One afternoon in late March of my senior year, I stumbled across a pamphlet in the mail titled “Student Living, Apply Now!” Curiously, I broke the seal and started to read through the pamphlet sent from The University of Arizona, where I would be attending school in the upcoming fall. I read the various names of the residence halls, looked at the provided charts that compared the specificities of each residence hall such as rent, room size, amenities and location. I brought all this information up to my room where I would put it on my desk so I could study it further at a later time. Later that night I mentioned my future living situation to my parents, after discussing the different residence halls I said, “There isn’t a living requirement for freshman at Arizona, what about off-campus housing?” After two weeks of research and convincing my parents, I caught my eye on an apartment complex right across from campus, where I ended up signing a lease. Off campus living provides residents nicer amenities and more privacy than the dorms, but it all comes with a price. By definition, I live off campus here at U of A. The Next …show more content…
Everyone knows when you live on campus; your so-called “room & board” costs are built into tuition. While living off campus, you receive a bill at the beginning of each month for rent. “Having rent due each month builds more responsibility in money management,” Chris told me. Chris further explained how he has learned how to balance his spending better because of having this fixed rent payment which he thinks will be a helpful skill to carry on past school. When living in the dorms, you’re able to bursar everything, spend meal plan and not see your payment for living for an entire year. Living off campus requires grocery shopping, pay utilities each month which both fit into managing your money correctly to have the money for