<p>My S is considering attending from out of state, and would plan to live in dorms freshman year. </p>
<p>What I am wondering is what happens after fresh or soph year ?
What kind of housing would be available locally ?
How dependent on a car vs public transit for local housing ?
Does the school assist with off campus housing if they have no space
on campus for upper classmen ?</p>
<p>I know many commute to GMU, but as an out of state candidate, I wonder
about resources for the minority not from NOVA ?</p>
<p>No worries, there is enough dorm space and on-campus student apartment housing for anyone who wants it… I think the only students who have problems getting on-campus housing are those who wait until the last minute to apply. Mason is currently building new dorms and already has about 8,000 students living on campus. I would recommend living on campus because off-campus housing won’t save you much money, and as you mention you wind up with commuting costs (it costs about $500 to park on campus for a year plus you have all the usual car expenses). The Mason dorms are pretty nice, a lot of them are suite style so you only share a bathroom with 1-3 other people. Plus they have these “student apartments” for upperclassmen which are more like living in an apartment than a dorm. As for off-campus, one could rent a room in a house in a nearby neighborhood and walk or bike, or rent a regular apartment and commute by car or bus, but I don’t really see the advantage of doing that.</p>
<p>There are townhouse very close and people live in them and walk, like at other colleges. There are some apartments bearby as well. However the new apartment-style dorms for older students look lovely.</p>
<p>This past year all seniors living on campus were waitlisted for housing and the majority of them moved off campus. There are many apartments in the area for students to rent and they are, for the most part, much nicer than off campus housing at other colleges. That being said, traffic in the Fairfax are is horrible so you have to allow time to get to campus and once you get to campus it’s just easier to stay there. George Mason is building/renovating dorms as fast as they can, but they can’t keep up with demand for on-campus housing.</p>
<p>I’m maybe a little late to this thread, but I have lived on campus all four years and never had a problem with a wait list.</p>
<p>One thing you may want to do after freshman year is look into the cost of housing. I know some people who are in a house with a couple roommates for $550 - 700 dollars a month (and it is a short walk from campus). You cannot touch a rate like that on campus. I think it is about 1.1k a month for me, but I am in the more expensive dorms (w/ kitchen and common area)</p>