Room and Board

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

Hi. I have a question about what to do about housing and a meal plan for my upcoming year (sophomore). I have signed the housing contract to live in a double for $9000 and have purchased a meal plan for $6300. I was too busy during the year to look into finding good off-campus housing plus most students at NU live on campus sophomore year. However, now I’m thinking I made a mistake and should have chosen to live off campus since paying over $15k for room and board is crazy expensive.

If I live on campus I am required to purchase a meal plan. There are a couple of very slightly cheaper meal plan options, but considering they would cover less meals and I would have to eat out or buy my own food to compensate for that it would still be roughly the same price. I feel like the meal plan is much more overpriced than the housing (rent in Evanston is expensive) and if I moved off campus I could save money.

In terms of housing I could switch to a cheaper double in a different (worse) dorm that would cost $8000, saving $1k. I could also choose to live off-campus for a rent of $600-800/month (very rough estimate). There aren’t many places still available this late but I probably could find one if I tried. However, if I cancelled my housing contract now I would incur a $1.5k fee. However, with the large savings on food and modest savings on rent this may still be worth it.

What do you recommend that I do?

2

You should bite the bullet -so to speak - for this year, and plan better for next year. However, I had 2 kids move off campus - and they both moved back for senior years. They didn’t like having to cook, clean, shop etc on their own. Dorm life was neat, clean and meals served hot when they wanted them. Neither are lazy, but they both were/are big into club sports, and that affects the limited time available for schoolwork, study, fun, etc. Good luck - but consider all the factors that affect what works best for you.

3

I cancelled my housing contract ($9k per year for room, $6k for food) before sophomore year when the fee was around $2.5k, moving into an off-campus house where my rent + food costs were around $700 per month, so I saved thousands of dollars over living in a dorm, even with the cancellation fee. And it was awesome.

Because of living in that house - the MOSAIC Co-op, to be exact - I did have to do chores and cooking, but I feel like the benefits of saving that much money (plus living off campus in general) outweighed not having to do them but paying an extra few grand. Plus, doing dishes and cooking and cleaning made me feel responsible and stuff when I finished, and were also preparation for things I’m going to need to do in life after college.

All in all, I recommend moving off campus. Especially with a group of people, like in a house or a multi-person apartment.