<p>Yes, but they also may mean that if someone leaves, the other individuals in the apartment have no say in who replaces the person who left, not even to specify the gender of the new tenant. The gender issue is not likely to be a major problem in this instance, since the OP’s kid is male, but if the student had been female, knowing that she might be forced to live with a male stranger could be a major disadvantage. </p>
<p>In my experience, college students of both genders rarely object to living in mixed-gender groups provided that everyone already knows each other. (In fact, girls sometimes prefer having at least one male apartment mate – they’re handy for moving heavy objects and escorting people home late at night). And guys usually don’t mind being placed with unfamiliar female roommates. But many young women vehemently object to having to share an apartment with one or more male strangers.</p>
<p>Re window bars – there should be a release on the inside that is not reachable from the outside even if the window is open. I would not live in an apartment that had barred windows that did not have a quick release to free the bars and let the window be used if that is the second egress route. Fire is a real problem.</p>
<p>I kind of don’t see the point of not having the bars on the outside. If they are on the outside, then everyone can see them. If they are on the inside, and difficult to see, then someone might break the window before they found the bars.</p>
<p>Our kids’ apartment has bars on the windows for the first-floor businesses on one side and surveillance cameras in the back. There’s a decent amount of lighting from the adjacent university buildings in the back.</p>
<p>Some people – including college students – avoid first-floor apartments because of the increased risk of break-ins. I suppose, though, that the better fire safety situation in a first floor apartment may offset that.</p>
<p>What do all of you think about high rises in terms of safety? My son has, at various times, lived on the 7th, 9th, and 13th floors of various buildings, and my daughter currently lives in a 9th floor apartment. I never particularly worried about this until reading this thread.</p>
<p>Wow, we’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to reply until now. Thank you all for your insight!</p>
<p>We did wind up renting the apartment originally mentioned. S1 has a lease for one bedroom and the common areas. There are 3 more bedrooms in the apartment, but none have been rented yet as far as we know. </p>
<p>There are smoke alarms and sprinklers, and a carbon monoxide detector (thank you to whoever corrected my mistake of referring to it as CO2). :)</p>
<p>S1 is not responsible for anyone else’s rent, and but did give 1 month rent as security deposit, and has a parent as guarantor. </p>
<p>We will be depositing money into S1’s account and he will pay rent and utilities (and buy food) with the money. He does know how to cook so I think it will all work out well. </p>
<p>These are garden apartments (is that a common term nation-wide?). The entire complex is student housing for the two colleges nearby, and we were told the local police will do plenty of drive-by’s.</p>
<p>Parking: each room gets one assigned parking space and there are extra spaces for visitors. S1 plans to bicycle to school when weather permits (in NJ). </p>
<p>Bedbugs: these apartments have been vacant for a while and were just “redone”. S1is bringing a brand new bed. </p>
<p>Fire alarms are hard wired and the buildings recently received CO’s so I know they were tested.</p>
<p>The “each bedroom has a lock” arrangement is nice. </p>
<p>Your son may want to get in the habit of keeping everything of value in his room (except for things he is sharing with his apartment-mates, such as a TV or video game system) and locking the room door whenever he goes out.</p>
<p>This way, if anyone else is careless and forgets to lock the outer door, he won’t lose his personal stuff to a thief.</p>
<p>2 miles from campus? bus line? bike? As others said parking on campus can both be expensive and frustrating as most schools have far more students than parking stalls.</p>