<p>Can anyone tell me how difficult it is to remain in campus housing after Freshman year? Is on-campus housing guaranteed in Sophomore year, too?</p>
<p>What % of upperclassman live off campus? How difficult is it to find off-campus housing? How does off-campus housing compare in price to campus-housing? Is it more expensive? </p>
<p>My parents think that not being guaranteed on-campus housing all 4 years should be taken into consideration, but I don't see it as a big deal Don't most upperclassmen want to live off campus anyway?</p>
<p>Many upperclassmen do indeed wish to live off-campus. Some move off-campus right away in sophomore year, while others move off in their junior or senior year. </p>
<p>It can be kind of difficult to remain on-campus sophomore year if you are picky about where you want to live. If you stay in the same room or college house, or move into a friend's room or college house, it helps your chances. Generally speaking, if you want to remain on campus, you can, but you may have to live in the quad with a bunch of freshmen or in one of the smaller college houses. Housing is only guaranteed for freshman year.</p>
<p>So Penn says that roughly 60% of students live on campus. By my rough calculations, if you remove the 100% of freshmen who live on campus from that number, you get about 47% across the three other years living on-campus (I would say the number for sophomores is higher, and lower for seniors). </p>
<p>It's very easy to find off-campus housing, and when we say off-campus, we mean only 2-3 blocks off-campus at the most. There are tons of apartments and houses in the campus vicinity, and there are 2 newly-built large apartment buildings. Prices range from cheaper than on-campus to more expensive - it depends on what you want. A major difference is that almost all off-campus "rooms" are singles, and keep in mind that living off-campus usually involves a 12 month lease, while living on-campus is only for the 9 months that you're there. While off-campus rent is usually lower per-month, it can get more expensive if you don't sublet for the summer.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information! It's very helpful. Given the fact that roughly 50% of upperclassmen live off campus, does that lesson the sense of "community" at all? Do people that live off campus still feel like they're part of the campus?</p>
<p>As Matt said, most off-campus housing is within 2-3 blocks of campus, and now--e.g., with the brand-new Radian--much of it is literally right across the street from campus. So the off-campus residential community is still very much a part of campus and campus life--i.e., much of those students' days is still spent on campus, with lots of activities to keep them there.</p>
<p>And according to collegeboard.com, 64% of Penn undergrads live on campus, so it's even a bit higher number than Matt estimated (he did say "roughly" :) ). Plus, once the new college house is built on Hill Field (within the next few years), another 300-400 undergrads will be living on campus.</p>
<p>Even though off-campus housing isn't officially guaranteed after freshmen year, I haven't heard of anyone not getting it if they want it. It really shouldn't be a consideration when you're picking a school.</p>
<p>I don't think that off-campus housing lessens the sense of community at all- it's a really nice option to have if you want more freedom and space. Essentially all of the housing around campus is occupied by Penn students. Also most of the people who move off-campus, especially sophomore year, are very social. It's a lot of Greeks, athletes, and people who want to be able to live with a lot of friends and party with fewer restrictions. This helps keep the community pretty close.</p>
<p>I went to Yale, and wouldn't have missed the four-year residential college experience there for the world. My wife was there at the same time -- same college, too -- and she moved off campus her sophomore year (about 4% of students lived off campus) because she hated living in the college. But she still loved the college, and thought the system was great. </p>
<p>My sister lived on campus at Stanford for all four years, except a semester abroad, and I thought her experience was lousy -- different people, different places every year, no real continuity or sense of community. She liked it fine.</p>
<p>My kids go to the University of Chicago, which is pretty much exactly like Penn in this regard. They both moved off campus sophomore year, enthusiastically. (No one is ever denied housing there, either.) One's apartment is sensationally beautiful, and cheaper than the dorm, even taking summers into account (but she's lived there the last two summers). The other's apartment is meaningfully closer to everything he does on campus than the dorm where he would have lived. Neither can imagine why anyone would want to live in a dorm for four years, or three years for that matter. They like eating what and when they want, from their own kitchens. They like having their own bedrooms and a real living room. They like giving parties without a permit or supervision. They like being able to share housing with people of different genders. But most of their waking hours are spent on campus (and some nap time, too).</p>
<p>So, basically, all of the systems work perfectly well. You should take various colleges' housing systems into consideration, but recognize that there isn't one "best" system.</p>
<p>The off-campus houses are every bit an integral part of the Penn community, as they're contiguous with the Penn campus. And they do allow you a good deal of variety in housing settings and freedom</p>
<p>There is a difference between 60% of students being on campus and the rest being less than 3 blocks of campus like at Penn and 60% of students being on campus and 40% commuting like at some state schools. Penn still has a great sense of community, but part of that means you don't have to have communal bathrooms for 4 years.</p>