If you’re looking forward to heading off to college or university soon, you may be wondering which option is best: should you live in a dorm on-campus or share an apartment or house off-campus with a few other friends or fellow students?

While there are pros and cons to each option, living off-campus could be a golden opportunity to save money and enjoy much more freedom and independence - not to mention privacy and space. Plus, there’s no need to pack up and move back home during the summer and holidays.

Value for Money

This one may come as a big surprise: it could be twice as expensive to live on-campus as off. As an example, in 2021-2022, it would have cost you $10,693 a year to rent a room in the residence hall of the University of Rochester. For upper-class on-campus housing options for returning students, you’d be shelling out almost $13,000 a year. In comparison, by sharing a house off-campus with a couple of friends, you can expect to pay around half of this annual cost. That’s a huge saving and one that can go towards staying out of debt - and enjoying your student experience to the maximum.

Also, bear in mind that if you live on-campus, your access to cooking facilities may be limited, meaning that you’ll likely need to pay for a student meal plan. The average price of a student meal plan is around $19 a day - a significant amount that can quickly add up. When you’re living in your own place, off-campus, however, you can save on this score by cooking your meals at home. By creating a household food budget with those you’re sharing with, meal planning, and buying ingredients in bulk, you could well get this cost down to as little as $10 or less a day.

Living Space

Choosing to live off campus means you’ll enjoy more living space, privacy, and room to breathe. You’ll be sharing facilities with just two or three other people (rather than hundreds), and the living accommodation will be more spacious. Linked to this is the much-enhanced privacy that comes with living off-campus. Depending on the property you rent, you may even get a whole bedroom to yourself! For students who prefer peace and quiet in order to do their homework and dedicate themselves to their studies, off-campus living is likely to be preferable.

Living off-campus means greater freedom and independence, too. While this may be a scary prospect, for those who would relish the chance to try their hand at ‘adulting’, it’s a great opportunity. Learning to cook for oneself, setting up utility accounts, budgeting, and keeping a household ticking over are just a few of the skills that can be learned and honed by living off-campus.

No Need to Leave During the Holidays

There’s a major drawback to living on-campus: many colleges and universities close their on-site residences during the holidays and summer, meaning students living there need to pack up and head home. If you live off-campus, however, there’s no need for this sort of disruption. And for students whose university is a long way from their family home, this is a distinct advantage.

In this way, renting an apartment or house off-campus can feel much more like a ‘home’ than a dorm - there’s no need to move out in the holidays, and there’s much more opportunity to personalize the space to make it feel more your own.

A key thing to bear in mind, however, if you choose to live off-campus, is that it’s vital to have a renters insurance policy in place to protect your personal possessions from damage or theft. Some landlords even require would-be tenants to have such a policy as a condition of the lease. For example, it doesn’t matter if you’re a student or not; if you rent an apartment in Virginia, you better have renters insurance coverage. Happily, renters insurance is typically inexpensive and represents an effective way to protect your stuff and get that all-important peace of mind throughout your studies.

Why Living Off-Campus Could Be a Great Choice in 2024

If you’re heading to university or college for the first time later this year, living off-campus could be a fantastic way to uplevel your student experience. As well as potentially saving a significant amount of money and not needing to move out during the holidays and over the summer, you’ll be able to enjoy the freedom and independence that comes with renting your own space.

While this new independence may be a little scary, sharing your home with a few other fellow students allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds: an exciting introduction to adult life, with friendly housemates around for support - and plenty of fun.