<p>I have found that it cost significantly cheaper live in in campus housing. I am a transfer student and the housing website shows $13132 for a year with 90 meals/quarter (Apartment housing).</p>
<p>However, looking at craiglist, it seems that it costs about $600-700 for a room. Then off campus would cost about $6500 to $7000. It costs about $1600 for 180/meals then total is about $9000</p>
<p>Am I missing anything, what are the cons of living of off campus</p>
<p>It’s actually cheaper to live off campus, actually. Your calculations are off. No apartment costs $6500-$7000; most of them are in the $800-3000 range (price depends on how many rooms there are; those higher than $1500 tend to be 3-4 bedroom apartments); for example, my roommates and I are going to be living in a 2 bedroom apartment priced at $1125 per month, or $562.5 per room (though since there are 3 of us, we’d each be paying $375 of $1125). A meal plan also isn’t required if you’re living off campus. </p>
<p>If you look at the normal price for each of the apartments listed for Single Student Apartments, you’d see it’s not as high. For example, regular price for The Arbors is $1055.00-$1075.00 for a 1 bedroom (with a $450 deposit) and $1355.00-$1375.00 for a 2 bedroom (with a $750 deposit); [this</a> page](<a href=“http://www.tandemproperties.com/listings/arlington-farm/]this”>Arlington Farm - Davis Apartments - Tandem Properties) shows regular pricing for Arlington Farm Apts.</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant off campus</p>
<p>if you look at calculation i show that it should be $9000 for off campus which means you could save about $4k.</p>
<p>I included meal plan to make a fair comparison. People usually list cooking as one of the cons of off campus living</p>
<p>Thanks for additional info</p>
<p>@ leo that’s wrong that it’s $9,000 for off-campus, if you’re NOT talking about Single Student Apartments (if you are talking about the SSA, then I apologize, but that part wasn’t clear from your OP or response). If you’re basing those calculations off what the Single Student Apartments are, they’re WAY more expensive than regular price. Compare SSA’s $13,100 with the normal price of $800-2700 (depending on # of rooms–the less rooms, the cheaper) of those same apartments listed on the SSA page. Like I said, I’d only be paying $1125 (split 3 ways between me and two other roommates) for my apartment next fall, and if I wanted to get a meal plan (I’d have to fill out an application, though), that’d be about $2500-ish.</p>
<p>I assume leo is referring to the per-10 months price (600-700/room @ 10 months = $6-7000 + meal plan to get to $9000) while sopranokitty is referring to the monthly ($800 for something like a studio to $2700 for something like a 4 bedroom/2 bath).</p>
<p>leo: Don’t forget that going off-campus and independent usually means a full year lease, so you need to pay 12 months unless you find someone to sublease your room for the summer. You’re not guaranteed the 10 month price.</p>
<p>Also, most apartments in Davis lease from Sept 1 to Aug 31. However, some will have a blackout period (say a couple weeks before Aug31 or after Sept1) of several weeks so if you stay for the full year, you might be out a place for some time. Make sure you don’t have to pay for that time and know that you can arrange other housing and a place to put your stuff. Know that if you take a lease that isn’t Sept 1 to Aug 31, it makes it harder to switch places. Also, know that the moving period of Aug 31 to Sept 1 might be kind of crazy.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is your security deposit. There are many complexes out there where you can pretty much kiss your security deposit goodbye no matter how clean you are and how well you clean up after yourself. Some will even try to charge you on top of that. Make sure you take ample before and after pictures in case you have to go to small claims court… or just calculate what the rent will be assuming you’re ‘donating’ the security deposit. The power tends to rest with the landlord and they know that you’re coming from out of town and in a hard spot if they suddenly spring something on you the day you arrive or engage in funny business after the fact when you’re too far away to do anything about it. Protect yourself!</p>
<p>Also, check out the apartment complexes on the Davis Wiki and ask around. Be careful though as some individuals working for the apartment complexes have tried to whitewash the Davis Wiki in the past – deleting or ALTERING (!!) other users’ comments! Check the revision history to be sure.</p>
<p>I don’t know if on campus is any better in this regard. Just remember: document, document, document!</p>