<p>Hi everyone! Do you guys know which apartment is the best for students?</p>
<p>From your question I suspect you are not in the US. New freshmen are best off in a dorm and not an apartment (think of the food buying, cooking and cleaning plus all of the household stuff you need). Res Halls is the public dorm system for UW and better than the private dorms/apartments available. You can research Res Halls on the UW website. Dorms give you a room, usually shared with one roommate and a bathroom shared with other same gender students down the hall (private shower and toilet stalls). The bathrooms get cleaned and there is food service easily available. Small refrigerator, cable and high speed internet hookup plus heat all paid for. Your or your roommate can provide a microwave oven. There are student services and activites available and locations on campus. This forum will give many opinions on the pros and cons of various dorms and their locations. There are many equally good choices among the dorms- best one depends on priorities.</p>
<p>In case you aren’t a freshman, there are no “best” apartments. It all comes down to what you’re willing to pay. You can get an extremely nice place in a great location if you want, but it will probably be $700-800 per month, which may or may not include utilities. Places like these are almost all rented for the coming school year though, they are very popular. Most are furnished as well, often quite nicely.</p>
<p>More modest places in good locations or nice places farther from campus will run you around $500-600 per month. Stuff you get in this price range will be nice, but not fancy. They are rarely furnished and you often pay utilities, but they’re perfectly acceptable.</p>
<p>Crappy places or places far from campus (take the bus) will probably be less than $500. Location definitely matters - $500 is around minimum for places on State Street, and many are not that nice (though some are). If you don’t mind living over near Camp Randall (if you’re an engineer, for example), it’s cheaper over there as well, lots of good deals to be had.</p>
<p>Also, if you get a lot of people together and get a house (many houses are divided into flats which are about the size of an apartment, but some houses are rented to just one group of people and you get the whole house) it can be pretty cheap, but it can be hard to get that many people together and deal with limited bathrooms, getting everyone to pay utility bills, etc. Also, not all the houses here are well-maintained and it is much harder to get something fixed if you are in a house than if you live in a large apartment complex with an on-site management staff. Houses are more prone to broken heat, AC, etc, which can be rather annoying. Lots of houses are well-maintained though, you just have to really look around before you sign.</p>
<p>I personally live in a very nice apartment complex (I’d judge it as being maybe the third most-expensive on campus) and it costs me about the same as my dorm did last year ($700/month). We have all utilities included, which is nice - no bills to pay and we can mess with the thermostat as much as we want and take really long showers. We have an amazing capitol view and a private balcony. Next year we’ll be paying around $600/month and living in a smaller, older building, no balcony or dishwasher. However, we have lots of extra space and laundry in-unit (VERY rare), and utilities are a flat rate. It’s all about looking around and deciding what’s best for you.</p>
<p>Thank you your bunch of information. I’m not a freshmen, I will take a look for the apartment. Again, thank you!!</p>
<p>Be aware that new students also can benefit from living in the transfer dorm setting. If you are already on campus don’t be too impatient. Take your time to see if you and prospective roommates are really on the same page and have the same expectations. Son was once in the find the apt game- ended up not living with friends from classes because they wanted a different area of off campus places further than he wanted. Mixed results with a dorm friend and the “friends of friends” with a February find. Learning experience- good to have others for first apt experience. I learned son wasn’t the messiest person around. He worked things out for mutual satisfaction with his peers- parents’ only role was to cosign (and pay rent for him), empty the house of things no longer wanted but he could use and help set him up with household things to start with. Solo apt - easy enough to find close, decent places in spring. Places close to comp sci/stadium- no more construction so improved noise levels. Pros and cons to needing your own furniture, roommates et al. </p>
<p>The Housing off campus list is a good start. Go through the selection criteria to narrow down the choices and see what you get for your money. Talk to friends and others about their experiences- some management companies have better reputations than others. Be aware all students will diss their landlords, sometimes it is the students’ fault for lack of security deposit return et al. Be aware of the extra rules- they can kick you out if you break them but they can be helpful in not having outrageous neighbors- especially the noise factor. Pay attention to what you pay for and what is included. Heat, water, electricity, trash, cable, parking if wanted, pets, furniture, laundry facilities, security locked or not building… Be aware of houses and lawn care, sidewalk and driveway winter shoveling potential responsibilities. Most campus area leases are mid August to mid August- check on possibility of summer sublets- you usually have to pay all 12 months even if you can’t find someone and choose not to be in Madison. Also be sure you trust any roommates to pay their bills- all tenants can be responsible for the rent even if someone reneges on paying their share (that is why cosigners are required by most landlords). Things usually work out as well as in the dorms.</p>
<p>Spending time online looking now will give you a feel for what is available and how things work. Read all of the guides suggested on the Off Campus Housing site of the UW website. There is a Madison tenants site with help as well.</p>