{"id":37441,"date":"2020-07-30T20:46:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T17:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/college-students-are-finding-off-campus-housing-to-create-their-own-dorm-experience\/"},"modified":"2020-07-30T20:46:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T17:46:00","slug":"college-students-are-finding-off-campus-housing-to-create-their-own-dorm-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/college-students-are-finding-off-campus-housing-to-create-their-own-dorm-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"#College students are finding off-campus housing to create their own dorm experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#College students are finding off-campus housing to create their own dorm experience<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Like thousands of students across the country, Harlow Brooks has resigned herself to the fact that her first year of college will be different from what she expected. <\/p>\n

The 19-year-old, who is beginning her film degree at the University of Southern California this fall, will be taking all of her classes online this first semester. Instead of meeting her fellow classmates walking from session to session at orientation, Brooks was introduced to them over Zoom. <\/p>\n

But she\u2019s not giving up on one aspect of the college experience \u2014 living among her peers. Though USC is encouraging undergraduates to reconsider living on or close to campus this fall, Brooks and her friends have created a dorm-like existence on their own. Brooks\u2019 pod of eight formed after individual members met each other in big Zoom sessions that got smaller and smaller and eventually turned into a group chat. <\/p>\n

They started sending each other Zillow listings for places to live together kind of as a joke and then realized they could make the jokes a reality. It took some effort, including a PowerPoint presentation and masked visits to potential housing options to convince their parents. But now, Brooks and three other women are renting an off-campus apartment in the same building as the other, four, male members of the group. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are going to be isolated from the world, it might as well be really fun and we have each other,\u201d Brooks said. The arrangement also allows them to avoid some of the less-pleasant rituals of dorm life, like schlepping towels and shower shoes to shared stalls. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it\u2019s going to be so different than the traditional dorm experience I actually think it\u2019s going to be a lot better in a lot of ways,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cNobody is going to be moving somewhere where they don\u2019t know anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trend could mitigate any fallout for the student housing industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

A confluence of factors mean that Brooks\u2019 decision may be a popular one, at least among some students, this fall even as many colleges are deciding to hold classes totally or largely online. That could be a boon \u2014 or at least mitigate any fallout \u2014 for the student housing industry, while higher education and other sectors are squeezed during the pandemic. <\/p>\n

There are a variety of reasons why students still may show up to college towns to learn virtually. For one, students, who finished up high school or their spring college semester from their childhood bedrooms, are eager for their independence \u2014 and in many cases, their parents are eager to give it to them. In addition, living in their college towns allows students to capture some semblance of college life and attend classes or events easily if they suddenly resume in-person. <\/p>\n

But perhaps most practically, many returning students signed leases for off-campus housing months ago \u2014 industry experts say landlords that specialize in student housing are typically signing up tenants beginning in October of the previous year \u2014 and are loath to let that money go, even if they won\u2019t be attending classes in person. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost of those leases are signed,\u201d said Barbara Denham, senior economist at Moody\u2019s Analytics\u2019 REIS. \u201cIt\u2019s an odd property type in that leases are signed a year in advance.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pre-leasing activity is down some from this time last year<\/strong>
<\/br>
\nIn June, apartment buildings that cater to students but aren\u2019t owned by universities, reported occupancy levels of 74.9 percent for fall 2020, according to data from RealPage, a property management software company. That\u2019s down slightly from this time last year when so-called pre-lease occupancy was at 79 percent, Real Page found. <\/p>\n

\u201cOff-campus housing is extremely well-positioned as a desirable consumer product in a pandemic environment,\u201d said Bill Bayless, the chief executive officer of American Campus Communities (ACC) a major developer, owner and manager of student housing communities. <\/p>\n

Bayless\u2019 firm is betting that students and parents will prefer housing that\u2019s more like a typical apartment than a dorm \u2014 there\u2019s rarely a communal bathroom or kitchen in off-campus student housing, though students do frequently share bedrooms. <\/p>\n

Still, students who live off-campus, won\u2019t be under the auspices of their colleges and whatever protocols they\u2019ve put in place in their residence halls. ACC is partnering with RB, the makers of Lysol, to develop a program \u2014 called, \u201cBe safe. Be smart. Do your part. with Lysol Protection,\u201d \u2014 that will include reminding residents of ways to help stop the spread of the virus, educating them on which products to use and providing staff with protocol and products to ensure communal spaces are properly cleaned. <\/p>\n

One of the company\u2019s buildings had a COVID outbreak in early summer where 41 residents contracted the virus, Bayless disclosed on a July earnings call. The residents quarantined and as of June 29, there were no cases reported in that property, he said. <\/p>\n

So far, 90.1 percent of ACC\u2019s beds are leased for the coming academic year. That\u2019s compared to a pre-lease rate of 93.5 percent at this time last year, the company announced in July as part of its second-quarter earnings report. At properties serving campuses that have announced they\u2019ll be fully virtual, ACC\u2019s prelease activity is at 90 percent, according to the July earnings call, with no-shows and requests to break leases representing a potentially 5 percent decrease in occupancy. <\/p>\n

That some students still want to be near their universities regardless of how their classes are delivered is \u201cencouraging\u201d for the off-campus housing industry, said Jennifer Cassidy, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Campus Advantage, a property management company that specializes in student housing. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if there are colleges that in the long-term do move to more virtual, students want to be around their peers and they want to be in-market,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

When the pandemic first began, it wasn\u2019t quite clear how students and families would app<\/a>roach the idea of living near campus. In March, Campus Advantage was \u201cinundated with requests to break lease contracts,\u201d Cassidy said. The company didn\u2019t break lease contracts but worked with tenants to provide deferred payment arrangements. For students who don\u2019t want to return to their properties this fall, the company will provide them with available subleasing options, Cassidy said. <\/p>\n

During the pandemic period so far, ACC provided $8.6 million in rent relief to residents of its off-campus buildings facing financial difficulty. There may be less of a need to provide relief this academic year because students\u2019 financial aid packages \u2014 which include any loan or grant money they might use for off-campus housing \u2014 will more closely match their family\u2019s current financial circumstances, Bayless said. <\/p>\n

In April and May, shortly after colleges sent students home and before they started announcing their plans for the fall en masse, off-campus housing operators saw less interest than typical in signing leases for the upcoming year, according to Real Page. But leasing activity started to pick back up in June. At ACC, the company is predicting that the number of residents who either don\u2019t show up or request to be let out of their leases will be higher than last year, according to the July earnings call. <\/p>\n

Still, Bayless said he\u2019s \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d the company could experience a \u201clate surge\u201d in the leasing season as fall nears. In many cases, universities that are opening their residence halls are doing so at reduced capacity, pushing students who might have lived in dorms to look elsewhere. <\/p>\n

Carl Whitaker, market analytics senior manager, at RealPage, wrote in an email that those trends could \u201cresult in some spillover demand,\u201d for the off-campus housing industry as a whole. <\/p>\n

Never considered living off-campus before the pandemic<\/strong>
<\/br>
\nBefore the pandemic hit, Lelia Saffold had never considered that she would live off-campus this year. Typically, her school, Meredith College in Raleigh, NC, requires freshmen and sophomores to live on campus. But in late June, school officials announced that in light of the pandemic, they\u2019d be relaxing that requirement. Saffold and her potential roommates hustled to find housing. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little stressful,\u201d Saffold said of the experience in early July. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole rush of students who are trying to find apartments and leases were filling up really quickly. Within a day or two we had to find this complex and apply and sign for a lease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saffold and her roommate were able to find an apartment they\u2019re happy with. In addition, they\u2019re in agreement about the pandemic-related rules they\u2019ll be observing in the apartment: They\u2019re limiting themselves essentially to one guest each for the entirety of the semester and those guests will have to wear masks inside the apartment. <\/p>\n

Though the experience won\u2019t be much like traditional college living, Saffold knew that after months at home with her mom and stepdad she wanted to be back near campus for school. For one, as a dance major, she will be attending the occasional class in-person. In addition, having her own space and some independence will help her be in the right mindset for school, even if most of her courses are online. <\/p>\n

Still, before Meredith\u2019s announcement, Saffold was worried about the prospect of living in a dorm this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much fun as it is and as much of a community as it is, it\u2019s like a petri dish for germs,\u201d Saffold said of dorms. \u201cAs soon as one person on the hall gets sick, everybody gets sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fewer students in dorms could exacerbate colleges\u2019 financial challenges
<\/br>
\nHaving fewer students in dorms this fall is likely to exacerbate colleges\u2019 financial challenges. Small, private schools, whose business models\u2019 were showing signs of cracking even before the pandemic, rely on housing as a key source of revenue, said Kevin McClure, an associate professor of higher education at University of North Carolina Wilmington. <\/p>\n

For these schools, \u201cthe idea of not having students on campus for another semester paying for housing feels catastrophic,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Even at larger universities where housing facilities are essentially self-sustaining entities with their own balance sheets, in a scenario where the buildings are generating less revenue than expected, universities may have to kick in to cover costs, he said. <\/p>\n

Perhaps more broadly, housing availability may influence whether students enroll and tuition is a major source of funds for most schools. \u201cHousing is a key ingredient in basically a residential campus experience happening at all,\u201d McClure said. <\/p>\n

Some schools have argued that extends to off-campus housing as well. At Cornell University, officials decided to bring students back to campus for the fall, in part because they believed students would come to Ithaca, New York, where Cornell is based and life off-campus, even if courses were completely virtual. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn that scenario, Cornell would have had no authority to mandate testing or restrict students\u2019 behavior,\u201d the university said in a release. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt demonstrates an acknowledgement that at these bigger universities that have surrounding towns that are housing college students, colleges can say for all intents and purposes that is a private community where we don\u2019t have jurisdiction,\u201d McClure said of Cornell\u2019s and other, similar decisions. <\/p>\n

Watching campus culture closely<\/strong>
<\/br>
\nParthi Dasondi, 20, will be watching the bar and frat culture closely at Rutgers University this fall when she moves to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where one of the school\u2019s campuses is located, for her senior year. The school announced in July that it would be offering basically all of its coursework online and severely limiting capacity in on-campus housing. <\/p>\n

Still, like in any town, local bars remain open with outdoor-only seating and if students resume their pre-COVID patterns of frequenting those watering holes and large gatherings at fraternity houses and other locations \u201cincessantly\u201d then it could change her plans, Dasondi said. But she\u2019s optimistic that students can return to New Brunswick and stay safe. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf there were to be a really bad outbreak at Rutgers-New Brunswick that\u2019s when I would consider going back home,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope that it doesn\u2019t come to me moving back home.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dasondi, a biological science<\/a>s major and cognitive science and creative writing double minor, spent the last two years commuting from her parents\u2019 house in Edison, NJ and was looking forward to a senior year in New Brunswick. She\u2019d signed up to live on campus with roommates, but once the school made their decision on the fall semester, she found herself scrambling to find off-campus housing. <\/p>\n

Now it looks likely she\u2019ll live in an off-campus house with four roommates. They\u2019re currently negotiating the rent. Under typical circumstances, there\u2019d be little room to negotiate \u2014 the house is in a prime location near a good stop on the college\u2019s shuttle route. But given that classes are remote, \u201cwe don\u2019t need to use those anymore,\u201d Dasondi said. The women are hoping they\u2019ll have some leverage since it\u2019s likely not as many students will come to New Brunswick this fall. <\/p>\n

Dasondi said she\u2019s committed to spending this year near her college. \u201cWhen you\u2019re at an age where you\u2019re growing up and looking for more independence, [living at home] is not something that\u2019s going to help you grow,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Dasondi and her roommates plan to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine before they move in and they also plan to discuss the precautions they\u2019ll be taking to protect themselves and their community from the virus \u2014 plans that they\u2019ll continue to discuss and evaluate once they live together. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be able to say I was safe during the pandemic and I still got to have my senior year,\u201d she said.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

\n

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“#College students are finding off-campus housing to create their own dorm experience” Like thousands of students across the country, Harlow Brooks has resigned herself to the fact that her first year of college will be different from what she expected. The 19-year-old, who is beginning her film degree at the University of Southern California this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46443],"class_list":["post-37441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-college-students-are-finding-off-campus-housing-to-create-their-own-dorm-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}