Claire:
While Stevens has significantly expanded its on-campus housing with the recent addition of the UCC University Towers, there still is a serious lack of space to house all Stevens students. Currently, Stevens has space for 1,824 students to live on campus, but about 7,527 graduate and undergraduate students. Due to this, nearly all students will have to search for outside housing at some point in their college careers. Going off campus gives you better housing stability since you don’t get kicked out during breaks or in the summer. Additionally, you no longer are at mercy of the Stevens housing lottery which can save you a lot of money.
I personally moved off campus after my freshman year, and I’m very happy with my apartment, although it was a difficult and confusing process and I definitely wish me and my roommate did things differently. The first thing that you need to think about is when you want your lease to start. It’s important to do this because usually leases start a few weeks after signing; landlords won’t reserve a place for you when someone else will rent immediately. So you’re going to have to plan a week in the month before your ideal start date to go apartment hunting. There is a lot else to consider like price, location, and amenities. The most important thing is to do your research, and start looking at listings now so that you have a sense of how things are priced and you can tell when you’re getting scammed.
Ethan:
Searching for an off-campus apartment should be the least of your concerns as the time to sign a lease approaches. There are so many factors to consider when apartment hunting, you may currently be thinking about the location and price of your prospective housing arrangement for the next year, but I encourage you to look deeper than that. Considering who you live with should be your top priority, you do not want your second year at college to be spoiled by living with an abomination.
The worst and most toxic way I can think to do that is to take all of your friends and create a large spreadsheet of who is willing to live with who and have a single moderator assign housing combinations based on their totally unbiased judgments. After getting your housing partner(s), you should then complain to the moderator that you do not like your housing arrangements and then everything will slowly fall into place… or completely fall apart. Now that you have your truly perfect roommate situation sorted, it is time to load up Zillow and hope something that won’t break your bank account falls into your lap. Finding apartments on a student’s budget may prove to be impossible and you will be forced to either take a loan or live on the street. If I want you to take anything away from this it is that there are things worse than living on the street, and that is living with bad roommates. Stay toxic, and have fun!
