Ithaca, NY: my son is moving into a 10 bedroom house, single room $650/month includes all utilities. House is older but within 5 min walking distance from campus. This year he is in a double dorm room $9,000 for the school year.
Continuing post #20: he secured his house last fall. As for meal plan, he will keep a plan to eat dinner at a dining hall at least 3 nights a week and it comes with $100 “bucks” you can spend on campus. That plan is $565/semester. We will supplement by increasing his “bucks” to eat more on campus (they have some places with hot meals with salad bars) and also cash for groceries. I know he’ll eat better on campus so that’s why I chose to increase his bucks more than his grocery budget.
Son will be paying $800 CA so about $640 US for his own bedroom in a 4 bedroom/two bath townhouse. He chose to go a few blocks further for nice (unit has W/D, dishwasher). Great neighborhood in Montreal. His summer earnings pay for food and going out; he just said he wants to get a second job this summer (evenings/weekends) to up his going out lifestyle a bit this upcoming year.
Dd in grad school in Berkeley - $1100/mo + utilities for own bdrm in 3bdrm apt. And that was an absolute bargain.
My D is about to sign a lease for next year. She’s in New Orleans. $1500/month for 3 bedrooms, Her share will be $500 plus utilities. That will be about $1400 a year cheaper than the dorm. And that’s before you consider the meal plan which is over $5000. She may still want a limited plan for a few meals on campus.
East coast city, $5500/month rent for 5 bedroom shared by 5 students and sublet for 3 months of the summer to recover 90% of the 3 months which brings the cost about equivalent to on campus except for electric and cable. Since the $5500 meal plan is not required, and student will pay for food and utilities, costs are definitely lower than on campus. Still startled by the rental cost, refinishing old furniture and hoping that this is another tremendous learning experience in preparation for independence after graduation.
$575 per month plus electricity for 3 bedroom/2 bath duplex with washer dryer in unit and a garage spot, much nicer than my first apartments and probably my first house. Wisconsin. Room and board for the university is $1100 per month, should be less overall in the apartment. But we don’t have a choice all Juniors & Seniors are not provided university housing.
S1 pays $1700 CAD and D pays $1900 CAD for one bedroom apartments in Toronto in the same building close to U of T. They thought of sharing, but the building didn’t have 2 bedrooms for when D needed to move in and S will be moving out of town months before the lease would be up on a new apt. Rents skyrocketed in the 18 months between when the 2 apartments were leased.
Here in Gainesville you can live off-campus for $450-500/mo if you play your cards right.
SoCal - $1400-$1600 for a studio. (!!)
@bouders The difference between Toronto and Montreal rents…wow!
500 GBP /month plus utilities for own bedroom in 4 bedroom house. That is about 750 USD. Had to sign 10 month lease when she will not be there in June at all, which was frustrating. Would be cheaper to stay in halls but she didn’t like the food.
For those whose kids are attending schools in high cost areas - USC, UCLA, UCB - is there housing for upperclassmen on campus and, if so, is it cheaper? The rate many of you are quoting make me think it would be near impossible for low or true middle income (not CC middle income 
) families to swing.
"is there housing for upperclassmen on campus and, if so, is it cheaper? "
Good point. Two of DS’ top choice colleges were in London where the prices are insane. Before we let him apply, we checked to see if campus housing was guaranteed for all undergrad years. If it hadn’t been, not sure we would have been willing to let him apply knowing we’d have to figure out London rentals.
Daughter goes to college in NC. She moved off campus sophomore year to a 4 bedroom 4 bathroom apt. The place catered to college students so the amenities included a work out room, movie room, printer room, pool and outdoor grills. The cost was $625/mo but included all utilities and parking- there were no extra charges. She moved into a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house junior year and while the price of $450 seemed like a bargain, that included no extra fees. We have to pay for wifi and utilities and the difference didn’t end up being much less after all. Plus we had to furnish it. She is staying in the same house for senior year so we are thrilled we don’t have the hassle of moving her out and then back in again in 95 degree weather!
We give her $225 per month for food, toiletries and other essentials. Anything beyond that (like going out to eat incessantly, which she likes to do) is on her. We tried giving her all of the money on the 1st of the month but it was hard for her to budget at first. So we switched to giving 1/2 the 1st of the month and the other 1/2 on the 15th. She still needs to budget, but it is more manageable for her.
I’m assuming your S is at school either in Southern California or the Bay area with those prices. When my D was at a school in NYC it was actually less expensive in an apartment buying her own food than living in the dorms with a meal plan. She was a vegan at the time and ended up not using her meal plan much so she was also purchasing additional food and we had to pay for meals!
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