Renting an apartment has become the ideal choice for many people, including students looking for off campus housing. Student housing options have long been slim, with a choice of a few dorms or perhaps a fraternity or sorority house. For those who are looking to commute, particularly those who are going to school in a larger city or metropolitan area, apartments can provide the perfect off campus housing at a relatively low price – often lower than the on campus housing that is offered.
And renting apartments has become widely popular whether you are looking for off campus housing or moving to be near your first adult job after graduating college. But what remains the same is that the majority of people who are looking to rent an apartment are young – the age of thirty five or younger. This population of young adults, made up of college students, graduate students, and recent graduates just beginning to embark on a journey in the professional world, make up around sixty five percent of all renters in the United States. This number, gathered in the year of 2016, shows that rates of young renters are growing and continuing to grow, as the percentage of renters of this age group was only at fifty seven percent in the year of 2006, ten years prior. And the population of very young renters (those who are between the ages of fifteen and thirty four) is also growing at the estimated forty percent of all renters in all places of the United States at large.
Off campus housing options for students are often slimmer than housing options for the post grad or other adult, as students must be even more conscious of their budget than most of us. Students must also look at off campus housing options with strictly one year – or less – leases. This is because students are far more likely to move frequently for a number of reasons. For instance, many students in college will decide that they want to study abroad – often for the duration of an entire semester. As they will need to pay for housing in their destination of choice, it is unlikely that they will also be willing to pay for an apartment that they are not using. Such as student looking for off campus housing may choose to sublet an already leased apartment, using it for the time that they need and vacating it once the original renter returns.
Students may also choose a shorter lease because they are not yet sure of their future plans. Many students choose to move away after graduation, something that would be made much more difficult if they were in the middle of a lease. Fortunately, however, leasing for short periods of time is not uncommon among renters. In fact, more than thirty percent of all renters (thirty three percent, to be more exact) move every single year that they rent. Many of these renters are students living in off campus housing, who will continue to move until they find a more permanent job and subsequently, residence after completing their college years and graduating from school.
More and more college and graduate students – around eighty seven percent of them – are choosing to live in off campus housing than ever before. There are many perks to living in off campus housing, and many of these drive the choices of students to forgo the traditional dorm life and live in an apartment setting instead. For one, they are often less expensive than many dorm options (particularly at private institutions and schools). They also provide more freedom than dorm life, as the student is in charge of themselves and, in the case of dry campuses, can now choose to drink and partake in the lifestyle of their choosing. Many students are also simply just looking for more space – something that is hard to come by in a dorm, where it is more common than not that two students will share a bedroom and living space. Off campus housing provides an alternative option, one that more students are taking than before.
