February 3, 2015

Back when I was studying in a very small private college in Pennsylvania, we did not need to worry about student housing. Before a semester ended, we got to choose our preference for where we wanted to live the following semester. There were even vacant rooms that students were able to switch to in the middle of the semester if they felt like it. Housing was only an issue when students wanted a bigger room.

I was very excited when I came to the States to attend college. I was thrilled that I got to experience college life, dormitories and meeting roommates. However, in transferring to the University of Missouri, I discovered that mainly only freshmen stayed in the residence halls and very few contracts were offered to upperclassmen.

Many freshmen living in a residence hall want to move out of the halls and into their own apartment with friends. You want to get rid of the boundaries you have staying in a residence hall and do not want to obey your resident advisors anymore.

Believe it or not, I envy students who get to stay in residence halls. Finding an apartment faces you with an entirely new set of problems: signing a lease, comparing housing prices, figuring out the wonder that is utilities and so much more.

The biggest problem for international students, I believe, is the problem of commuting to school. When we travel all the way from foreign countries, we definitely did not bring our cars with us. For students who are without transportation, going to school can be a problem, and that is when we want to search for a place to live within walking distance to campus.

However, we are looking at the price range of $700 to $1,000 when we want to find an apartment downtown within walking distance. As a student, that is a large chunk of change to drop on rent every month.

On the other hand, for students who have their own transportation and are able to drive to campus, there arises another problem: parking. I did not know the unforeseen challenge of parking until I got my own vehicle this semester. Unless you get to campus early in the morning, around 8 a.m., you are completely out of luck if you want to park anywhere near your classroom.

These student housing problems were not something anticipated when I first came to MU. I was not familiar with the idea of searching for your own place to live until I came here. I always thought all students were able to live in university-provided housing if they were so inclined. However, that is not the case here at Mizzou.

More and more private apartment buildings are under construction for the influx of students, and with rising demands, so too rises the price. Last time I checked, the private apartments being built on Broadway are over $1,000 per month.

I cannot help but think that students who worry about paying rent may then be distracted from their original purpose for coming here: the pursuit of an education.

Comments

The Maneater has the right to remove comments that do not comply with policies surrounding hate speech.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content