No Such Thing as Affordable Housing
Marysa Wolfe and her roommate each pay $800 a month in rent, plus utilities, for an apartment that has a distinct smell of cat. But neither Wolfe nor her roommate have a cat. The cat urine aroma is left over from the last tenant. Her place in University Village, just across 7th Street from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, costs the same as an upscale apartment in Indianapolis, but has none of the curb appeal or amenities.
“When it starts to get warm outside we have to put out candles, air fresheners, and keep the windows open just to get the smell out. We have lived here for a year and have vacuumed countless times and we have complained several times but yet here we are, smelling like we have a cat even though we both hate cats” Wolfe said.
Off-campus housing for college students are becoming more and more unattainable. Online news site Business Insider reported that at Columbia University in the heart of Manhattan, one of America’s most expensive residential areas, students will pay on average $1,424 a month for off-campus housing. According to real estate website Trulia, Indiana State University students pay roughly $1,100 for off-campus housing.
Indianapolis is calculated to be around $1,093 a month according to home renting website Expatistan. College students are paying an astronomical price for an apartment that is the same price of a luxury apartment based in a large city.
Convenience For A Price
What is it that these companies are charging so much for? It turns out that most of these companies are charging a convince fee rather than anything. Near Indiana State’s Campus it is shown that the closer to campus, the more expensive it becomes.
Within a one mile radius of campus rent can vary anywhere from $500-$800 per person as seen on the University Village and Sycamore Place website, while being nearly 5 miles off campus is far cheaper with only $200-$400 per person on Terre Haute Sharp Flats website. This not only happens on Indiana State’s campus but is also recognized on other campuses such as Purdue, IUPUI, and IU.
“I think there is a huge difference between the prices of where I live now (close to campus), compared to where other students live farther off campus” University Village resident Madison Sottos said. “It isn’t worth the money just to be able to get to class 2 minutes earlier than if I lived farther off campus,” Sottos replied.
When I took to Facebook to investigate more on this issue I received mixed feedback. Some answered with positive reviews while other replied with horrific reviews. “My roommate and I pay a little over $400 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment. It’s not overly close to campus, but the walk isn’t bad,” Indiana University Student Chelsea Noel posted.
“I lived on 6th Street and 9th and Hulman. The house on 6th street was through Sharp Flatts… The main issue we had with them is that we had something wrong with one of our toilets. Well when they ‘fixed it’ they actually made it worse. When we showed our water bill (Close to $800 for an 8 bedroom house) after the repair, she denied having anything to do with it,” replied Indiana State University Alumni Paige Settles.
Is it Legal?
What is probably the most interesting aspect out of this entire conundrum of prices is that college apartments don’t price like usual apartments. When you search for apartments everywhere else you will see that the prices show per month for the place.
But when you search for a college apartment, they are separated by room or even by person. For instance, if a student was sharing one singular room together in an apartment instead of two separate rooms then they would be charged for half of the single room they were sharing.
“We all get charged the same price but we get charged for the room instead of the entire apartment. It is weird honestly because when we were moving in, I expected us to all have the same account and to pay our rent through there. It just seems odd” Sharp Flatt resident Giovanna Irwin replies.
The segmentation of rooms, rent, and pricing completely changes when stepping into the realm of housing near campus. The LA times wrote an article more about the fair housing law and that it is not common for the practice of separating by rooms or charging more per tenant.
It would be unfair for the landlord to charge for an extra person because if a family is renting an apartment then they should not charge extra or even per room. If a family wants children to share a room, then they shouldn’t charge extra for a person sharing the room or for an extra person.
Plenty of Room!
With new off campus housing arising quickly, the competition for prices begins. Places such as The Annex, Highland Quarters, The Deming, and The Riverfront Lofts, have been promoting their business daily.
“Our goal is to show students that you can have different options instead of living on campus. Highland Quarters is pretty new, but we have some deals going on since we are really eager for students to experience what we have to offer,” Madi Romer, Highland Quarters representative and leasing manager said. “I also know that most people that live in University Village or other off campus places have a bunch of problems with their apartments, Highland Quarters is brand new and it’s perfect for students that are ready to live off campus,” Romer said. According to Highland Quarters website, they are offering a 3 bedroom/ 3 bath apartment for only $750-$770, which averages under $300 for each person.
Also on Highland Quarters website, they compare prices of on-campus housing to their rates and show a major difference with more amenities at Highland Quarters than any other on-campus housing.
Comparison
When Indiana State University’s off campus solutions are compared to that of Purdue’s, you can truly start to see how expensive some apartments are being rented at. Purdue University had by far the most expensive prices for apartments compared to those that I researched.
Paying nearly $1,040 for a 2-bedroom apartment which did not include electricity, garbage, or other utilities other than water, this was extremely expensive. The website that was showing such apartments was, Boiler Makers Apartment. Other college’s that was able to compare this to was- Ball State, Indiana University, and IUPUI.
To compare final prices and the average across the United States, I researched more about different campuses and average housing costs. Best College Resources website, shows how expensive it can be on average across America.
Also, Business Insider website, shows the average cost on college campuses and off campus housing. These two websites help compare the differences that colleges are truly costing students compared to what they should really be charged.
One of the most expensive apartments here in Terre Haute goes for a little over $1,200 a month for a one bedroom. Center City apartments and Haute Maison Lofts are the top two priced apartments near Indiana State University’s campus. Both range from $1,000-$1,500 depending on the rooms and the amenities according to their web pages.
“Residential life basically told me that they don’t want people like us (upperclassmen) living on campus. They want the freshman and sophomores living on campus and basically push us off campus as soon as they can” Indiana State University Junior, Mallory Spencer said.
With so many of these new apartments appearing, it gives students little choice on what they can actually afford. Most student’s budgets range from $300-$700 depending on funding, which makes these ‘luxury apartments’ out of reach for the larger population of students.
On-Campus Housing
Most schools require their undergraduate students to live on campus for their first year. Which means that the incoming classmen take up a majority of housing, forcing those other students away or off campus.
Because of this, upper classmen are forced to look off campus for their living situations. Students are having a harder time to find housing that is cheap enough or takes financial aid as a form of payment. 500 Wabash, off campus housing built by Indiana State’s campus, is one of the only student housing that takes financial aid. This building complex was filled almost immediately, forcing those that were not included to find other places to live.
This makes it harder on students that rely on financial aid for housing, it would then force students to pay out of pocket for housing.
“I had no other choice but to live in 500 Wabash. They had no room for me anywhere else so they just stuck most of us there. I know they are trying to fit as many people as they can but it’s just getting out of hand and way too expensive. I shouldn’t have to take out multiple loans just to pay for housing that I didn’t even want to live in” Indiana State University Senior, Austin Smith said.
Contact: student email — kleverett@sycamores.indstate.edu
