Housing Guide: More students choose to live off campus
Data from the Registrar's Web site shows a drop in
Published Feb. 21, 2006
During the past six and a half years, the number of students who choose to live off-campus has increased compared with those who decided to live in residence halls.
Kerri Navarro, property manager at Sterling University Housing apartments, located on S. Providence Road, said she thought for students, living on campus is too much like living with parents or guardians, and many students enjoy the independence of apartments.
Brandi Herrman-Rose, a marketing specialist for the Department of Residential Life, said not all students want the responsibilities and independence that come with off-campus living.
"Living on campus provides convenience because it is close to classes and learning communities are a great way to make connections with faculty and staff," she said. "Off-campus housing is a good way for juniors, seniors and graduate students to learn how to manage bills and live on their own. For some students, though, it is a nice option to not have to start worrying about bills and have a lot of responsibility."
The cost of living off campus versus living in residence halls is a concern for many students.
Navarro said the most expensive apartments at Sterling cost less than the most expensive residence hall rooms.
Herrman-Rose said cost is important when Residential Life builds new facilities and renovates older residence halls.
"When we build these new halls, we aren't getting any funding outside of the university so we need to charge higher prices to fund the projects," she said. "It is a catch-22 because students want the newer halls to have more amenities but they are also a little more expensive."
The most expensive on-campus options are Discovery, Excellence, Respect and Responsibility residence halls, which opened Fall 2004, nearly 40 years since the last major renovation of a residence hall, Herrman-Rose said.
Data on the MU registrar's Web site shows from 1999 to 2005, the percentage of total undergraduates living in residence halls dropped from 29.9 to 27.6 percent.
The number of students living off campus has risen from 56.3 to 61.7 percent of total undergraduates during the same time period.
Herrman-Rose said the increased percentages of off-campus students are a result of larger influxes of younger students forcing older students out of the residence halls, but that might change soon.
"For the past five to six years we have had an increase in the freshman class size, which has forced returning students to move off campus," she said. "This year we don't anticipate a larger freshman class but we will have an increase in space due to new construction."
Navarro said there are many advantages to off-campus living. She said not frequently eating in a dining hall and having room to entertain friends were advantages of off-campus living.
"Part of the problem with the meal plan is that if you're into institutional cooking, you're paying for something you're not going to eat," Linda Doles, assistant manager of the Dumas Apartment Complex on University Avenue, said.
Doles said she thought the change of scenery from the university and increased autonomy were big draws for students wanting to live off campus.
Herrman-Rose said Residential Life is working to ensure students will continue to be interested in on-campus housing.
"Students are vastly different from 40 years ago because many have not even shared a bathroom, let alone a bedroom. The new residence halls are the type of accommodations students are more interested in because they provide more privacy," she said.
"While we think it is a good experience for people to live together because they learn how to live with others and they learn a lot about themselves, some students are demanding more privacy."
Not all the residence halls will change though, so not all students will get the privacy they seek. Herrman-Rose said all of the new residence halls will be built as suites but renovations in older residence halls will keep aspects such as community style bathrooms.
"Our campus will be a mixture of suites and community style rooms," she said.