I know it’s somewhat late now and this may be the wrong place to ask, but I am honestly stuck. I’m going into my sophomore year and was trying to move off campus but every housing (affiliated or unaffiliated) needs a cosigner, and I have only have single parent who didn’t meet the qualifications and can’t cosign. I used financial aid/various scholarships to pay for housing before, so it’s not the issue with not having money myself.
The only place I could live on campus is apparently towers (I’m on the list to where I can sign there if I have no options) which costs around 850 a month. I really don’t want to take out more loans and spend more money than I have to, when off campus housing ranges from only 500-750 a month. So I’m asking if anyone has ever not had a cosigner for off campus housing or if there are suggestions on what can I do.
Interesting. My kiddo had a credit check, but was not required to have a cosigner. One thing you should do, as soon as you can, is establish credit. Get a student credit card with a $250 limit…there are several banks that will do this without a cosigner if you have good grades. Let 10% ride, and pay the rest every month. They’ll up your limit and your credit score will increase. Getting a part time job will also improve your risk with housing companies. The longer the work history, the better.
What might work for you…is finding a private individual renting an apartment or room. They’ll be more able to hear you out and “bend the rules” in a way that a managed housing complex can’t. Like, someone with an apartment over their garage. You can get an interview with them, explain your situation, and show them account invoices that prove you paid your rent all last year. You’ll have to be careful in this situation, because private renters can have weird rules and ideas that you should be careful to cover before signing a lease…but because the person you’re actually talking to is the person with the final say…it really might be a good way to go. Check classified, student housing search sites, Craigs list, etc.
Also, see if you can find someone needing to sublease, who is desperate for someone to take over their rent payments. Technically…they’re still the person on the hook for the rent, and they’ve already been through the approval process. Some land lords might do this differently for subleasing…but typically, as long as you can pay…subleasers will be grateful to be out from under every month of loss possible.