<p>My son is currently a freshman and is looking into sharing an apartment with three other students next year. Do students normally live in the dorms freshman and sophmore year? Is it common for sophmores to live in apartments? I am a little worried about the rent/utilities issue and study habits. Also, it is a twelve month lease and they would have to sub-lease in the summer, another headache. Any input would be great.</p>
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** I am a little worried about the rent/utilities issue and study habits.
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<p>I see no merit to you concern about studying......most folks study in a location other than their dorm room or apartment. </p>
<p>What is the concern about rent/utilities....they will be necessary that is certain. Some schools run workshops to help students in the execution of the lease and supervise or work w/ landlords. Is your real concern that all tenants be individually listed on any lease? As to the payment......most groups of students have either a person designated or meet as a group to handle the business of living in an apartment. One concern to address is the number of parking places, if any that the lease provides for. I have friends who get NO parking places but buy them as a separate lease.......I am on a metro/urban campus so perhaps at ILL this is of no consequence.</p>
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<li><p>As to sophomores at UIUC, more than half move on to apartments, as to juniors and above vast majority get apartments. </p></li>
<li><p>Some apartments around UIUC provide utilities as part of the rent. Otherwise, students learn that they have to do their own and usually figure out how to do it. Most are furnished.</p></li>
<li><p>All the leases are for a year (August to August), some sublease to other students attending summer classes, others do not sublease.</p></li>
<li><p>If he has not found an apartment yet and done the lease, the ability to do so is rapidly decreasing as the usual big leasing period is October and November and after that aparments get difficult to find (at least any within walking distance to campus).</p></li>
<li><p>Some have parking, many do not, although there are parking lots in the area rentable separately and, if necessary, you can still get into one of the university lots.</p></li>
<li><p>Study habits: individual thing. If the student established good habits while living in the dorms, that is likely to carry over (if the student partied hard and did little studying in the dorms, that is also likely to carry over); many moving to apartments actually find it easier to study because you don't usually have large numbers of floor mates coming to visit often in the evening like you can have in the dorms.</p></li>
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<p>Thanks Drusba, that helps alot. I was looking for a reply from a UIUC student.
That kind of eased my mind. He has found a place and they are signing a lease this week. I can only hope now that the other students are as responsible as he is. He just met them this fall. Well, we have nine months to find out! Thanks again</p>