Off-Campus Apartments

     Off-campus apartments are a great choice for those who don't want to deal with the issues that come along with living in a dormatory, even on-campus apartments can have issues because of their location on campus, possibly being next to several dormatories or fraternity houses or even just an area of campus that is frequently busy with students throughout the day.  With an off-campus apartment, you also get to have a choice in your location, the type of apartment you want to live in, and you have the added flexibility of only paying your rent for the first month and the safety deposit up front, instead of paying the rent for the entire semester up front.  However, this also means that you need to be smart with your money so that you don't find yourself out of funds half-way through the semester, because an off-campus land lord can (and most likely will) evict you from your apartment if you neglect to pay them.
     That said, most land lords are very understanding if you build a good rapore with them and explain your situation should the need ever arise, but don't rely on that and just waste all of your money, because land lords are very good at telling who is really in a bad situation because of some unforeseen emergency and who is just not being responsible with their finances.  So make a budget that allows for the possiblility of an emergency such as unforeseen medical bills or car repairs, etc. and stick to that budget, you will be glad you did.
     There are several ways your land lord may do things; most often they expect you to pay all utilities plus your rent every month.  The utilities include electricity, water (these are the main 2 everyone needs to have), and the optional utilities of TV and internet.  Some land lords are willing to pay the power if you pay the water, or vice versa.  Most often there are strict rules against having pets in apartment buildings, but some allow pets (some land lords don't charge for pets, while others may charge a monthly fee or additional safety deposit for the pet).  The best thing to do if you start looking for an apartment early enough is to really look into all the local land lords and apartments they own.  Speak to the current tenants and see what they have to say about their aparment and land lord, ask any friends that go to your chosen school if they have an apartment and how they like it (and
would they recommend renting from their land lord or using a different one).  It can also help to ask the admissions staff at the school you plan to attend, as many times they have some knowledge of local land lords and apartments.  It may also be a good idea to buy a local newspaper and check for rental properties in it, sometimes you may even find a self-serve stand outside a store or in a plaza that has local real estate information.  Along those same lines, you could do an online search for "Rental properties in (fill in the blank with the town or county your chosen school is in)".  More and more real estate agents and rental property owners are putting their apartments online to help drive more potential customers to them.  Use this to your advantage and you can quickly gain a lot of knowledge about the rental properties near your school.
     There are also usually some houses for rent as well.  These can also be great choices, although most times they are a little more expensive than a comparable apartment (maybe $50-200 more per month).  A house can offer even more privacy than an apartment, some have a pretty sizeable yard included, as well as a garage or other form of private parking.  A warming though, I knew of many friends in my time in college who had houses, and they were always being pressured to throw parties at their house.  While I am not saying you should never throw a party at your rental house, I just want to caution you that these parties tent to get out of control very quickly and very easily.  You may invite 5-15 of your close friends, but when they tell some of their other friends and those friends tell other people and so on, in no time you have upwards of 100 people showing up at your house, most of them you don't even know!  It sounds crazy or like it's straight out of a movie but trust me, I have seen it happen so many times.  The next day your house is completely trashed and you wind up doing most of the clean up yourself with the help of a few of your better friends.  If you are unlucky, you may even have some permanent damage to the home that will cost you your deposit or be expensive to get repaired yourself.  Another thing to consider when thinking of throwing a house party is that if it gets too loud and you have neighbors close by, those neighbors will be all too happy to call the police and report the party, and guess who they ask for when they show up?  That's right, they ask for
you!  So bear that all in mind when thinking about renting a house, just like any other living situation it has it's perks, but it also has it's downside.
     One other off-campus living option is to live with a family member, of course this only applies if you happen to have a family member that lives within a reasonable driving distance from the college. If you have this option, it can be much less expensive since many times family members will let you stay with them for free or for helping them with some minor chores occasionally.  This can allow you to take out less loan money, and therefore accrue less debt, however you may also opt to still take the full loan amount and just have the extra money if you need it.  The biggest downsides to living with a family member (and this may not be the case depending on the family member) are that you probably won't be having a lot of friends over or parties, and family members tend to pry into your business more than you would like.  Some family members can also be very frustrating to live with in the long term, so bear this in mind when you are considering moving in with a family member to attend college.  You will almost certainly come out a lot cheaper, but you have to weigh that with the possibility of losing some of your freedom and privacy.