughter submitted her housing application a week ago and yesterday we were told she’d be toward the end of the second round, probably limited to The Quad, the Hill, or Cambridge. I think the Quad housing is generally considered among the least desirable but it is in the center of campus so I think some freshmen like it. Housing also told us some rooms would probably become available as people decided to attend another school or shifted roommates.
Your son may be on the cusp. I can’t remember exactly what the story was but someone mentioned either that a round of transfer decisions is about to come out or that there’s a transfer event coming up (perhaps this weekend?) so that housing may get a little tighter soon. If I were you I’d call the housing office and ask directly.
The good news is that about 40% of freshmen live off campus and off-campus housing is both near the school and plentiful. If he wants something in a building within a short walk it will probably be a little more expensive, but some of the buildings are gorgeous. Unlike at a lot of schools with a central dining hall everyone uses, it seems Auburn students mostly buy their food at any of the plentiful restaurants or food trucks sprinkled around campus and in the community so being close to the dining halls doesn’t seem important. We didn’t even see a dining hall on the tour.
My daughter decided to go off campus for a few reasons. She’s planning to get involving in rush so she’s less worried about making friends in the dorm, the apartment building she’s signing a lease with (today-we’re currently on campus!) does roommate matching so she doesn’t have to come in with a roommate already, the apartment has 4 private rooms with a common room/kitchen that looks like a good hang-out area and that seemed to her like a better place to get to know her roommates than the dorms we saw where two doubles share a bath but the only common space is the dorm lounge. I’m sure she could get decent housing and a good roommate, but the uncertainty involved and the idea that she’d have to navigate the system and do much of it herself was a little intimidating. We went with a sure thing instead.
Adding-daughter will be about a block off campus, well within easy walking distance. Auburn has a website for kids looking for apartments. Be aware the “distance to campus” filter doesn’t really seem to work very well.
https://offcampushousing.auburn.edu
Daughter’s building has single rooms in a quad, each single with its own bathroom for $850-900/mo. or for $529/mo. a limited number of doubles within a suite with 3 other singles, each room with a bath. That second price is about the same as the cost of a quad room in the Village or South Donahue, a bit more expensive than the options your son would probably have for dorms at this point. This is a new building with all the bells and whistles so I’m sure you could find something cheaper in the neighborhood as well, particularly if he’s willing to move into a single in an already established suite or house. As @threeofthree mentioned, we heard a number of times that the Tiger Transit buses make frequent stops at all the apartment complexes and there’s an app to track when the next bus will be at your stop.
Sue22, That was very helpful. Thank you so much.
Just got off the phone with housing. I was told that housing is not full and that last year they were 98% so everyone that wanted on campus was able to get it.
Sue 22 - the Quad housing is one of the preferred dorms. it is an old style dorm in premier campus location. The upper quad houses honors and is a fantastic place for freshman. My son applied for housing in October and had his choice of honors housing, he chose the Quad over the Village which are the apartment style dorms. Too many kids shut their doors and lock themselves off…the Quad is truly a college dorm experience. After 1 year i should have let him ove off campus with buddies but I just wasn’t quite sure yet so I made him stay on campus a 2nd year - again, he chose the Quad. Girls may feel differently but don’t mix the Quad with the Hill - they are both old but very different. The Hill is the dorm that no one wanted to be in.
My son is enrolled at Auburn for next year. I took a quick peek and looks like there is still options available in the Hill as of today. Closer we get to 5/1 I and students make their final decisions, more will likely open up.