<p>When we toured, we got the impression that there would likely only be housing available during a student's freshman year, but have heard things to the contrary. Any input on what housing options on campus after freshman year are? Is it any different if you are an honors student? What are off campus options?</p>
<p>There are some students who stay on after freshman year. I am living proof. I lived on campus my freshman and sophomore year.</p>
<p>Most students end up moving off-campus and most of my friends that I talked to preferred that. Off-campus options are numerous and there’s a lot of variety. There are off-campus apartment complexes specifically built for students that are really similar to the feeling of living in dorms, as well as off-campus apartment complexes where “normal” people live, and then there are duplexes and free-standing houses that students live in.</p>
<p>It’s usually significantly cheaper to live off-campus and it’s not a big deal at all since almost everyone lives off campus.</p>
<p>Honors students have the option of living in Horseshoe apartments after their freshman year.</p>
<p>My D will be a sophomore and is living on campus in Preston this year. And she has plenty of friends who are still going to be living on campus as well.</p>
<p>My d will be a sophomore and is living in Capstone again with her roommate from freshman year. I think it depends on which dorm you pick. Some dorms have more space then others and you are only allowed to request one on the form in November. A bunch of D’s friends requested the quad ? that is for pre-health majors and none of them got in, so I guess that was a more popular dorm. My d almost didnt get in the Capstone dorm…I think there are only 40 spots for freshmen(one floor).I was glad she got in since she will not have a car again. I would say about half of her friends moved off, the other half stayed on another year.</p>
<p>^^oops… I meant 40 spots for sophomores…the rest of the dorm is freshmen!</p>
<p>My daughter is going to live in her sorority house - which is considered “on campus” but she has a bunch of friends from the honors dorm that are living on the horseshoe. Only honors kids have that option. </p>
<p>This came up at orientation. If students are chosen to become RMs (that’s RA to you and me) they live in the dorms, and it sounds like the more active you are in your residence hall as a freshman, the better the odds are for you to get in for sophomore year even if you’re not an RM. They also mentioned that students who have jobs on campus are given priority. I will tell you I fought off campus living for my older D (different university) until senior year, and I kind of regret not letting her do it sooner. It is a HUGE cost savings (those meal plans… don’t even get me started) and you get away from dorm drama, but even more than that, it’s taught her so much… budgeting for meals and utilities, cleaning, and dealing with neighbors. And, her apartment was her haven for quiet studying when she needed it. She did very well in school, but was the type of student for whom it didn’t come easily so she needed that quiet space to really work senior year. </p>
<p>Off campus definitely has its benefits. My older d at another college spent two years on, moved off junior year, and will of course stay off her senior year. She loves her privacy and having her own bathroom!! My USC d will most likely want to move off for junior year…its just easier right now to stay on campus, since she still won’t have a car for next year.</p>
<p>My concerns about having to move off campus (at any college), would be safety in the off campus neighborhoods, and ease of access to campus events. </p>
<p>They have a new, truly on-campus (USC owned, est. July 2015) dorm in the works down by the new business school. More off-campus housing is being developed including the Hub on Main Street opening this fall and proposed housing at corner of Assembly and Pendleton (open 2017), so there are more close to campus options in development. </p>
<p>Overall, honors students have a better chance of staying on campus. A good number of sophomores stay in honors dorm or move to Horseshoe which is upper classmen honors housing. My D is in the minority, but she has lived in some form of honors housing every year and will still be on horseshoe as a senior (and has a number of friends there also). It is definitely cheaper to live off campus, but I still like campus housing, especially when there’s a lot of down time in schedule - easier to go back to apartment. We had to deal with off-campus with older D at small school and it was a hassle (couldn’t sublet so any savings went out the window when paying for months not even there).</p>
<p>Larger freshman classes have made on-campus housing harder - all the apt. style dorms were mostly upper classmen dorms 4 or 5 years ago, now almost all freshmen. I am glad USC still guarantees freshmen on-campus housing - some schools don’t.</p>
<p>If you are applying next year as a senior, then by time your student gets here there are likely to be more off-campus options (and the new USC built one open) and many of the new ones mentioned above are close enough to campus to be walkable.</p>