<p>Interesting piece in Boston Globe about housing numbers at Northeastern</p>
<p>thats interesting</p>
<p>That is just the mayor and city council trying to shake down the university for more money. Northeastern has no intention of increasing the size of the freshman class which has been steady for 15 years at about 2800 students. The increase in enrolment is due to high student retention. </p>
<p>Northeastern will continue to build residences once the recession eases.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, this is only your introduction to Boston politics!</p>
<p>Eh. Not really surprising. If I were a resident in nearby neighborhoods, I wouldn’t like NU students either. Mission Hill used to be an affordable option for families who wanted to live in the city–and there are still families living there who have to deal with rising prices and being surrounded by loud college kids.</p>
<p>I don’t think the problem is NU’s lack of housing. There are a lot of reasons why people move off-campus to neighborhoods like Fenway and the Hill, and lack of available housing isn’t really one of them. First of all, on-campus housing is substantially more expensive than off-campus. The cheapest housing you’ll find on campus is a shared bedroom in an economy apartment, which still comes out to be about $900 a month. That’s what I payed to live in leased property, where I had little sunlight but plenty of friendly mice, and still had to pay for my own internet/cable.</p>
<p>I moved off-campus to get away from the price and dorm restrictions. Hated getting kicked out of dorms right after finals and the two-weekish periods where I had nowhere to live between “session”. Don’t need an RA. Don’t need limits on how much alcohol I can have in my apartment as a 21-year-old. Don’t need that awful furniture.</p>
<p>On top of that, real neighborhoods have a lot of character. Mission hill has great bars, good restaurants, parks, and apartments with more space. It’s been massively gentrified over the past 5ish years, and that’s might not be a good thing, but a lot of students really love living up there.</p>
<p>Availability isn’t the issue. It’s the lack of affordable housing, lack of independence on-campus, and the limited options that gets people out of dorms.</p>
<p>I am living in the same exact room I lived in freshman year but one floor above. I’m currently a middler. The cost of my housing has gone up from $900/month to $1200/month. Because of this, I’m looking at apartments on Mission Hill where I can pay $750/month and have hardwood floors, 2 balconies, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and recently renovated bathrooms. And I can get a dog.</p>
<p>I wonder how many of NEU’s students in any given semester are actually not even in Boston because they are doing co-ops elsewhere?</p>