U.S. News and World Report ranked Dartmouth eighth in the nation for percentage of students who live on campus in an Oct. 13 study. Dartmouth joins four other members of the Ivy League in the top 10 schools for percentages of on-campus undergraduate students.
During Fall, Winter and Spring terms, approximately 10 percent of enrolled students live off-campus. Summer term is the most popular time for students to live off-campus, as approximately 25 percent of enrolled students move into houses and apartments, according to Director of Undergraduate Student Housing Rachael Class-Giguere.
The Office of Residential Life defines off-campus housing as housing that ORL does not coordinate, Class-Giguere said. Students living on campus in residence halls, Greek houses or affinity houses are billed by the College and must select an on-campus meal plan, with the exception of those living at Foley House, which arranges an off-campus meal plan because of its cooperative aspect, Class-Giguere said.
Students who apply for housing on time are never turned away from on-campus housing due to high room occupancy, Class-Giguere said. Late applicants, however, may be forced to find a room on their own or choose to live off-campus when they do not like the available choices. This occurs most often during Fall term, which has the highest enrollment, Class-Giguere said.
Financial considerations are a major impetus for many students to seek off-campus housing options, according to students interviewed by The Dartmouth.
"It's substantially cheaper than living on campus," Thomas Balch '12 said.
The standard on-campus room rent is $2,465 per term, and the Maxwell, Ledyard and Channing-Cox apartments cost $2,715, Class-Giguere. Balch, who has lived in various off-campus houses since his sophomore Spring, said he and his two roommates currently each pay around $630 per month for a two-bedroom apartment, which includes electricity, water and internet.
While privately-owned fraternities determine their own rents, their price must be at least 85 percent of the standard room rent, Class-Giguere said. Nine of the 24 Greek organizations with physical plants are owned by the College, and therefore have room rates equal to those for standard dormitories.
Laura McClay, senior associate director of the Financial Aid Office, said that although students often worry about whether their financial aid allocation will be affected if they decide to live off campus, only their bill from the College not their award changes.
"You no longer have the room charge [on the bill]," McClay said. "We assume that there are still room expenses, even though they're not billed to the College."
Students interviewed by The Dartmouth said off-campus houses serve as alternative social spaces, which is an additional benefit to not living in traditional on-campus arrangements.
"Having a place where we can have social events like potlucks and having 30 people over is nice," Brian Seitz '12 said.
Balch said he liked the "feeling" of having his own apartment.
"Even with the older dorms it's hard to make it feel like it's your place," Balch said.
The transition from an open and social freshman floor to an upperclassman dorm was also a factor in Balch's decision to move off-campus, he said.
"Almost everyone living in the apartments are friends, and I can just go over," Balch said. "On top of that, lots of people I know are living off-campus. It's just a big and close-knit group."
While some students said they cook more with the off-campus meal plan, Jacob Wolf '12, who is living in a three-bedroom apartment, said the College's new off-campus dining plan is still too large an amount, so he does not cook as often as he did in previous years while living away from campus. The off-campus SmartChoice dining option includes an $875 declining balance account.
"The off-campus plan unfortunately is still huge," Wolf said. "I'm eating at [Class of 1953 Commons] pretty frequently and still not going through DBA that fast. I cooked more sophomore Summer because the plan was a little bit smaller."
Seitz, who lives with seven housemates and pays approximately $670 per month for rent including all utilities and other expenses, said that one of the disadvantages of living off-campus was the lack of cleaning services.
"You have to be responsible for the upkeep of the house," Seitz said. "Mowing the lawn, vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms are things you don't have to do on campus, but you have to keep up with them when you're living off campus."
Susan Kahan, who owns a two-bedroom apartment at 17 School St. that usually is rented to students, said she charges between $700 and $900 per bedroom per month for a one-year lease, not including utilities.
Students have been "great" tenants and pay the rent on time, Kahan said.
Payment time and financing plans are issues that students may face when living off campus, as landlords often ask for the first and last month's rent upfront, McClay said.
Kahan said that there is not much competition with other landlords when renting out housing.
"I've never had trouble getting tenants," Kahan said. "Usually people who are already there have friends who want to live there as well."
Although students who want to live off campus can usually find a place, "they might have to do a little digging," Seitz said.
Wolf said that his apartment search took more effort than he expected.
"[Available apartments] are hard to find and usually spreads by word of mouth," Wolf said. "Landlords don't really advertise. People who start looking later in the spring might struggle to find something close and inexpensive. They do fill up late fall and winter term for the next year."
