Thread: On Campus or Off Campus Housing for Incoming GSP 3rd Termers???

Hi Everyone,
I am currently in the UK and will be coming down in January. I was just wondering what general opinions were about living on campus vs. living off campus. Also, if people have some ideas about good apartments / neighborhoods off campus, and best dorms on campus, that would be great!

Thanks!

It really depends on what you prefer. Personally, I would rather eat one of my own kidneys than live on campus again, but I've lived on my own for the past 7 or 8 years now, and having to share a room (or even a suite) rankled, to say the least. I'm living off campus now and I feel like a normal person again. Most students live within a 15 and 20 minute walk of campus, near a bus route though there are some further away that need cars to get anywhere.

However, a lot of people like living on campus. You get convenience, if nothing else. It's the same decision you make at any school, really. What did you do in undergrad? What are you doing now?

I lived both on campus and off campus. I am thinking to move back on campus for the next term, since the term is very time consuming and you spend a lot of time on campus anyway. In 4th term we will get 1 or 2 hour breakes, which can be used for lunch in your dorm room,or even a nap, if you need one. I like living off campus, (I am 10 minutes walk from campus), my room is large and kitchen is huge, but on campus you get more interactions with people and don't spend time on commuting. You can always move on campus when you arrive and then look for a place off campus. Lots of people are looking for roommates now. School refunds you I think most of the amount until certain time, so you can always move off campus if you don't like it there. But if you move off campus right away, many landlords want you to sign the lease contract for 6 months, a term or even a year. If you don't like it there, you might lose your deposit money. Also, since you've never been to Grenada, I would recommend you to research the area where you would wonna live off campus, since not all of them are convenient and safe.

Plus you gotta win the lottery to be on Campus

I don't think it's a problem now, since SD6 was built. There is a chance that you would not get what you wanted, but I am pretty sure you will get something. Last term I did not win the lottery, went on waiting list for a single and in a week and a half was offered one. By that time I already got myself an off-campus place. And later I received an e-mail, that on-campus housing is still available, so if I want any - I should stop by housing office.

Originally Posted by mcsarpanch

Plus you gotta win the lottery to be on Campus

Originally Posted by mcsarpanch

Plus you gotta win the lottery to be on Campus

GSP is guaranteed housing for their first term in GND.

If you don't mind dorm life, I would recommend on-campus for fourth term. Makes things easier. But I know a lot of people content with their off-campus place. However, it can be a pain in the butt to try an coordinate a deal with landlords while being in the UK. Not sure if you get to chose your place oncampus though, we were pretty much told we could only go into the superdorms.

Pluses for the dorms : AC on all the time, Water on all the time, free laundry, housekeeping.

You can probably find these in an off campus places, but i know a few GSPers that had to shuffle around because their first place wasn't what they expected.

my place has only had 2 water interruptions in the slightly over 1 year we've been here and they each only lasted a few hours. There's a free washing machine (no dryer) on site as well.

Just look around and see what's being offered. Some places even offer electricity included in the rent for a higher fee and sometimes (not often) it's actually reasonable.

I was going to start another thread for this but I guess I'll just ask here since it's kind of related-

What's better-
Start looking at off-campus places now that are close to campus and sign a lease and forget about the on-campus lottery altogether?
OR
Enter the lottery and cross my fingers, and if I don't get housing, start searching for off-campus apartments come November/December?

I feel like if I wait for Lottery results and end up not getting a spot, I'm going to be screwed as far as finding off-campus housing that's relatively close to campus. There isn't even a timeline up for when Housing applications open up, etc. so I don't even really know what to expect.

Lastly, does anyone have a rough idea of how much the triples in SD3/6 cost? I figure it's more than $3600/semester since that's what we pay for a double in SD1/2 right now. If living off campus is going to actually end up saving me money in terms of rent, I might consider it...

Any thoughts/advice?

Now that they've opened the megadorm, everyone who enters the lottery gets housing. It might not be what you want, but worst case scenario you'll get a bedroom in a 3-person suite. If you decide to live off campus, your best chance to look is around mid-november before the lottery results come out. Before then and most landlords don't know how many vacancies they'll have next term, and right afterwards, good places get scarce as people panic and snatch up everything even remotely decent.

Everyone who wants housing gets it? Really?
That sounds very un-SGU like...