<p>My D has decided (yay!) to attend UD. We heard a lot during our visit that upperclassmen don't generally live on campus and I wanted to ask about that. I absolutely hate the idea of dealing with a landlord for her from several states away. In fact, I pretty much refuse to do it. How horrible would it really be for her to live on campus for 4 years?</p>
<p>I think about half do stay on campus. My son plans on staying on-campus for his sophomore year. I can’t predict beyond that.</p>
<p>Many of the off-campus housing is just as close to campus, if not closer than some of the dorm complexes. I lived off-campus my senior year and my daughter’s been living off-campus since her sophomore year (she’s in Boston). These off-campus areas where students tend to live, usually are geared for the usual off-campus student arrangement. One thing though, is the parents have to co-sign the lease. We made sure to get all the contact info for my daughter’s roommates’ parents as well just in case there were any issues. We also have the contact info for the landlord.</p>
<p>At this stage of the game, I wouldn’t even worry about it.</p>
<p>hmm I hear you. My daughter is a freshman now, so we’ve been dealing with the housing decision for next year. Intially she told me that a lot of kids were moving off campus next year, which I was adamant that she was not doing as a sophmore. Anyway she decided next year to live on Laird campus, and it seems to me that most sophmores still live on campus. However, I have a feeling that next year (junior year) many kids will live off campus. I really don’t want her to live off campus, and am hoping that enough kids will stay on campus junior year that we can at least squeak out one more year after next on campus. I presuming senior year she will live off campus and I guess I have a few years to worry about that.</p>
<p>Any input from others that have older kids? Do most kids move off campus by junior year? They have nice options for living up on Laird campus between the Towers and Indpendence Complex and I don’t see why its necessary to move off campus! Although I think I know the answer…by that point many want to be freed from the rules and regulations of living on campus.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>How do the finances work for off campus housing? Education loans aren’t possible for that, are they?</p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter - mine has loved it!
DD is a senior and has lived on campus all 4 years. This year she is in the Towers. She has friends who stayed on and others who moved off. As others have said, there is quite a bit of off campus housing that is closer to some parts of campus than dorms are. I think it’s personal preference. Some see the rules of dorm living restrictive and others see them as welcome structure. You can always complain to your RA (not that the ones in the Towers actually do much) DD felt she would be living the rest of her life off campus so there was no need now. The Towers are pretty close to living off as you don’t have to buy a meal plan and can experience the joys of providing for your own meals. The Towers are old, not exactly posh. I understand there is a plan to tear them down, one of DD’s room mates dad lived in the Towers when he was there. In a weird way, I like that the living arrangements aren’t lux. Chances are your first apartment in the real world won’t be either!
Again, personal preference, not everyone is interested in communal living!</p>
<p>Thanks the_mom. You made me feel much better. For many reasons, I really want my D to stay on campus all four years.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore. She was in Ray St freshman year and is on Laird this year.
Next year she is moving “off-campus” for 2 real reasons:
- The off-campus place is closer to her roommate’s classes than any on-campus housing that has a semi-private bathroom. It is about the same distance for my daughter.
- So she doesn’t have to buy a meal plan. The only on-campus housing that does not require a meal plan is the Towers. I’ve not seen the apartments in the Towers myself, but my daughter says they are not very nice. And since they were built in the 70s and have had college kids living in them ever since, I guess I’d believe her. Even with the least meals/most points meal plan we lose lots of meals. She tells us $1800 is a lot of money for peanut butter and jelly (what she most often ends up eating.)</p>
<p>Is the peanut butter and jelly because she is a picky eater or is the food that bad? College ******* does not rate it very high…</p>
<p>Well, I wouldn’t say she is a picky eater. The food seemed fine until Thanksgiving of freshman year. I think you just get tired of it. She has always eaten at Pencader. And Freshman year they used to have premium meals there fairly regularly. Now they seem less frequent.
There are tons of great places to eat within walking distance. I just wish they were more flexible with the meal plan options. Their attempt to be more flexible this year actually hurt us. I think last year she only had 5 meals a week and the rest in points. This year the new plan averaged out to 7-8 meals a week.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize that about the meal plans. Good to know. Thank you.</p>
<p>D is soph and lives over on Laird campus will be renting a house with 3 other girls next year. Her reasons:
- Working at Udel over the summer, so needed housing
- Its about half room/board fees based on typical utility costs from previous home renters
- Is getting tired of all the “togetherness” dorm life entails, gets along great with her friends guys and girls. They are all moving to the same area off campus, but will all have own bedrooms. Engineering major so having her own room will help with less interruptions Not a partying crowd so its more the constant someone in your room at all times issue
Towers aren’t that bad granted they aren’t as nice as the new dorms, but sure beat the heck out of Rodney/Dickinson. </p>
<p>As far as meal plan freshman year she did the lowest meals with points based on the girls we spoke to at Orientation, some said the higher meals was way too many for the girls.</p>
<p>samiamy, how does it actually work – getting housing off campus, I mean. Also, is that something where you just write a check to the landlord to cover your child’s portion? If you have any insights, I’d appreciate them.</p>
<p>My D is going to be a sophmore and will be living off campus next year at the University Courtyard Apartments. These units are only for college kids. All the roomates sign seperate leases so you are not responsible for your roomates defaults. Also they come with washers and driers are furnished well and are all inclusive internet connections electricity etc. They also have a club house with a small gym outdoor pool and study areas. They are close to campus and the UD bus stops there. They have 2 and 4 bedroom units with 2 and 4 baths. They are very nice. The cost is about 750 a month per kid. I like the fact that she will be there for 3 years no more moving or packing. Your not dealing with a landlord more like a rental office and they are very easy to deal with. Just another option to think of.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention these apartments are not part of UD they are private off campus.Also Zoosermom congrats to you and your D I think she made a great choice:)</p>
<p>WEll there are a variety of choices, you have the Courtyards and Ivy a few other new ones over by Dickinson/Rodney I believe were being built/renovated last year. D is renting a house with yard within walking distance of campus. They found this thru one of her friends who is graduating and so are the other girls in the house. Alot of rental apartments also on Main Street itself, I believe it is by word of mouth most of the transactions happen. D rent is due quarterly, which all the girls will be depositing it into a separate account which will be set up to pay rent. Anything rent wise is much lower than anything in NY metro/suburbs would be. Utilities are lower as well. We are figuring based on the previous girls about 500 per month total. I felt secure with the girls she is with, have met all of them they have stayed at our home over the past year and a half, nice kids. The landlord also interviewed each one of them to approve them, so not some slum lord, they had to show him their transcript grades as part of the approval process.
As far as loans Federal student loan is paid directly to the school, parent loans Im assuming are separate, again not sure how parent loans are disbursed. She only has a student loan and outside scholarship money which goes directly to school, minus the UD scholarship money.</p>
<p>sopranodad819 - Courtyard Apartments sound great! D will be living there next year (sophomore year) as well. She likes to study and needs her own space. She is sharing a four bedroom, two bathroom apartment with 3 other girls (4 total). Also, the meal plan has been a waste for her because she doesnt eat a whole lot and prefers pop tarts and granola bars to meals so what we are spending in rent, we are saving in the meal plan. Her hours (classes and practice) have not coincided well with the dining hall hours this semester, so, although I think the food is pretty good and the selections are excellent, she is not really able to use it to make it worth the money. We havent seen her apartment yet but we saw the building which is VERY close to the campus and as you previously mentioned offers many amenities (the best of course is the full year lease and no move out and move in every year!)</p>
<p>Sopranodad, that was great info. We’re pretty new to this and I am making myself nuts about all sorts of possibilities down the road. Thanks for taking the time to help me out!</p>
<p>Samiamy, thanks to you too. I had no idea such things were even possible. I like the idea of a landlord checking things.</p>
<p>My freshman daughter is also moving to University Courtyard next year for two main reasons: first she wants to be on main campus and most of the dorms on main are either freshman or honors. She has absolutely no desire to be on north campus - says it is too far from everything. Second, the meal plans - she is vegetarian and has had a horrible time finding things to eat in the dining halls. Said most of the time the salads are brown and they just don’t offer a lot of meatless options. I was disappointed - I feel safer with her on campus. I hope things work out. On the plus side for $775 a month she has her own bedroom shares a bath with one other person and utilities, laundry, internet, parking are all included.</p>
<p>Now that UDel is charging for rooms during winter-session and considering what I should save in parking fees and on the meal plan, I’ve convinced myself that off-campus housing will be cheaper.
University Courtyard sounds great mainly because of the individual payment and all the amenities. My daughter will be in another, cheaper complex, University Commons. But she’ll be sharing a bedroom and has to pay her own utilities. Still the current residents tell her that rent plus utilities are about 500 a month.</p>