As an aspect to consider, suite- and apartment-style living, with kitchen facilities, may, at certain colleges, be available as a part of on-campus living. For example, this site shows the residence-hall options of a school at which 100% of the students live on campus:
Note that many of the accommodations are designed for a total of 6 to 70 students, and that the larger dorms generally have a capacity of fewer than 150 residents.
As an aside, I note that some have previously argued, quite rightly in my view, that something like a residential college system probably makes less sense at a small LAC, because really the whole thing can be one residential college. In other words, you can see the residential college system as basically incorporating aspects of the small LAC experience into a bigger college, which is itself often part of an even bigger university.
Indeed, just to do a little math, Yale’s 14 residential colleges average around 470 students each (some bigger and some smaller). With only about 2050 students, the exact same system probably wouldn’t make sense for Hamilton. But that is OK since it is small enough the whole thing has at least similar virtues.
And in fact, poking around that site quickly, there are definitely a lot of attractive-sounding options, particularly after freshman year.
I looked at the housing options at Hamilton. They seem just okay. I mean, not luxurious or anything.
The college town I live in has very nice student apartments off campus. They are filled with other students. I’m not sure why a student wouldn’t be able to make friends with other students in their apartment complex just like they make friends with other students in their dorm. They have events for residents too. The student apartments here in my town have their own pools, gyms, game rooms, common spaces with big screen TVs indoors and out, rooftop hang outs with seating, TVs, grills, fire pits. I mean they are really swanky and nice.
We also have crummy off campus student housing too, but more and more it’s going toward the high end luxury kind. I guess parents with deep pockets will pay for it. But to be clear my town does have some more budget options and lots of students rent houses, too. But just seems like the days of “living like a poor student” are over. And this is a major public university, not a private school.
Affordable housing for non-students is a real problem in the town, though. Seems like apartment complexes are sprouting like mushrooms but they’re all fancy schmancy. Nobody is building budget options any more. The town does what they can but it’s a decades long ongoing issue.
My daughter’s college is 95% residential and that’s fine. There are many aspects of that that I do like for her, but I know she is dying to get out of the dorm soon and is really enjoying not being in a dorm this summer. She just mentioned to me yesterday or day before how much she hates living in a dorm, so @NiceUnparticularMan come back next year after your kid has lived in a dorm for a year and let us know how he liked it.
For reasons like…they don’t share a bathroom, a common area, a laundry room, or eat meals in a shared space. There are pools and other amenities that might enable meeting others, but apartment living, especially in the newer, higher-end 4-bedroom sharing a kitchen/living space, is much less communal than dorms.
Having worked in college housing, I would support my kids living in a large off-campus student housing building but would frown on the standard off-campus lease. Focused buildings include things like utilities and internet in the price, and don’t require deposits, appointments, and all of the other BS. That type of apartment complex is reserved for flagship universities and very large schools. It’s a business run by REITs and venture capital. They generally aren’t going into small towns with student populations of less than 10,000+.
The real issue for many is the ability to have parties and drink openly. Getting off campus allows students to get away from the alcohol rules. Our kids both went to schools with open policies (no real punishment for being caught with booze, and parties that the school turns a blind eye to on campus), and nobody felt the need to leave campus. Both schools are on the US News list above with 96%+ on-campus retention.
At both schools, if someone had really overdone it, the first call was to Public Safety. I know of 3 kids that pub safety took to the hospital, and there was never an inquiry, question, or fear of the school retaliating. It’s a much healthier environment (IMO). Why kids go off campus is critical to know… it’s not only if they are going into apartments.
A school that has “on-campus” apartments and a reasonable alcohol policy generally ticks all of the boxes for kids who want to exercise a bit more freedom.
So currently, I think something in the range of the Amherst–Yale housing systems appeals to him the most (among what we have seen), which is because he is currently looking for a pretty traditional liberal arts college experience, but with a higher-end sort of suite/apartment than the typical post-WWII “dorm”. At least once he gets past freshman year (and it wouldn’t hurt if it was nicer freshman year too . . . ).
But of course it is possible he will change his mind, either before matriculation or after. And in fact, Yale is distinct from Amherst in that although still a minority of students overall, it is obviously a lot more common for Yale students to choose to live off campus. And I think he might well end up at a college like Macalester, where it is even more common, if that is otherwise his favorite college to which he is admitted.
Anyway, if practical, I will let people here know where he ends up, and then how he feels about his housing system over the years.
That certainly seems like the sweet spot for my kid so far.
I will also say that I think the idea of just running across friends and acquaintances in common rooms, study areas, dining halls, gyms, and so on seems to have a lot of appeal to my S24. Not that people who live off campus necessarily do none of that, but obviously the more time relaxing, studying, eating, exercising, and so on you do off campus, likely the less opportunities for such encounters.
I think this is a subtle enough thing that you might well never miss it if you go to a big university where that sort of thing isn’t the norm at all. And that could be fine. But for now, at least, the concept of living in an “academic village” (or “academical village”, if you are Thomas Jefferson) that intentionally encourages such impromptu interactions has a lot of appeal.
I really don’t think so unless you want it to be. I live in my college town. I know the dorms on campus here and I know the apartment complexes here. If a kid wants to make friends that can be done in a dorm or an apartment and likewise if they don’t want to it’s possible either place, but probably a lot more comfortable for introverts in an apartment or a house.
I’m not clear on what you’re saying about you frown on the standard off-campus lease? I’m just nosing around some of the websites for off-campus student apartments near me and they seem pretty nice. Looking at one that does individual housing contracts so if your roommate moves out mid-semester you aren’t stuck paying for the whole apartment yourself. So that seems pretty good. It is a 12 month lease, but that’s pretty standard in non-student housing too. Other complexes offer a 9 mo lease.
We have a big local company that builds a lot of these apartments. They aren’t all coming from elsewhere.
Single-tenant leases are exactly what I’m referring to as the type of off-campus lease I’d accept from my kids. Those 9 and 12-month options also include all of the amenities (the total cost of both options is roughly the same). It’s one payment per month vs. 3 or 4 or more…and you don’t have to worry about the roommate who leaves mid-year (other than having to deal with the new “stranger” in the room next to you and sharing your bathroom if it comes to that).
If your town has several of these apartments, then it’s only time until one of the REITs (like thee guys) buys it. Running those apartments is a high aggravation, high risk, low return proposition. Companies buy and sell those units as much for the commissions as they do for traditional “profits”. Those places take a beating, so they usually flip in the first 4 or 5 years…and then every 5 to 10 depending on where there are.
Yeah, we have one older property that got refurbed in a big downtown improvement project several years ago that American Campus now runs. it was a “private dorm” when I was in school here. Not sure who ran it then.
The one that I mentioned I was looking at with the individual leases is run by GMH Communities which is another one of those big outfits. Greystar runs another property.
But we do have several that are run by local companies.
At any rate, from my student’s perspective she would much rather live in an apartment than a dorm!
I did acquisition due diligence for dozens of GMH properties…and they have a lot of people whose living depends on buying and selling. You gotta feed the beast.
The further away from campus you get, the less interested you generally get in participating in on-campus activities. The focus of college should be on being outside of your room/apartment, not the comforts that come with it. Kids who “need to get out of their rooms”… do so in the common area, or library, or gym, or dining hall. That’s a good thing.
In some ways, thinking about this less than housing options and more about social life can be helpful.
Schools in/near cities have the ability to offer entertainment options off campus. At the same time, a lot of energy gets siphoned off can as this happens. Typically, schools that have most students on campus are more likely to have a :tighter" social scene. When more students live off campus, it’s easier to have more “curated” social events. None is better - just a matter of taste. And that taste may change over 4 years.
Often, the “worst” dorms are best for freshmen because they are the low picks in housing lotteries, and it’s mostly sophomores who get those lottery rooms. These underclass dorms are filled with kids looking to build friendships, socialize, etc. rather than upperclassmen who have their friends, are going abroad, etc.
This is all to say, this can be much more about the chosen social norms at a school.
I am forgetting at which stop, but during our Virginia swing a big topic of conversation was whether the on-campus housing was all centrally air conditioned or not. Apparently many selective schools are moving to universal AC, but it is a work in progress at some schools.
Anyway, at one school the guide explained that, but then also chipped in there was apparently some local study done where the students living in dorms without AC had scored better on various social outcomes and such, the theory being they were actually forced to get out and mingle more.
Now, I think other studies have shown that excessive heat leads to all sorts of cognitive issues. So I am not sure on balance that AC in bedrooms is actually bad for students. But I do think impromptu mingling is likely good for many students–just hopefully they are not mingling because their brains will boil if they stay in their room.
As an aside - many elite NE colleges do not have AC in the majority of their dorms - many of which predate AC. I am intrigued, with our warming climate which makes September even in Massachusetts a bit dicey, and with increasing concerns about air quality from continental fire patterns, how soon we will see these elite schools take the plunge to air condition their residence halls. I suspect one or two will do it first, then like dominoes they will all have to do it to attract the full-pay students that they need.
UVA, a little further south, is ahead of the curve in working on universal AC. Probably a good bit more necessary already!
I agree with this. If the school is located in a place with a lot of social options, it may not matter how many live on or off campus… the social life will gravitate toward the scene that’s available.
Those looking for a close knit 4 year college community might also prioritize rural or somewhat isolated locations. And hopefully they have some increasingly independent housing options that give more freedom as time goes on
I totally agree with this. I also feel many northeast schools are starting mid-August, which leaves many weeks of hot weather. I can’t tell you how many tour guides use the phrase “a couple of hot weeks,” and maybe this was the case when schools started after Labor Day and record temps weren’t happening every year. Another issue is safety. My D22’s school had several situations where window A/C units were kicked in on the first floors of nearby residential housing for upperclassmen - so the end result - no window units are now allowed on first floors OR open window with fans.
Wesleyan University has the same percentage of students living on-campus as Amherst (98%), but the character of the housing changes drastically after sophomore year. In addition to the usual suite/apartment-style dorms reserved for upperclassmen, the university has taken full advantage of the more robust housing market available in a small city relative to a small town by buying up single-family homes along the campus perimeter. The university provides the furnishing and utilities, and the students assume responsibility for keeping the places clean. A pretty sweet deal for both parties. One city block in particular, is all university-owned and has the advantage of a common area consisting of all the shared backyard space of about a dozen homes. The plethora of kitchens all around campus have resulted in the creation of a campus grocery store and a friendly environment for foodies.
Man, people would be so very mad if the university here did that. It’s bad enough that the student rentals make it hard for teachers, police officers and other folks of similar salary to find an affordable place to live here, but if the university actually bought up the housing people would be up in arms!
Yeah, my D22’s first year dorm room had individual AC units (like at a hotel), but next year’s does not. Gonna be some b!tchin’ about that in September for sure. I imagine she will be making use of the library and her car’s AC, but it will definitely be a rough couple of weeks for her as she does not like the heat. It’s an old old building (I think from the 1830s).
I’m not sure I understand the point. It’s the same housing stock whether the students are renting it from a private landlord or the university.
But by the university buying up the housing and limiting it to students only, it’s not the same people who might rent it. If the university didn’t control it a family could rent one of those houses.
We have a historically black neighborhood really close to campus that is slowly being gentrified, but families do still live there. The town is doing everything they can to make it an attractive and affordable place for actual families and not just student rentals, like putting an elementary school in the neighborhood. Our town would fight the university tooth and nail on buying up housing in town and we have a great town/gown relationship.