My son was accepted ea to NEU and it’s one of his top choices but I have some concerns-one big one being housing issues. I joined the parent fb page after his acceptance and for the last month or so, the majority of posts have been about the housing selection process. One parent today referred to it as the “housing hunger games.” My son is a bit socially anxious and the idea of people coming and going due to co-op already makes me unsure if NEU is the right fit for him. Hearing that getting housing in decent buildings with the people that you want is such a stressful process really turns me off. Is it really a problem?
I’d say there’s some truth to it but there’s a lot more going on and I wouldn’t say it would be much different than any other school.
Some things to note/consider: First, the month you’ve been in the parents group is exactly overlapping with the housing process for Fall/Spring of the next year, so this one month of hectic settles most of the housing for the year. At any school solidifying a housing group with 19-year-olds will have its chaos and uncertainty.
That said, there tends to be a little less info than people prefer when it comes to things like “What’s x building like compared to y building?” and “How many 3 person apartments are there compared to 4 or 5?” which I think causes a lot of the housing discussion by students/parents.
After your second year, you can choose between on and off campus, and they each have their pros and cons.
For on campus, you can get housing per semester/summer easily and it’s an all in one price but you have to go through the housing process and have a group that also is all on campus for the same times.
For off-campus, you have a lot more flexibility with things like price, neighborhood, and availability but you have to handle a 12-month lease with utilities and the like and subletting for periods you are not there. You also have to pay for a security deposit and often a realtor fee, though off-campus housing can still be cheaper even with the realtor fee.
Co-op certainly does bring a level of extra complexity to housing compared to other schools, but besides the software and info being a little dated the housing selection process will be similar to other schools.
Personally I’ve been on campus since my second year and have sublet my apartment twice when leaving for co-op, so you can actually have relative consistency doing that if you’re willing to deal with subletting when you’re not in Boston. There’s quite a large sublet market due to Boston’s real estate market, with 95% of leases being in September thanks to the large college population.
Happy to answer any specific questions!