<p>So heres my situation, I’m attending college this August as a freshmen at the University of New Mexico and I will also be moving out of my mom’s house. My tuition a long with my books are already paid for the only thing I am lacking is where I will be living and how I will be paying for it. During college I plan on working 15 hours a week, 60 a month, which (after taxes are deducted) will amount to about a $340 - $360 monthly income. I’ve done some searching online for apartments nearby and I found that they range from $325 - $800. Their were a few $325 - $375 one bedroom’s and then I saw a 2 bedroom for $590 a long with some others. On the $325 - $375 one bedroom apartments I will have to pay the electric bill. I will NOT be living in an on-campus dorm.</p>
<p>I haven’t looked too much into it, thought I’d get some advice from you guys first, so my questions are:</p>
<li>Based on my income would you recommend I get a roommate or live by myself?</li>
<li>The one bedroom $325 apartment is 400 sq. feet, is that too small?</li>
<li>I Googled results for apartments nearby the University but does anyone know of any websites that are really good for search results for housing near Universities?</li>
<li>If I choose to live in a 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate will the land lord automatically assign me one or will I have to find one on my own?</li>
</ol>
<p>I will update these questions regularly when I think of them. Thanks for your time!</p>
<p>Usually you are in charge of finding your own roommate. You school might have some type of place you can look for other people looking for off-campus roommates. Call and find out if they do.</p>
<p>I'd go with having another roommate because it would cost less and it wouldn't be so lonely.</p>
<p>You also need to think about buying furniture, cleaning supplies, and food. I don't think that your paycheck will cut it, and if it does, you will be really short on cash and probably won't have money for those fun activities friends seem to always want to do.</p>
<p>Well they said at orientation the average student worked 15 hours a week and i don't wanna push myself too hard, and I'm guessing all starting jobs at the university pay minimum wage ($7.15 / hour) so its about $350 a month after taxes... perhaps I can get a 3 bedroom apartment and have 2 roommates.. I don't know what else to do.</p>
<p>As for the furniture problem I will be bringing most of the stuff I have now with me, but I do realize there will be many things I will still have to buy no matter what.</p>
<p>You say that tuition and books are taken care of and you have to come up with living expenses. Have you budgeted for food and personal expenses? $350 a month isn't going to cut if for housing, food and spending money.</p>
<p>The cheapest way to go is to look for ads on campus and around campus for roommates or roomshares. That way you don't need to put down the deposit or apply for the place.</p>
<p>I'm assuming you're not close enough to go to campus now and start looking for flyers.</p>
<p>I'd try contacting the housing department and asking whether there's any way for you to find a roommate before you get there. You may find a roommate who already has a place, or you may need to find an apartment.</p>
<p>And whatever you do, make sure that any roommates you have sign the lease (they may want you to sign the lease, too, and that's reasonable). If they turn out to be irresponsible, you do not want to be solely responsible for all the rent. You can put different utilities in different people's names.</p>
<p>If you're disciplined, you can work more than 15 hours, get all your studying done, and have some fun.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice so far guys, I am actually about a 15 minute drive from the campus I just work days until 5 pm but I will go over there the next time I get a chance and look for flyer's and all that good stuff. Any other advice is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I think the older students will usually live off campus. Some schools have LJs where they usually have postings for roommates. Ask around your campus also.</p>
<p>Ah... I see... well today I did some searching and found where all of the off campus housing is posted at...
I just have one main question that I want to know, ok so most of the apartments nearby the campus are around $350 - $500 a month in rent, how do students pay for this?
As you guys said before, with utilities, food, entertainment, etc. you will need a lot more than the amount of rent to live off campus, so with that said I can only assume that most of the students living off campus by themselves or with a roommate are in the same situation as me (15 hour work weeks, most of them making minimum wage), so how can they afford it? What am I missing / doing wrong?</p>
<p>Sometimes on facebook, people for the school's marketplace (which does exist now even though networks don't) post want ads for a room mate...you should try looking there, too.</p>
<p>Savings, parental contribution, loans, longer work weeks, better wages, more roommates.</p>
<p>There are a lot of traditionally-aged students living in the building where I live, and they often live 2 or 3 to a bedroom in 2- and 3-bedroom apartments. It's worth it to them because they are almost never home -- they're at school and/or work most of the time that they're awake -- and because this place is 2 blocks from their school so the extent of their transportation costs is a pair of good shoes and an umbrella.</p>
<p>Would your mom be willing to let you stay there this year and charge you only a nominal rent? Have you picked up skills in your summer and after-school jobs during high school that someone would pay good money for? Is not working more than 15 hours a week important enough to you that you're willing to go into debt for it? Are you academically skilled enough to get informal tutoring jobs?</p>
<p>The reason why I am so paranoid about working more than the average is because if if I don't get a 2.5 or higher GPA for my first semester in college I'll lose my lottery scholarship (how my tuition is being paid) and since I know virtually nothing about how difficult college work is, aside from what I was told during orientation, I don't feel comfortable over-working myself.</p>
<p>And, you'll probably laugh at me for saying this, but my mom has already offered me to stay at the house free of all charges, even food, and its only about a 15 minute drive to the campus however, my parents fight a lot and my sister lives here with her 3 kids so I don't want all the chaos and drama while I'm trying to study or whatever I'm doing, also she kind of always pictured I'd move out and become my own man once I turned 18 and I plan on doing just that, which is why staying at her house isn't exactly an option for me.</p>
<p>Yeah I'm really thinking about loans at this point, I'm also considering saving about $750 and taking $50 or so from that savings each month that I'm in the apartment and using that + my wages to cover expenses, that should hold me over for my freshmen year, then I'll file my FAFSA in January of next year in the hopes of getting a grant from the University. I definitely need to start learning to plan ahead.</p>
<p>It's going to be a tough go, Lobos. There is sometimes chaos and drama with room shares. You may find staying at the library until you get your school work and studying done, the best way to go regardless of where you live, and you can save a lot of money living with parents. Kids pay for room and board either through their parents, scholarships, loans, work, savings. If you don't have those available, commuting may be the best way to go.</p>
<p>If you can find some subsidized loans (you should get that option through the school's financial aid) take those. Don't take the un-subs, at least not yet. The subsidized loans won't start accruing interest until you graduate. If those aren't an option I'd really, really suggest commuting, but being away from home as much as possible. It's really not hard to stay on campus for the vast majority of the day. Go to your earliest class, then hang out in the library or lounges between classes. You can do homework then or, if you don't have any, just go hang out in a friends room or something. Do your later classes, then go to work or head back for more studying/hanging out. You could easily stay on campus until late and hardly have to deal with your chaotic family. I totally understand your aversion to staying there and only you know if it's really bad enough that it's going to hurt you more than loans/extra work hours/etc. would, but it is an option. Then you can save as much money as possible from your job and hopefully get a couple scholarships and move out next year.</p>
<p>I'm not telling you to live at home, because like I said, only you know if that's really an option. I'm just saying to consider how much time you could spend AWAY from home, basically just occasionally eating and sleeping there.</p>
<p>Do bear in mind that living with someone else requires adjustments and is not always easy. You will have to adjust to that. Also there is stuff to do and distractions when you share a place. You also have to shop, clean, get supplies, deal with issues with having an apartment, pay, etc. It is not all carefree. Only you know the extent of the issues at home so that is your decision, but Chuy is right that you can stay on campus for most of the time. I know I had to do most of my studying on campus anyways, as the dorms were very distracting to me, and when I did get an apartment there was just always something that needed to be done. There. Laundromat, shopping, something being fixed, roommate had friends over, etc.</p>