Introduction
For this project I really wanted to look into the difference of land prices for student housing. I have noticed that there this a dramatic different in the cost of housing for students relative to the location to campus. The three main locations that I wanted to compare where on campus housing such as dorm rooms, then apartments for students that are not on campus but relatively close to campus then student apartments that are not close to campus but are still with in the campus region. Throughout the research I found that there many aspects that are affecting the price range. But I will do a break down of each of the locations and their different prices and what they provide and the housing types.
Dorms
For the Entire school year which is only school days and does not include holiday when school is not in session. So during holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring break you do not have the option to stay at your housing. The location is preferred for students because it is on campus. The enhanced double is typically in the building of the living learning centers north and south. These two buildings are located in the center of campus. There is food in the bottom in the building that can be added to the cost of rent to help those students who may be on a tight budget. The building provides a lot of amenities such as the electricity, water, and heating bills are included in the cost of rent. But living in the dorms has a lot of disadvantages, among these is no kitchen, shared restrooms, no personal room, no living room, and centered around other students, which results in lack of privacy. The cost is affected directly by the university and the amount of students that are applying for living that year. For the school year of 2010-2011 the cost for this enhanced double was $9,881. This is broken down into 3 terms consisting of three months. Which is about $1,097.88 a month. But one of the main draw backs from living in the dorms is that there are resident assistants that are in charge of making sure that the living situation is under control. Although this is similar to a rental company, they will live in the same area as you. They have more rules and restrictions that prevent students beyond their first year of living there.
Apartment Housing Near Campus
This apartment housing near campus is within two blocks of the university’s campus. This is in complete walking distance that takes about 6 minutes to walk out the door to buildings that are on the edge of the campus and into a classroom. These apartments are extremely nice and well taken care of. They usually will have around 3-5 roommates. The apartments have good sized rooms for each roommate, kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and washing machines. The amenities have a direct relation to the price that one will pay per month. Having the ability to have your own space, room, laundry, bathroom, and still be close to campus will allow the price to be driven up by the owners of the apartments. Each month a renter will pay $640 a month which is $5760 for the school year. There is an advantage though from the apartment with the time but could be a disadvantage as well. Students are not forced out of their living residences even when holidays come up. But most of the time the rental agencies will require you to sign a full 12 month contract. This will increase the school year cost of rent to $7,680. Also in the cost of living in these apartments we took average amounts for the bills of water, heat, and electricity. These bills average about $83 a month. There for your monthly cost is about $723 and school year cost about $8676.
Apartment of Campus
For this apartment calculation it is similar to the other apartment, it is owned by the same rental company and the apartment contracts are the same. The main difference is that these apartments are 12 blocks off of campus and take 23 minutes to walk to get to the same building as the close apartments. These apartments are built in the similar manner and have the same amenities as the other apartments. The cost of these apartments are $500 per month for each of the roommates, this adds up to $4500 for the 9 month school year, but is $6000 for the 12 month which is usually the requirement for apartment contracts. But adding on the previous calculated cost for heating, water, and electricity of $83 it adds up to being $583 per month and $5247 for the 9 month school year.
Conclusion
Throughout this research I saw that there is more than just the location that affects the cost. Although, I think in this situation for college students, who are here just for the educational purpose location is extremely important if not the main priority. You can see that between the two apartments the cost dramatically jumps because of the location to campus. But when a student housing is on campus it is the most expensive but it is not as desirable as the other locations, because there is not any of the amenities provided to them. Even though it is just a one and done bill, it does not offer any desired aspects beyond location and one bill. Students have to find out for themselves if the price is the most important relevant to cost.
