<p>Before deciding to come back to Seattle, D was looking at transferring to a school in Boston and living off campus (she’s an older student). The places she looked at were nowhere near $5,000 a month and with her father (who works in Boston) helping, they found many places for her and a friend to rent well below that. I would have no problem with a college student living off-campus, but the price here concerns me. Either your D is getting scammed or she’s only looking at really high-end places. I would call her and hash this out before any money gets put down.</p>
<p>Agree that $1300/month PLUS utilities, cable, internet is way too high unless they have a 4br in the best building in Boston. </p>
<p>I have told D1 the point of reference is the $7500 for her 9 month contract is for her on-campus 2br that includes all utilities, internet & cable. There is some savings, as most kids can eat cheaper than the mandatory dining contract.</p>
<p>I think it depends on where your child goes to school. My D is at The University of Texas in Austin. There is barely enough on campus housing for the freshmen, much less any upper classmen. She will be moving into an apartment next year…actually signed her lease in October because if she didn’t, the choices would be very limited. We are paying 1000.00 per month and another 100.00 per month for parking…I know…crazy…but that’s the going rate in Austin.</p>
<p>Wow, Austin has changed! When we first moved up here, Austin rents were much cheaper than Portland’s.</p>
<p>My Dd lived in a cute apartment as a grad in Cambridge for four years at $750 + utilities with three other students, each had their own room in a great part of town. This was two years ago, but I can’t imagine prices have jumped that much.
I agree with those who wouldn’t pay more for their kid’s apartment than they would have to pay living in the dorm, unless there was some good reason.</p>
<p>DEar all, thank you for all your thoughtful responses!
the first i heard of this, she had a neuro exam in two hours, so we told her to finish and call back. Got a call at 230 EST, 3am India and we had decided that we would ask her to go ahead. dad and I felt the hw was done, she a big girl, etc etc.
turn out that she need to pay a realtor fee, one months rent!!! This was a deal breaker for us!!! We had to regretfully tell her that our finances do not allow this kind of a housing expense for D1. This is not a apartment style living, no doorman. Three floors with the owner on the ground.
adding everything up, there is no way off campus is going to be less than the dorm. and i understand food can get tiring.
another thing preying on my mind is that she said off campus housing, but it seems we were given 1 hour to decide. Things with D1 are a fait accompli and i put it down to well exercised research and all, but the costs here are mind boggling.
so now i have a very disappointed child (!!??) going off to aunts place in CA for the holidays.
Throwing everything in, thank you for a patient read. do write back is there is anything you can say. I feel i have done right, not said no for the sake of saying it
but…</p>
<p>It seems to me you made the right decision. The expenses seem too much.</p>
<p>If the price were more reasonable, I would say to allow her to do it. At my son’s school, only freshman and a few sophomores are in the dorms. The students pretty much all move into student apartments by junior year.</p>
<p>Again, I think you have approached this reasonably and fairly.</p>
<p>I think you made a very fair and reasonable decision. I’m not sure what your usual frequency and method of communication is, but it seems to me that even with a student that is independent and in another country it is fair to keep a parent ‘in the loop’ via email as this process is going on. She knew she was looking at housing off campus at some point before today and that would have been something to share with you so you could have worked with your concerns about living off campus separately from the financial issue. You could have then discussed financial perimeters with more time to work with, as well as research what is reasonable for the area.</p>
<p>My son was signing a lease this fall to move off campus next year and I asked to be kept informed as he looked at places regarding price, location, amenities, etc. I didn’t drive the search at all, he and his roommates did. I wanted to be up to date so when they DID need to act quickly I had the information I needed to say “Yes, this is an acceptable option. Go ahead and sign the lease.” Your daughter didn’t give you the courtesy of keeping you informed so you could have information at hand to make a quick decision. You made the only reasonable decision you could, no matter what the price was. A couple hour’s notice is not an acceptable amount of time to determine that housing in a city a world away is appropriate for your DD. She’s disappointed but could have avoided this by keeping you informed as she was going through this process. It doesn’t make her less independent, it makes her respectful of someone who is footing the bill.</p>
<p>One month’s rent to the realtor is the norm in that market. Even when the renter does all the work of finding the place they are responsible for the fee. My very frugal son is in Somerville, sharing a nice one bedroom (but far from luxurious) and pays $1400/month (total). Easy commute (biking for him) to Harvard and MIT.</p>
<p>$1300 is too much. DS lived in a three family house right near BU. it was NOT lovely by any measure or means. Rent was about $600 a month. Four shared a three bedroom apartment. This did not include any utilities.</p>
<p>We BEGGED him to live on campus…Student Village is terrific. BUT he really wanted to live off campus, and he did his junior year. He did a study abroad in the fall, sublet in the spring when he returned, and continued to live off campus until he graduated. MANY college students in Boston live off campus. There are tons of apartments. Hopefully your daughter will find something more affordable. She will be fine.</p>
<p>I would have done the same thing, apply2school. She can continue to look for something more reasonable, although she may find that the people she wanted to live with go ahead and find another room mate to replace her. She may not have been “in the loop” herself at the beginning, but may have been brought in at the end to help with the rent.
If she really wants to live off campus, and isn’t just excited to be part of this one opportunity, she’ll find places. December isn’t too late. I seem to remember March being the month that my Dd had to tell the rental offices whether they would be leasing for the following year or not, so places will continue to open up.</p>
<p>I always thought Boston was just a little more spendy than Seattle.
Well for some things it is- but housing looks to be quite a bit more.</p>
<p>
[Common</a> Types of Living Arrangements - Boston College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/offices/reslife/offcampus/ocrsrcs/planning/livingarrangements.html]Common”>Residential Life - Boston College)</p>
<p>@moonchild - Thank you!! that is what we said.
@thumper1 - I have begun to scour the market myself. Hopefully she will find something reasonably nice and yet primarily safe.
1moremom yes - I will factor in realtor fees as is the norm</p>
<p>@blueiguana - completely spoke my mind. we talk frequently - calls, emails, I try to not be a helicopter parent the first call honestly took me by surprise.
I agree that we cannot go by what we did in the early 90’s in terms of rent and our monthly outlays-also we were grad students but for 19 year olds, we felt it was a lot of money.
and this would be the base going forward. how does one downsize after this? and we don’t want her to start working just to keep up the spend.
I felt much better after this post 
</p>
<p>@calla1 - so glad to hear this. </p>
<p>she is not irresponsible in any fashion and she has taken the disappointment well. we are telling her what is acceptable now and i will follow your lead of asking to be in the loop during the search.
In fact, i sent her the link to this thread. CC has been a huge support during her college search as well:)</p>
<p>thanks again!!!</p>
<p>So, the rent IS over five thousand a month??? This seems crazy and I don’t care where it is. We’re talking about housing for students, not Wall Street whiz bangs. </p>
<p>My older son pays 750 a month for his half of his apt in a pricey city…and I thought that was high since there are very few amenities offered…not even a pool. </p>
<p>Certainly something cheaper can be found that is still nice enough for four girls.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s perfectly normal for a 4-bedroom apartment in a nice area/new construction to be over $5000/mo in Boston or NYC. An apartment for “Wall Street whiz bangs” is $20K/mo for one person. </p>
<p>Do you have experience with the Boston apartment market, in particular the neighborhoods the OP’s daughter is looking at?</p>
<p>@tetrahedr0n I dont know the area from a RE perspective. I just know that this particular 3 storey house was very very close to warren in a nice safe neighborhood, close to where the classes are. I have joined the search in right ernest!!</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids i am glad we took the decision we did at 3 am. In hindsight now, reading your collective wisdom, i know our instinct was correct :)</p>
<p>My son lives in cambridge, in a 3 bedroom. I believe each pays @ $1100, depends on size of bedroom, but this includes most utilities. Had he moved into a large apartment building, the rent would have been higher. Had he chosen a nicer neighborhood, rent would go up.they began looking in spring, but summer gets busy, as most places rent August or September.</p>
<p>Near BU, Brighton would probably be less expensive than Brookline. You can go to Craig’s list and search apartments in the vicinity. You can see maps and pictures of the apartments. I followed the list for a month and sent suggestions. The young men looked at many places, and were ready to jump when saw their current place. I suspect they will still be there thru graduation.</p>
<p>Apply2school, I just looked up Craig’s list. I found many listings, specifically stating near BU, with 4bedrooms ranging from$2900 and up. Luxury apts were listed below $4500, including heat.</p>
<p>I never paid more than $700 as a college student in Boston. For some of that time, I was living further away from campus, but for some of it, I was right in Fenway. You can find deals, and you should also look in Allston/Brighton, which is kind of the cheaper end of campus. That price absolutely sounds like a luxury apartment, and it also sounds like they’re building in the middle of campus vs a 10 minute walk to prey on students. I really wouldn’t worry about a building being a ten 100 minute walk away, since BU is a big campus anyway and it can take longer than to walk across campus. </p>
<p>I was always saving money on rent from the dorm costs. Northeastern dorms are expensive, and with four people and with BU’s slightly out of the city location, you should be able to find deals on rent.</p>