Studying abroad complicates arrangements for off-campus housing

Deciding to go abroad entails more than just arrangements in a foreign country: It means finding a place to live for that one semester when you are on campus. Living on campus, as you already know, means not having to buy furniture, being closer to class, and having less freedom to do what you please. But living off has its own difficulties and advantages as well, including dealing with landlords, worrying about transportation, but also enjoying much more responsibility.

For those with only three years of on-campus housing, the choice is clear: Get an apartment, or try your luck at appealing to the Office of Residential Life for an on-campus position for the semester you're not abroad. Students actually find that appeals for the spring semester are much more frequently granted than appeals for the fall.

"I petitioned for the spring semester and was awarded housing right away for the spring," said Jennifer Krass, BC '08. "It's easier in the spring than in the fall because more people go away in the spring."

For Krass, the decision to live on campus was made easier by the fact that her best friends simply didn't have room for her to live with them in their off-campus residence. "None of them were going abroad so I didn't even have the option to sublet," she said. "It was easier to live with random people on campus than with random people off campus. Plus I didn't have to worry about paying rent with people I didn't know."

Expense is always something to consider also. Especially when living in a residence hall entails a mandatory meal plan, it may be cheaper to live off campus. And if sublets can be easily arranged, then off-campus housing can give juniors the chance to live with their friends who did not go abroad. "We worked out that a friend would study abroad in the spring, and I would sublet from him," said Kyle Smeallie, BC '08. "We shared a bunch of the same furniture and things - I just had to move in my clothes pretty much. I had a single room while I was abroad, and I was able to have a single off campus. I liked having independence and not having to worry about a roommate like I would have on campus."

Sometimes, though, students are able to arrange for large groups of friends to live on campus together. "We were able to live with our best friends," said Allison Astuno, A&S '08, who lived in Edmonds in the spring. "Most time you have to enter random housing."

Astuno, like Krass, also had an appeal granted to live on campus. "I've never had to deal with living off campus," she said. "I'm from Denver, and coming from Strasbourg [France] to Denver and back to Boston while having to move stuff in off campus would have been a headache.

I didn't even think twice about living on campus. Everything was in my favor. I didn't have to be totally in love with the situation because it was only for one semester."

Riley McLean, BC'08, also managed to arrange for a large group to live together. "Five out of eight I lived with were coming back from being abroad," she said. "We found two four-men rooms that were vacant in Edmond's, so the six of us moved in and found two random roommates. It was absolutely easier. Convenience just outweighed everything."

Need advice from an adult perspective?

Henry Humphreys, the director of Residential Life, can help you out. He advises students with four years of housing to stay on campus for their semester at BC because otherwise, they have to find someone to fill their off-campus spot, or they get stuck paying a semester's worth of rent while they're off exploring another country. Realtors often tell students that BC will find someone to replace them if they choose to live off campus, which is a myth.

As far as students with three years of housing, Humphreys notes that although it may be more difficult, working with Marianne Carrabba, the assistant director of Off-Campus Housing, is the best way to go, as she can direct students to realtors of landlords who rent for only one semester.