<p>Do 3rd and 4th year undergrad students generally live off campus? I heard a few rumors that the quality of the dorms are not as great so people choose to live elsewhere. Can someone confirm? Thanks.</p>
<p>I moved off campus sophomore year, but based on my friends and acquaintances, I’d say a good chunk start leaving the dorms. </p>
<p>Not sure if it’s due to the quality, mostly it’s due to the fact that they’re going to be in the city during the summer for internships/jobs so at that points, it’s just easier to get an apartment with your friends.</p>
<p>I moved off campus junior year. Cost is an issue - the cheapest upperclassmen dorms are around $9000 for the academic year, and those are triples or very small doubles. My single room cost $9900 for the calendar year, and internet and utilities works out to $50ish a month, so you can see I got considerable savings, especially in terms of price per square foot of personal space.</p>
<p>Quality depends on what you consider important. Now that I’m off-campus, I can tell you it’s a pain to deal with pests, collecting packages is much more of a hassle, you can’t just call someone to fix a broken fire alarm or a clogged toilet, and my apartment was a bit crummier than a dorm would have been (this of course can be solved by not getting a crummy apartment). Also, when I first moved off-campus, I missed that start-of-the-semester buzz that you get when you’re in a dorm and everyone is gearing up.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I have much more personal space than I would have had in a dorm, and it’s kind of nice not being in a collegiate environment all the time (I’m not talking about “adult supervision” or RAs, I just mean that I like having a separation between “school” space and “my” space). I don’t have to move out every summer, and I can collect all the books I want.</p>
<p>How hard is it to qualify for a lease? I’ve heard that parents need to make 80 times the monthly rent to cosign.</p>
<p>If you can get your parents on the lease as co-tenants, then most buildings will only require 25-30 times the monthly rent. If they are guarantors or insurers instead, it will be 60-80 times in most buildings.</p>
<p>There is no particular disadvantage to having one parent, or both, sign on as co-tenants.</p>
<p>Unless there is a coup in some sort of familial court intrigue, and you’re left fighting over the apartment, it should be okay.</p>
<p>It’s definitely true that juniors and seniors move off campus. Housing works with a lottery system, and the more credits you have, the worse your selection time is. Most juniors and seniors are left with the most undesirable dorms (Lafayette, Green House) that pretty much nobody wants to live in. Seniors sometimes don’t get housing at all (happened to 4 of my friends) and get placed in hotels. There simply isn’t enough room. So seniors are pretty much forced to get apartments.</p>
<p>As people said, apartments offer benefits such as year-round housing, getting to choose your roommates instead of dealing with the painful lottery system, and potentially higher quality living spaces. However, apartment hunting is notoriously stressful in Manhattan if you’re on a budget. Brokers’ fees are high and many people are trying to rip off college students because they know they don’t have much experience in this kind of stuff. Apartments also can wind up farther than walking distance to campus, which means daily commutes by subway or bus and potentially dangerous neighborhoods. Also, pests, crummy landlords, no doormen/security, no mail services, buying furniture, and non-student neighbors can add to the stress of apartment life. But of course it all depends on what apartment you get and whether you can afford a nice place.</p>
<p>2collegewego, my parents had to make 80x the rent to be my guarantors. It depends on how nice the apartment is and its location, so not all apartments have such high demands on guarantors. My place is $1500 a month for three people if that helps. My broker said most apartments in that price range in Manhattan will require 80x the rent. Cheaper apartments and/or Brooklyn probably has less strict requirements though.</p>
<p>My broker gave us two options - pay the entire year’s rent up front or get a co-signer. My roommate was able to negotiate for 3 months’ rent up front in place of a co-signer. Unusual, but no harm asking the broker - you might get lucky.</p>