It’s that time of year. Spring is in the air, FAFSA’s have been filed, the IRS<\/p>\n
deadline is looming and your college student proposes that it’s time to move<\/p>\n
off-campus into an apartment.<\/p>\n
Beware: students are smart and make some great arguments. They do their<\/p>\n
homework and come to you with an equation that shows how much cheaper it<\/p>\n
is to live in an apartment off campus.<\/p>\n
And sometimes it really is. But…<\/p>\n
What’s a parent to say? Parents have a lot to consider in weighing whether<\/p>\n
the time is right for your son or daughter to strike out on their own. I didn’t<\/p>\n
allow my daughter off campus until she was a junior. I felt that the timing was<\/p>\n
right then for her (and me!).<\/p>\n
The first and most important question to consider is just how mature is your<\/p>\n
student? Is he or she ready to be set free in an apartment building where<\/p>\n
other tenants go to bed at 11 p.m. and get up and out by 7:30 a.m.? Is your<\/p>\n
student an upstanding citizen? If, in your heart of hearts, you know the answer<\/p>\n
to that fundamental question is no, then it’s your obligation to nix the big plan.<\/p>\n
South Orange landlords can be tough. Some have little tolerance for parties<\/p>\n
and noise, so it is important to know your student and make sure your student<\/p>\n
knows the limits. If not, living among the permanent residents of South Orange<\/p>\n
will be fraught with difficulties.<\/p>\n
If, however, your student has been making sound and mature decisions<\/p>\n
throughout the academic year, then perhaps you can move on to the second<\/p>\n
concern: just how much is this going to cost?<\/p>\n
South Orange is an expensive suburb. People (read that “Grown-ups”) live<\/p>\n
here in order to have easy access to New York City, so the apartments and<\/p>\n
houses aren’t cheap. Apartments range from about $790 a month for a studio<\/p>\n
in the area to about $2500 for a well-appointed two-bedroom. Houses can be<\/p>\n
rented for a base of about $2400 monthly. You get what you pay for.<\/p>\n
One nephew of mine paid $370 a month one year and $450 a month the next,<\/p>\n
but told his mother it was better she never saw where he was laying his head<\/p>\n
at night. Another SHU nephew paid $640 a month for the fall semester, but he<\/p>\n
and his three friends were evicted when the house was sold in December.<\/p>\n
Personally, it was only after my daughter signed a lease that I realized the fire<\/p>\n
escape in her house was made out of wood. It was a worry in the back of my<\/p>\n
mind the entire time she lived there.<\/p>\n
The biggest plus in favor of off campus living, Seton Hall’s Peer Advisers tell<\/p>\n
me, is the opportunity to continue the growth toward maturity and<\/p>\n
independence. Students also say it is easier to study in an apartment than a<\/p>\n
noisy residence hall.<\/p>\n
The biggest con is the student’s need to take charge of the fundamentals of<\/p>\n
living – cooking, cleaning and paying bills. One student said he moved in to<\/p>\n
his apartment in the spring and never budgeted for the $530 oil bill that came<\/p>\n
after the heat was turned on. Another student observed that the food bill can<\/p>\n
be hefty if you want to eat more than Ramen noodles.<\/p>\n
Some “resimuters” (students who live nearby campus) solve the food<\/p>\n
conundrum by taking a small meal plan that brings them to our caf?? to eat. My<\/p>\n
daughter used to come home and raid our pantry after we had been to the<\/p>\n
supermarket. Whatever works.<\/p>\n
There are hidden charges that must be budgeted. Parking in South Orange is<\/p>\n
expensive – about $80 a month. The cable bill adds up if wireless is needed.<\/p>\n
Sometimes heat and hot water is included, but that charge is usually an add-<\/p>\n
on. There’s also a sewer bill, a water bill and a phone bill. Make sure your<\/p>\n
student has it in writing what is included and what still needs to be paid. Ask<\/p>\n
the current tenants if you can see some of their monthly bills to get an<\/p>\n
estimate of the real cost of moving in to the village.<\/p>\n
Students forget that with a house comes responsibility (after the tough winter<\/p>\n
we’ve had, the first question that comes to mind is, “Who is going to<\/p>\n
shovel?”!) but there are also lawns to mow, pests to control, garbage and<\/p>\n
recycling to take out, utilities to pay, and plumbing to maintain. One student<\/p>\n
said he and his housemates were almost ticketed for failure to mow the lawn,<\/p>\n
but that now they all take turns caring for the front yard.<\/p>\n
For many students, the transition from on-campus living to an apartment is an<\/p>\n
evolutionary process. And you will know if and when the time is right for them<\/p>\n
to move off campus. Students who move off campus tend to be a little more<\/p>\n
disconnected from the university and its activities, so if your student isn’t a<\/p>\n
joiner, off-campus living might isolate them further.<\/p>\n
There is no right or wrong answer. It’s a family decision that comes after<\/p>\n
frank conversation and some introspection on the part of your students – are<\/p>\n
they ready to make an early jump into the world of paying their bills on time<\/p>\n
and being good neighbors?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s that time of year. Spring is in the air, FAFSA’s have been filed, the IRS deadline is looming and your college student proposes that it’s time to move off-campus into an apartment. Beware: students are smart and make some great arguments. They do their homework and come to you with an equation that shows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/deansdesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}