Better food, privacy and more room are just three of the countless factors that prompt more and more students each year to seek off-campus living.
Currently, Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco and Associate Dean of Residential Life Bud Beatty are deciding whether or not to recommend that the College add more on-campus beds. One of the their concerns is that to fill the beds in the winter and the spring, the College must draw some students back from off-campus housing.
Sarah Brooke '96, who lives in an apartment on West Wheelock Street with four friends, said living off campus "gives me a clearer separation between school and home."
"It was the easiest way for me to ensure living with my friends," she said.
Kristin J. Kelly '98 said she decided to move off campus because she and her two roommates received bad housing priority numbers.
Last spring, a revamped housing assignment system that gave sophomores the lowest priority number sent many students scurrying to find off-campus housing.
"Instead of living by ourselves in the small single rooms we were assigned to, we decided to move off campus," she said.
Kelly said she enjoys living in her apartment because "it feels more like home,"
"After a stressful day of classes and work, we can go to our apartment and make dinner together and relax," she said. "We have all of the comforts of home: our own kitchen, our own bedrooms and a living room and dining room."
Kelly, who plans to stay in her apartment through the Summer term, said after spending a term living off-campus with all of the comforts of home, it would be very difficult to make the transition back to residence-hall life.
Hayley Spizz '96 lives off-campus with two friends in a small house on South Park Street.
Spizz said her house has two floors. The top floor has three bedrooms and one bathroom. The main floor has a kitchen, dining room and living room. There is also a basement with a washer and dryer.
Spizz said she prefers off-campus living to residence hall life for many reasons.
"It's more homey and feels more real," she said. "There is a lot more space. Also, I'm no longer confined to a single room."
Spizz said living-off campus has not prevented her from spending plenty of time on campus.
During the entire day, "I'll be on campus," she said. "I usually meet with friends for lunch and about half the time I'll have dinner there."
Sung Eun Choi '96 said she has lived in an apartment ever since first moving off-campus during the summer of her freshman year.
Choi said she does not miss living in the residence halls.
Living in a residence hall, "I felt I didn't get any privacy," she said. "And now I don't have to pay for dorm damages I didn't do."
Choi said her off-campus housing is more expensive than living in a residence hall, but she believes it is well worth the cost.
"I like cooking for myself and having my own bathroom," she said. "The only drawback is that I have to make a greater effort to meet with friends."
Chandra Stanley '96, however, may find it hard to get the same privacy living with six of her friends in off-campus housing on Lebanon Street.
Stanley said she moved off-campus because she "wanted to live with friends during her senior year."
Stanley said she has "a lot more space" living off-campus and can now see the friends that she normally could not see because of their busy schedules.
