is this a good idea? College Student apartment

Lilacs4Me

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Aug 31, 2015
We are thinking about having DS18 (will be 19 by then) move out of the dorms and into an apartment next year.

1. He is very mature for his age. He would be ready, and willing, to handle it. He is very good with money and budgeting, and is not afraid to live on his own. He can cook, clean, do laundry, and take care of himself. He has a reliable vehicle and isn't afraid to drive or get to where he needs to go on his own.

2. Dorms are EXPENSIVE! We can have him move into an apartment for a fraction of the cost.

3. He will be transferring to another campus for his major as the program is only offered at one of the three campuses. He will have to move anyway at some point before his Junior year, and we found decently priced apartments about halfway between his new campus and my sister's house (about a 15 min drive to either), which makes me feel better knowing that she is there if he needs anything.

4. He has a good part-time job, stable and steady, that has given him transferable skills so he can take his knowledge with him to a different company and get hired if needed, but he will also be close-ish enough to stay at his current location/company until a closer-location transfer can happen (optical retail/lab, current location will be about 35 min away from apartment/school but there is another location in the same city as the new campus).

5. We are thinking that we would pay 1/2 to 2/3 of the rent and have our names on the lease. We go back to that area quite often as our families live there, and it would be nice to have a place to stay instead of staying with family or booking hotel rooms. So, effectively, it would be OUR apartment that we sort of sublet to DS - we talked to him about this and he is cool with the idea.

6. We thought about him taking on a roommate and decided we didn't like that idea for all of the reasons one wouldn't want to deal with the hassle of roommates or co-leasers.

7. He's not a party-ier - he prefers to be one on one (scary in it's own right when it comes to girls!) or a small group. He uses his head and doesn't cave to peer pressure. He won't be one to want to host wild parties - for one thing, he wouldn't want to have to clean it all up the next morning! lol

Thoughts? Am I missing anything?
 
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When I was in college, I had a roommate but the apartments (catered to college students) did it as two separate leases
My roommate and I were and remained friends. Neither one of us were party girls.

My oldest is 14 and my plan when he goes to college is to buy him a 2 bedroom townhouse, let him live there, hopefully let the other kids live there too as they matriculate and hopefully all go to my Alma Mater or one of the three colleges in that city. And once they all graduate, lease it out to other students.

I only stayed in the dorms for one year and most of my friends moved out after that as well. Dorms suck
 
My DD was in an apartment when she studied abroad and has an apartment with her BFF for her last year in college. SO much less expensive than dorm/cafeteria life.

My sister lives nearby to her campus and they hardly see each other. I thought it would be nice for them to get closer while she was in school. My DD is too busy for my sister and her family. lol
 
My son is 19, and for a variety of complex reasons, we purchased a condo for him adjacent to his college campus. His name is on the title. He's doing great living alone. We "stock" him with groceries every few weeks, but he also manages his own routine grocery shopping. It costs us SIGNIFICANTLY less than the dorms did, which were shockingly expensive for what he got. He now has a 600+ square foot studio, vs. 135 square foot dorm room, and it is less expensive. He knows how to do simple cooking. He's not eating gourmet, but he does eat well enough (he gravitates toward fresh veggies and fruit, and simple pasta meals or simple things like hamburgers or grilled chicken). He says the food is "better" than the dorm, which I have no trouble believing.


My daughter is moving off campus in the fall. She's over the dorm thing, although she liked being there for the first year. And, she wants a small studio vs. a shared situation.

Both my kids are plenty mature enough to handle it. You know your kid. I'd say go for it.
 


My DD was in an apartment when she studied abroad and has an apartment with her BFF for her last year in college. SO much less expensive than dorm/cafeteria life.

My sister lives nearby to her campus and they hardly see each other. I thought it would be nice for them to get closer while she was in school. My DD is too busy for my sister and her family. lol

LOL DS18's school is close to many of our family now, and he has a standing dinner date at his aunt's house every weekend, but they were very close all his life. She is loving that he is back "home" near her. He doesn't make that kind of time for other aunts/uncles and grandparents who also live around there, though!
 
Both my kids moved out of the dorms after freshman year and into apartments. It was definitely a better situation for both of them as far as having some peace and quiet, study time, sleep time. Now, they always had roommates, but I see nothing wrong with living alone, especially if that's what your son enjoys. As long as he won't feel cut off from any sort of interaction with people, I think it's a fine idea.
 
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Our oldest was losing her mind in the dorms by the end and could not wait to move out. She lived for a while with friends in a house and then into a studio on her own. For her one of the biggest drawbacks to the dorm life was being required (for obvious reasons) to have the meal plan. Her biggest complaint by far was the only way to get a vegetable without butter or sauce all over it was whatever was available raw on the salad bar. She was a happy, happy gal when she could prepare her meals exactly as she liked.

Youngest insisted she was doing 2 years community college before transferring to university to finish her degree. It's the social norm at her university for only freshmen to live in the dorms. She had people who wanted to rent an apartment with her, including being approached by some parents who were hoping she'd decide to live with their kids. In the end she decided none of them were a good fit, so she is in her own apartment. She actually can cook a full meal and had occasionally made dinner for the family while in HS, but she's actually doing more minimal cooking similar to college students on their own for the first time because she's finding her schedule busy and awkward for doing much more.

We have friends who actually bought a condo in the college town when their oldest took off for college. He rented out space to roommates that ended up covering all expenses, plus paid mom and dad back a chunk. Two years later his sister took one of the roommate spots. They held onto it for several years after both graduated, renting it out to students, and eventually sold it for a profit. They actually managed to make a significant amount of money between renters and sales profits instead of the usual scenario.
 


5. We are thinking that we would pay 1/2 to 2/3 of the rent and have our names on the lease. We go back to that area quite often as our families live there, and it would be nice to have a place to stay instead of staying with family or booking hotel rooms. So, effectively, it would be OUR apartment that we sort of sublet to DS - we talked to him about this and he is cool with the idea.


just make sure that any place you consider will permit this type of arrangement. we live near several colleges and universities so LOTS of apartments, and most prohibit anyone who is not on the lease from residing in the units (dd's limits visitors to i want to say-72 hours w/o approval of the complex). being on the lease also makes it MUCH easier to deal w/any kind of repair/maintenance requests (that way he doesn't have to contact you to contact the management). the arrangement we have w/dd's place is she is the legal 'renter' but we are co-signers w/the right to reside. she pays her own rent but if we were paying a portion we could just set up an auto transfer monthly into her bank account that auto pays her rent payment each month.
 
Our 20 year old moved from dorms after his first year to an a apartment shared with his brother this year. It has been fine. He is saving money, because dorms are indeed expensive. It's not been a problem at all. And he brought home a cat.

Next year, he has decided to move to a "fancier" apartment with 3 other guys and closer to campus. I cosigned his lease last week. It's about $75 more a month for him, but still cheaper than dorms.

Our older son will stay in his apartment-it's the cheapest apartments in town and about 20 minutes away from campus--no pool, no frills, no workout center, etc. It's really a complex of duplexes, but is lived in only by college kids. This son is extremely frugal and doesn't mind living in lower standards to save $$. He will have to move to a city with not so safe areas year after next to continue his studies and knows that he'll have to pay more for safety and decent living space. So he's saving $$ while he can.
 
Our daughter moved into an apartment with four friends after her sophomore year. Like others said it's a lot cheaper than dorm and meal plans.
She's a good cook, but She meal preps once a week, since school days are so busy. She lost her freshman fifteen easily now that she's cooking for herself.
Best decision ever for her.
 
My daughter was too late to get in the dorms so went straight to an apartment. She is only 18 . She is doing really well and probably stay for all 4 years. She is 2-3 hours away depending on traffic.

My son did the apartment thing in his second year . He was fine. Hated the dorms.

They learn a lot , appreciate mom a lot more too. Food and clean clothes just don’t show up. How to unplug a toilet...lol
 
just make sure that any place you consider will permit this type of arrangement. we live near several colleges and universities so LOTS of apartments, and most prohibit anyone who is not on the lease from residing in the units (dd's limits visitors to i want to say-72 hours w/o approval of the complex). being on the lease also makes it MUCH easier to deal w/any kind of repair/maintenance requests (that way he doesn't have to contact you to contact the management). the arrangement we have w/dd's place is she is the legal 'renter' but we are co-signers w/the right to reside. she pays her own rent but if we were paying a portion we could just set up an auto transfer monthly into her bank account that auto pays her rent payment each month.

This- I would put his name on the lease not yours. His hands are going to be tied when it comes to having things repaired, and apartments can be sticklers for having all residents names on the leases and any subleasing had to be done through apartment management. My experience in college apartments is that this is something they really follow and check in on to avoid multiple people crashing in apartments.

On the upside it’ll help get his credit established.
 
What does he want to do? My two oldest moved out of the dorms junior year, but has roommates (ds20 has 9 and dd’s last house had 6). All of kids are very social though, and wouldn’t like to live alone or be that far from campus, plus a 1 bedroom would be over $1000 a month). They pay their own rent ($500 a month) and buy their own food.
 
Our daughter moved into an apartment sophomore year with 3 friends because her college didn't have boarding room for upperclassman. The apartment she rented was specific for college students, so each of roommates had their own locking bedroom door and separate leases. There was a front desk and security doors. It was great!
 
How far is it from his current/upcoming year college?

The new campus that houses the PT program is about 45 min-1 hour away from his current campus. he technically doesn't HAVE to go there until after his Junior year, but he *can* go there before then if he wants to, if that makes sense. The classes he needs before Senior year are also offered at the main campus. It's just the PT program that is at the other one, and he would like to go there for at least a year ahead of the program starting. He has heard it is beneficial to the application process, although I don't have details on that and it doesn't really matter which campus he goes to as far as I am concerned. As a matter of fact, I would almost rather him go to the new one, because that is where I went!
 
Dd will be doing a DPT program (haven’t decided where yet), and she’s talked to administrators and students who have told her that those last 3 years they are practically living in that medical building, I think it would be nice to live close by (something we are also researching, close off campus housing even though on campus graduate apartments are supposed to be very nice, but pricy).
 
We are thinking about having DS18 (will be 19 by then) move out of the dorms and into an apartment next year.
[snip]

5. We are thinking that we would pay 1/2 to 2/3 of the rent and have our names on the lease. We go back to that area quite often as our families live there, and it would be nice to have a place to stay instead of staying with family or booking hotel rooms. So, effectively, it would be OUR apartment that we sort of sublet to DS - we talked to him about this and he is cool with the idea.
[snip]

just make sure that any place you consider will permit this type of arrangement. we live near several colleges and universities so LOTS of apartments, and most prohibit anyone who is not on the lease from residing in the units (dd's limits visitors to i want to say-72 hours w/o approval of the complex). being on the lease also makes it MUCH easier to deal w/any kind of repair/maintenance requests (that way he doesn't have to contact you to contact the management). the arrangement we have w/dd's place is she is the legal 'renter' but we are co-signers w/the right to reside. she pays her own rent but if we were paying a portion we could just set up an auto transfer monthly into her bank account that auto pays her rent payment each month.

This- I would put his name on the lease not yours. His hands are going to be tied when it comes to having things repaired, and apartments can be sticklers for having all residents names on the leases and any subleasing had to be done through apartment management. My experience in college apartments is that this is something they really follow and check in on to avoid multiple people crashing in apartments.

On the upside it’ll help get his credit established.

Everyone's partly right about this. His name WILL have to be on the lease, but if it is your credit rating that will need to be used for the background check because he doesn't have credit of his own, then he will officially have to be a co-tenant with one of his parents. We have had this arrangement for my DS for two years now. The area where he goes to school is expensive, but it's urban, and he can do without a car, which is a significant cost savings. You will probably have to pick ONE of the parents to be the official co-tenant; a conventional leasing company will probably balk at trying to split it three ways. (IME, *one* non-tenant who also happens to be the party responsible for the rent is not an impossible thing at all if that person is significantly older and has good credit, but you need to tell the leasing agent up-front that it is what you want to do. It's different than their usual arrangement, and they usually will want to run it by Legal.)

Here is the part of your post that I have doubts about (not your sister, but the rest):
3. He will be transferring to another campus for his major as the program is only offered at one of the three campuses. He will have to move anyway at some point before his Junior year, and we found decently priced apartments about halfway between his new campus and my sister's house (about a 15 min drive to either), which makes me feel better knowing that she is there if he needs anything.

4. He has a good part-time job, stable and steady, that has given him transferable skills so he can take his knowledge with him to a different company and get hired if needed, but he will also be close-ish enough to stay at his current location/company until a closer-location transfer can happen (optical retail/lab, current location will be about 35 min away from apartment/school but there is another location in the same city as the new campus).

IME, students who commute this way lose a lot of study time in the driving, and don't feel attached to any one area, let alone the area around campus. I know he isn't, and you don't want, a party animal, but being so far away tends to limit how easy it is for them to build friendships, and to participate in things like study groups. I guess that IMO, a lot depends on whether or not he will plan to stay in the area after graduating, and it also depends on what sort of apartment situation it is. If it is one of those soul-less large complexes where there are lots of transient tenants, that's one commuting situation, but in a case like that of my DS, he really loves his school AND the neighborhood, and does not want to leave the area after graduation. He's in a 10-unit complex where he is the youngest tenant; lots of his neighbors are older folks, and he helps them out quite a bit. He's going to need our help with his rent for a while yet while he gets his feet under him and pays off his small loans, but he's pretty much in that area for good if he possibly can be; he has put down roots in 3 years.

PS: The apartments people mentioned with separate roommate leases are built specifically for the student market. The vast majority of them are owned by big players in the industry, this article explains and lists most of them: http://www.dinersteincos.com/wp-con...tudent-Housing-MARAPR-2017_selected-pages.pdf

EDITED to clarify that I was talking about conventional one-lease-per-unit leasing situations, not the lease-per-tenant options used by complexes designed for the college market.
 
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That sounds fine. Has he had an offer from his aunt to commute from her house? If so, I'd consider it since he's going to be having dinner there on weekends anyway :p and prefers to be by himself. Maybe he might be a help to his aunt?
 
Honestly, unless a kid is living at home, housing arrangements should be their decision. Most college kids can deal with living off campus by their second year, so that's no surprise. And those that can't - well they learn (that's what roommates are for - to keep you real.)

The commute sounds awful, frankly. My dd runs back and forth to campus a number of times a day, and frequently has meetings on campus at odd hours. Her bff lives with family that 15- 20 minutes down the road and hates the commute. She spends a lot of time at dd's house to avoid that trip. Personally, I don't see the additional benefit of having your sister so close versus within an hour of him. Certainly not enough of a benefit to offset the inconvenience of the commute. She's around for emergencies, which is great.

My dd drove me nuts the first time she had to find housing. But she managed. And learned to make better decisions each year. Btw, moving a college kid's stuff isn't that bad. I've done it a number of times - just her and me. Of course, now that she will be moving to grad school, she hoping to stay in one place for a while. But each move, she learned a little bit more about dealing with others.
 

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