<p>My son is just getting admittances to grad school, and he has until mid June to give a final decision. Because at least one of the schools is in a "college town", I am worried about him not being able to find housing this late in the game. He has no funding, and he's hoping to get a one bedroom apartment. He's lived in a dorm his entire college career, in a suite with a private room, but shared with three other boys. One is in a city, so I'm hoping housing will be more available, but still would like some proximity to the university. He will be coming from the deep south to schools in the Midwest with brutal climates. We've been through tornadoes and hurricanes, but never a snowstorm, so want to be prepared and find safe housing for weather, if not crime. Thanks for any help with any links, tips, advice.</p>
<p>He should start with the college housing office, to see if they have a list or links to off campus housing.
He should also look at Craig’s List to see what is available. </p>
<p>Son was a procrastinator as an undergrad at UW Madison. He finally got around to getting an apartment within a couple of blocks of campus buildings in late May. I know that school has an excellent off campus housing listing. I’m also sure that the department your son is entering will have advice on finding housing- he should ask them.</p>
<p>My son was disappointed when his grad school advised him that there was no room in their “grad student housing” but in the end it turned out for the best. When he attended the accepted students preview he met a couple of kids who were also looking for roommates. They contacted several local rental agents and were easily able to look at and secure an apartment toward the end of the summer. </p>
<p>Subsequent years bore out that last minute arrangements are more or less the norm in college towns. The rental agents will often accept individual leases for shared apartments and will help match up roommates. Urban environments may be more difficult to navigate. It really depends on the city.</p>
<p>Craigslist will provide a good overview of the going rates in the locations he’s looking at and also plenty of “roommates wanted” ads. If the prices are not workable for a one bedroom, he could take a lease on a two bedroom and advertise for a roommate</p>
<p>I think he should make his decision, then plan to spend a couple of days on campus looking at apartments, both through the college’s listing and with agents. If, at that point, you ask the question with the name of the chosen school, you’ll get lots of advice on location and costs.</p>
<p>Padmapper is another tool I like. It displays apartment info on a map. It pulls info from craigslist and other sites. It has filters that are easy to set, including sublets or rooms in an apartment.</p>
<p>My son and I hit Craigslist to locate his apartment, as on-campus grad housing already had been filled. His place is a couple of blocks from his law school and just as important, a huge shopping center with two grocery stores. He has no desire to have a car, so this is the perfect solution for him. Try to look for places that will include some of his utilities. My son’s place includes water, sewer and trash. It also has great parking, in case his parents or friends visit. </p>
<p>I lived in on-campus grad housing my first two years. My grad students here tend to pass their housing arrangements down to the new cohorts as they come through, which is kind of nice, both for the students and for the landlords – so by all means check with the department. For a move to the snowy midwest, I wouldn’t worry much about weather emergencies. Places that get snow usually know how to deal with it. Off-street covered parking is something to covet, though, so you don’t have to shovel out; this is not realistically affordable in, e.g., Chicago, but in smaller midwestern towns it’s easy to get.</p>
<p>My daughter went to grad school in Madison. The first year she rented a room from a couple, one who had graduated with a PhD from UW. They rented 2 rooms to grad students each year and themselves lived on another floor. It was a good arrangement for the first year, cheap and she didn’t have to deal with furnishings. The next year she moved into a 4 BR house with that other roommate from the room rental. After a couple years she decided to splurge a couple hundred more for her own 1BR. They snowplow everything there right away. She said the bike paths get plowed first, too. I don’t know what ‘safe’ means for weather, even.? Oh, and the housing there is August to August leases. As a matter of fact she is moving and got a lease last month for next August.</p>
<p>My niece got pulled off the UMich law school waitlist about five weeks before classes started. At first she was very disappointed that campus housing was not available at that late date. She and her parents were able to find an apartment close to campus with an August-to-August lease in a weekend. It is close enough to campus that she doesn’t need a car, so parking was not an issue. </p>
<p>Rentjungle is another website that pulls listings from multiple different websites. My S is apartment hunting now as well. I like the mapping feature, where you can easily see the exact location of various apartments, based upon filters you select. </p>
<p>Oh, and I read somewhere to beware when heat is included because the landlord can keep the heat at the minimum level by law which might still be too cold. </p>
<p>^ That’s fine. We keep the heat setting at 58F during the winter to save money. The landlord would not set it much lower as it may risk to freeze the pipe in the unheated area.</p>
<p>Does the college have on campus graduate housing? My DD is going to Columbia University Teachers College and she was able to get one of their on campus apts even starting in December.</p>
<p>In Maine, landlords have to be able to heat an apartment to 68 when it is 20 outside. Since we keep our house at 60/62 during the day, I would find that much too hot. It’s the north. Put on a sweater. I think kids are generally MUCH better off with heat-included arrangements, since it means the bills are predictable.</p>
<p>An option is to contact the academic department where your son was accepted. They usually have a list of landlords, and rental companies that students use. </p>
<p>Oh, and don’t worry about the weather. Folks in the Midwest know how to deal with snow.</p>