October 24th, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

In most cities, landlords are a little hesitant to raise rent prices by a substantial amount each year. For the most part, they realize that renters have a number of options to choose from, and as a result they want to avoid alienating people by jacking rents whenever they please. Generally, the rental market is controlled by the renters, they have the majority of the power. However, if you live in a college town, this is simply not the case. Property managers in college towns realize that there is a limited supply of quality off-campus housing, and that the supply of college students needing housing is going nowhere but up.

As dorms become crowded and university housing systems are overwhelmed by enormous freshmen classes, the push to find off-campus housing for hundreds of thousands of kids across the country is growing rapidly. Finding an apartment is no longer a matter of searching for what suits you best, it has become, in some cases, a desperate search for anything that you can afford. Property managers in college towns know that decent (and I use that term loosely) apartments and houses are in incredibly high demand and that kids, flush with their parents money, are more than willing to pay for it. I’m not about to say that all property managers are exploitative, however, they certainly know what they have and what it is worth. I have seen average rent prices in my town go up by more than 50% in some cases, to the point where some average 1-bedroom apartments rent for more than $800. I know this doesn’t seem like much for those of you who live in more metropolitan areas, but considering that not long ago in my town you could get a 1-bedroom spot for less than $400, $800 seems like straight extortion. I understand that as things like inflation, gas/commodity prices, insurance premiums, and other expenses all go up that property owners must raise their rents, but I see it happening every semester.

The one factor that doesn’t help this situation at all is the fact that the economy has no real negative effect on the rental housing market. When the economy is great, lots of people need places to rent because they have jobs or they are in school or whatever. When the economy sucks, even more people need places to rent as thousands of former homeowners experience foreclosures and mortgage defaults. No matter what, the property owners collect money, and they are collecting more and more of it each year. It may seem incredibly unfair that rent prices are rising with seemingly no end to how high they will go, and the truth is, that it IS incredibly unfair. However, it is the nature of supply and demand. There is a limited supply of decent housing, especially in college towns, and those who are willing to pay a lot for it will inevitably drive the price up. What can you do? Nothing. Paying rent is one of those things that cannot be avoided. There are ways to get the best for your money however. AllStudentRentals.com was designed to provide renters the opportunity to view hundred of potential properties and find exactly what they are looking for without having to call dozens of property owners, drive around town, and essentially waste time. You can search by price, style, lease term, and dozens of other criteria, so at least you will be comfortable while you are getting raped by high rent prices.

One last thing, to illustrate the idea of raising rents and offering nothing, consider the situation at the house I recently moved out of:

Myself and three others were living in a relatively new 4-bedroom house that was close to campus and in a pretty nice neighborhood. We were paying $1700 a month and the house had all of the things you might desire including central air, washer and dryer, dishwasher, a big backyard, etc. When we moved out of the house, we found out that not only was our landlady raising the rent to $1850, she was also taking out the washer and dryer. It’s as plain as day, more money for less shit. Ridiculous.

October 15th, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

According to Michael Zaransky, co-CEO of Prime Property Investors based in Northbrook, Ill., and author of Profit by Investing in Student Housing: Cash In On the Campus Housing Shortage, the opportunity has staying power. “About 80 million ‘echo boomers’ will turn eighteen over the next ten years,” he says. As they do, they will head to college in record numbers, further straining their chosen school’s already stretched budgets, especially if it is a public university.

“After funding enrollment, research, and hiring more professors, there is not enough money left for building dorms,” explains Donna Preiss, founder and CEO of The Preiss Company, which rents, manages and develops investor-funded student housing. This is why many schools are relying on the private market to supply off-campus housing instead.

That is a good thing for Howard and her husband who own a rental building close to campus. “So far, our building has been a very good investment,’ adds Howard, whose business —managing student housing investments for other owners — is also thriving as students scramble to find a place to live.
Not only is full occupancy typical for student housing, says Zaransky, so is the ability to increase rents. The students show up regardless of local unemployment or interest rate levels, and they pay the going rate since they have to live somewhere — besides adding roommates can keep even increased rents affordable.
That this niche operates primarily on supply and demand is its key attraction to investors. Also key is its positive cash flow despite hefty expenses — real estate taxes, high insurance premiums (reflective of the reputation of student renters), utilities, repair, maintenance, advertising and fees for management services.
But not all college towns or investment opportunities are created equal. Like any investment, selecting a property requires some homework.

Location, Location, Location
The best properties are within walking distance of a campus, says Zaransky. They are also located where the kids are increasingly choosing to go to school.
“The southeastern and southwestern states especially draw the most kids,” says Preiss, who notes the northeastern schools are more likely to institute enrollment caps which limits their attractiveness to investors. Zaransky also warns against going where rental properties are already abundant, as in large urban areas like Chicago and New York, especially after the recent run up in property prices there. “The odds tip in an investor’s favor with moves to pure college towns,” he adds, noting that Boston is the exception to this.
To help identify prime campuses, Zaransky uses a ratio to relate the number of university-owned beds to enrollment, using data mined from registrars’ offices. “Nationally, this ratio averages about 30 percent,” he reports. But it varies widely. At Arizona State University, for instance, he estimates the ratio to be 11 percent meaning 89 percent of ASU students are renting off-campus.
That imbalance is precisely what Rick Steele, a Denver businessman is looking for. His son will be attending ASU this fall and Steele intends to invest in a condo for him. This is not Steele’s first attempt at making a student housing investment. He wanted to buy property when his older son was in school in Providence, R.I. But that market seemed to offer minimal price appreciation and most of the available property involved older boarding houses. “It did not make financial sense since they were in need of so
much maintenance and repair,” says Steele, who opted to pay rent instead. He finds the Phoenix/Tempe market much more hospitable. “It is so vibrant and the housing stock is newer,” he says.

Newer is better for today’s students, who prefer buildings with pools and saunas and view wireless Internet
connections as an essential. Preiss, for example, builds her units with bedroom-to-bathroom parity so roommates do not have to share facilities.
“I figure with what I would pay for a dorm or fraternity, at worse I may breakeven when I sell. If the property
appreciates, then it will help offset the education cost,” says Steele, adding “Either way, at least my son will have a nice place to live while he is there.” Steele’s attitude is a good one and realistic for parents who only expect to hold their ‘kiddie condos’ for three-to-five years.
“It is really too short a period of time to realize enough of a return after the expense of holding and then selling to make it worthwhile,” says Stuart Tsujimoto, a certified financial planner with the Financial Network in Torrance, CA. He speaks from experience, having bought a condo for his daughter while she attended San Diego State University. Tsujimoto, who bought the condo outright rather than mortgaging it, feels that after factoring in his expenses plus the realtor’s commission when he sold, he would have made roughly the same return on his money by investing in a mutual fund and making withdrawals to pay for rent.
But for those who intend to buy and hold after graduation, the experience seems to be more positive. Tim Hinz, a realtor with Keller Williams in San Diego has had a number of clients buy condos for their college-bound kids.

“So far everyone who did, held onto it or gave it to the child who assumed the mortgage payments after graduation.” Many, given the particulars of the area, may also be holding for a retirement use later on in life.
Preiss also says most of her clients view their student condos as long-term investments. Even her parent-buyers tend to hold after realizing how attractive the cash flow is. They simply have her, as the property manger, rent out the freedup ‘bed’ once their child moves on. In Preiss’s developments as in others, leases are written by the bed or directly with each roommate, removing the legal onus of having to enforce a lease from parents, investors or owner-students.
While buying a ‘kiddie condo’ can be advantageous versus paying rent or the dorm expense, especially if a parent can access a Federal Housing Administration program to help finance it. Dubbed the “Kiddie Condo Loan,” the program allows students — and non-students — to purchase a home with an assist from a blood-relative’s good credit standing and cash. The home must be considered the primary residence of at least one of the borrowers, but renting out space to roommates is allowed. If the child moves out after graduation, the borrowers would have to refinance or sell the property to pay off the FHA mortgage.
These loans only require 3 percent down and since they are considered owner-occupied, they qualify for all the tax advantages of a primary residence; whereas a condo purchased as a second home or investment property may limit the tax breaks and raise the interest rate offered.
In addition to not having to deal with dorm-life, the owner-child benefits from building a credit history, having a place to live, and potentially assuming the responsibility of being a landlord to their roommates.
Despite those financial incentives, Zaransky advises parents not to feel obligated to invest where a child is attending school. Actually, he sees no reason to link the investment to a child at all.
“It just needs to be a good investment — rents need to be rising in the area you choose, and there should be an opportunity for appreciation over time. If those factors are not present at a child’s university, then parents should invest in another town and pay rent for their child’s housing instead,” he says.
For those who cannot swing the purchase of a condo or multi-unit building as an investment, there is another option for cashing in on the student housing shortage. There are actually two publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts that focus on student housing. Each offers a generous dividend yield and allows shareholders to participate without having to deal with the responsibilities of ownership. They are:
• American Campus Communities (Symbol: ACC)
• Education Realty Trust (EDR)
Regardless of how one chooses to invest, with growing demand for housing outstripping its supply, the investment returns are expected to continue far longer than the four-to-five years a child spends in college.

Source: MSNBC

Remarks: College is an expenisive option for the majority of parents across the country. The combined costs of tuition, rent, books, utilities, insurance, and daily necessities can be overwhelming and quickly add up to tens of thousands of dollars a year. That being said, there is growing trend of investors that are realizing the potential of lucrative student markets, and realizing that while having your child in college might present a financial burden, there is no reason you can’t be smart about it and even have the opportunity to earn a little return on your investment. College enrollments are increasing at a rapid rate, and there is no slowing down in sight. The high school graduating class of 2009 is estimated to be nearly 3 million kids nationwide, a great number of which will be heading off to college in the fall. Universities are overwhelmed by new students, providing an excellent opportunity for the savvy investor. I have been in college for 5 years, and in that time the average price of rent for an off-campus place has gone up by nearly 20%, a figure that will only continue to rise. Rental markets are strong when the economy is strong and when the economy is in the toilet like it is now. Property ownership in a college town is rapidly becoming a much safer bet than more conventional real estate practices.

October 12th, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

A dorm phone just won’t do for Sammy Nabulsi.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln sophomore is always on the go. He often starts his day on his wireless phone.

He’s the president of the Residence Hall Association. He schedules meetings with the housing director and student body president via text. He calls classmates about political science assignments and checks voice mails from friends who want to hang out.

Nabulsi, 19, like many college students, rarely uses his dorm phone. So it was no big deal when the university decided to pull the cord on residence hall phones.

This year, student housing contracts don’t include land-line charges, said UNL Housing Director Doug Zatechka. The university was paying $650,000 to $700,000 to service dorm room phones that weren’t being used, he said.

The university had a contract with Windstream Communications to provide telephone service to dorm rooms. The university had maintained the circuits and the paperwork to provide the service. Now if students want a land line, they have to contact Windstream themselves.

With the money saved, the university plans to install wireless Internet in residence halls.

“Most students have cell phones,” Zatechka said. “So it didn’t make sense to keep them.”

The Nebraska Public Service Commission’s annual report details the march into the land of wireless phones.

The number of cell phones in Nebraska has climbed by more than 1 million since 1999, as Nebraskans have discovered the convenience of carrying their phones in pockets and purses. In 2007, Nebraska had 1,195,129 cell phone numbers in use.

The number of residential land lines is slipping, dropping by more than 100,000 in the past five years, to 552,244 last year. That’s likely the result of Nebraskans abandoning home phones in favor of cells. Those figures reflect student cell phone use trends, Zatechka said.

Several college campuses across the country are dropping their land lines. The University of Kentucky, for example, cut dorm land lines this year, saving $840,000. Iowa State University plans to remove its lines by the fall of 2009.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s newest housing community - Maverick Village - opened this semester with wireless capabilities only. If students there want a land line, they have to call a local communications provider.

Most of the students at the other residence halls - University Village, Scott Village and Scott Hall - use cell phones but are given the option to contract a land line, said spokeswoman Wendy Townley.

About 50 UNL students have subscribed with Windstream for dorm phones this semester. They pay about $9 a month for the service. It’s cheaper than what someone would pay for an apartment land line.

Zatechka said front desks at residence halls also have kept land lines in case of an emergency.

What happens to UNL’s old dorm phones? About 2,500 will be recycled.

More than 6,000 students live on Lincoln’s campus. Zatechka said many of them have submitted their cell phone numbers to create a residence hall directory. They’re occasionally called if they have a package or message at the mail desk.

“We could text-message them,” Zatechka said. “But we’re going to be very cautious about sending mass messages. We only want to do that if it’s something very important.”

Nabulsi is thrilled his university has gone wireless.

“Who doesn’t have a cell phone anymore?” he asked.

Creighton University senior Kailene Dela Cruz has one. But she still thinks it’s easier to connect with other students using a land line.

“I’m originally from Hawaii, and I get tired of dialing everyone’s 10-digit number,” she said.

Dela Cruz, 22, said her dorm room is like home base. She pokes her head in four times a day to check messages and make calls.

Though Creighton has no plans to stop offering land lines, Dela Cruz said removing the phone service wouldn’t hinder student communication.

“Our generation is very tech-savvy,” she said. “We’ll get around it.”

Source: Omaha.com

Remarks: This makes total sense to me. Students are tech-savy and have cell phones with them every second. I am curious if more Universities are going to remove phone lines in dorms. Taking out dorm phone lines offers Universities a huge saving discount. I expect this to be a trend going forward with dorms accross the county.

October 6th, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

RESIDENCE HALLS HAVE COME A LONG WAY. THE traditional double-loaded corridors, cramped quarters, and cinderblock walls are being replaced by places nearly anyone would proudly call home. University Business sought nominations for halls that meet the needs of today’s student-those that feel like home yet foster a sense of community through interior and exterior spaces. Of course, students also want to feel safe and that their belongings are secure. And while green buildings are an expectation, sustainable elements must not be too distracting to those residing in the building.

The 76 Dorms of Distinction nominations revealed several trends, including the following:

Institutions are conducting focus groups and broader surveys during design phase, putting furniture choices on display for students to vote on, and creating full mock-ups of rooms for student walk-throughs. Some institutions are getting input from parents, incoming freshmen, and even housekeeping and maintenance crews.

Private bedrooms and private, or at least semi-private, bathrooms are popular student requests that often get fulfilled. Non-institutional choices for fixtures and other interiors include comfortable furnishings, natural tone walls and furnishings, and tile floors in kitchens and bathrooms. Dishwashers in apartment kitchens are popular, as are separate shower/toilet and vanity areas in bathrooms. Laundry rooms are placed adjacent to lounges, and students of some halls can determine washer/dryer availability by hopping online.

Most halls include separate study and social lounges throughout the buildings. Main lounges typically have large flat-screen televisions, and fireplaces are common. Other popular gathering spaces include balconies and patios (often equipped with grills), stairway seating, and landscaped courtyards with benches. Lest we forget that community-building isn’t just about space, many of the entries highlighted efforts to create both intimate and larger planned gatherings.

The tranquil front porches with rockers or swings, bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly streets, quaint lampposts, and mature trees of this development exude Southern charm. Yet the 28-building, 276-bed complex is located close to the center of campus, and the team at McMillan Smith & Partners Architects, also in Spartanburg, S.C., designed it as a “new urban” kind of place. With one to four units per building, the furnished apartments include four private bedrooms, two large bathrooms, a kitchen, a dinette area, a living room, and a porch, and are equipped with cable and internet service. The 452-square-foot kitchen-dining-living areas encourage gatherings of other students, teachers, and family members. Outdoor grills and a borrow-a-bike program (which contributes to easy transportation from other parts of campus), spark social calls as well. Village residents also work together, in the upkeep of the bordering public road.

The $12.9 million project was constructed in three phases, the first completed in fall 2006. Phase three of the project, with 13 buildings, will be ready for occupancy this fall-making the complex large enough for the entire senior class. And the future will bring other neighborhood amenities, such as a convenience store, half-court basketball, student meeting areas, and additional spaces requested by students. Already, however, the community is considered a treasured rite of passage for many upperclassmen and has become a word-of-mouth recruiting tool for new students.

In planning these four-story halls, which share a commons area, administrators truly took student feedback to heart. Besides participating in The Association of College and University Housing Officers-International’s 21st Century Project on designing future-focused residential facilities, residence life staff invited students to fill out surveys, participate in focus groups, and later vote on furniture options. Two students also sat on the design committee. Student suggestions led to WiFi access and separate study and social lounges, as well as a mix of apartments and suites featuring bathrooms with separate shower room, lavatory, and two sinks (so all four residents of each unit could use facilities at the same time). The use of 26 shades of paint helps avoid an institutional feel.

The 284-bed complex houses 38 students per floor and is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The central commons has a learning community advisor office, a seminar room with attached kitchen and lounge, a gas fireplace suitable for chilly days and nights, and an adjoining outdoor patio. Spiral staircases between floors encourage students to get to know more distant neighbors. As for safety and security, perimeter doors, each unit, and each bedroom can be locked, and the lower level has locked bike storage.

Open since fall 2007, the halls were designed by Opus, located in Minneapolis. The approximate $6 million cost was funded by the alumnae after whom the halls were named.

Guided by the belief that there’s value in freshmen living together in roommate arrangements, Emory officials sought a modern iteration of the traditional double-loaded corridor arrangement with more services and varied spaces. Architects from Ayers Saint Gross in Baltimore, aiming to create a community rather than a cocoon for individuals, designed two clusters of doubles (and a few single units) on each floor of the 130-bed building. Each cluster has its own study lounge at the end of the corridor, and a shared social lounge is located in the center. Students assisted in the choice of lounge and study room furniture and other features. Finishes such as bamboo and terrazzo, as well as the use of natural light, help provide a homey environment. In student rooms, furniture is moveable and interchangeable.

One green feature students have reacted favorably to is the use of occupancy sensors that light each student room, lounge, and study room upon arrival. In addition, a computer touchscreen in the entry area allows students to view the hall’s energy and water consumption by the hour. The display will even take the cost of energy used and convert it to, for example, the number of iTunes one could buy at 99 cents each. More than three-quarters of students recently surveyed said they had checked the energy display monitor.

The $14.84 million, LEED Silver building opened in fall 2007 and is the first of eight in a new freshmen village at the Atlanta university. The village will contain learning communities and be completed within the next seven years.

The variety of strategically placed community areas stands out most in this five-building, 460-bed freshmen residence. The aim was to draw students out of their rooms and into shared spaces, and one way the project team made it happen was to place these areas adjacent to central walkways to the village. And rather than just traditional study and social lounges with comfy seating, students can also find areas dedicated to hobbies such as fine arts, music, dance, and billiards.

The suites-composed of two double-occupancy bedrooms, a shared bathroom, and a small food storage and preparation area-are designed for homelike comfort. Rooms contain all wood furniture and a personal closet for each resident.

Thanks to red tile roofing and white stucco, which mitigate heat, natural ventilation is enough for students to keep residential spaces cool (in other words, there’s no air conditioning).

The $38 million project opened in fall 2007, and designers from Botich Corcoran and Associates of Newport Beach, Calif., heeded student focus group feedback as well as student development theory and generational research. After sophomores were allowed to request the village again for this coming school year, 45 percent of eligible students passed up an opportunity to live in single-occupancy apartments to stay put-in a place where it’s clear they feel at home.

Highlights: Dutch doors on student rooms and benches in hallways to foster conversation; gardens with sitting areas, including an organic garden where Fridays are community workdays; gathering area by the swimming pool; 300-seat amphitheater; green garden roof and bike program; drought-tolerant landscaping. Designed by Carrier Johnson, San Diego.

Highlights: Garden-style apartments with large windows and balconies overlooking outdoor spaces with benches, picnic tables, grills, and large trees (preserved thanks to a project redesign); kitchen and fi replace in community room; student-planted herb garden; living/learning center. Designed by Group Two Architecture, Austin, Texas

Highlights: Separate social and study lounges; bathrooms with separate shower and sink/toilet areas; VoIP phone in each bedroom that can receive emergency announcements targeted to that room, the suite, or the entire building; fireplace, eatery, and flatscreen TV in main lounge (serving neighboring halls too); basketball and beach volleyball courts outside. Building designed by ADD Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; landscaping designed by Sasaki Associates, Boston

Highlights: 2007 renovation of a 1970 building featuring a new design to maximize a picturesque environment, including a panoramic lake view from a common area and second-floor patio deck; living/learning communities with a faculty apartment (where a family currently resides); Oriental-style rugs, floral arrangements, modern art, and leather couches in common areas; solid oak bedroom furniture; free washers and dryers. Designed by Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas & Co., Tampa, Fla.

Highlights: Community kitchen with stainless steel appliances; outdoor patios and grills; main stairwell with floor-to-ceiling windows for natural light and visibility to enhance safety, plus a window seat at each landing for conversation; art from students, a professor, and an alumna on display for viewing; LEED Silver certified, with a real-time energy use kiosk for residents and visitors, individual temperature controls for each room and public space, and a forced-air system that helps decrease student illness and allergies. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Pittsburg.

Highlights: Renovation and rehab project that brought new life to a Boston neighborhood; mix of apartments and suites; weekly student focus groups during design phase; fitness center; secure bike storage; local furniture materials and assembly; high ceilings; kitchens with full-size appliances, European-style cabinetry, and granite countertops; private bathrooms in suites, with tubs and Italian tile floors; 24/7 police and security presence, with a main lobby security station. Designed by CBT Architects, Boston

Highlights: Strong demand for private bedrooms met; gives underclassmen a chance to reside in apartments; 9-foot ceilings; eight apartments clustered into mini-communities on each of two main building corridors; door-prop alarms, building access via card key, bedroom access via mechanical key, and lockable storage unit in bedrooms; community building in complex, with a large gathering space featuring soft seating, a large-screen TV, and a fireplace, as well as an exercise room, a laundry room, study rooms, and mailboxes; half-mile pedestrian trail along river. Designed by Troyer Group, Mishawaka, Ind.

Highlights: Freshmen suites including a private bath (with bathtub and shower) in each shared bedroom and a snack prep area (with sink, granite countertops, mahogany-stained cabinets, and a full-sized refrigerator); single entrance for all 753 students, for security and community-building; movie room featuring reclining seats, open 24 hours a day, with special events also planned; TV in laundry room. Designed by The Garrison Barrett Group, Birmingham, Ala. (architect), and Cooper Carry Architects, Atlanta (associated architect)

Highlights: Townhouse style with private bedrooms, two full baths with separate toilet/shower rooms and double-sinks/vanities, and shared living space, full-size kitchen appliances; wireless internet, cable TV, landline telephones; separate housing for students studying foreign languages; students researched and prioritized LEED elements to achieve Silver certification (pending); green features, including ground-source heating and cooling, individual temperature controls, recycled rubber roofing, rainwater drainage in the parking lot, recycled material floor coverings, wheatboard cabinetry, low-VOC-emitting paints, and large windows for natural light. Designed by Cannon Design, Buffalo, N.Y.

Highlights: Student committee and student body vote determined furniture style in suites; different paint color scheme and carpeting for each floor; late-night Jazzman Café with comfortable seating, plasma television, and snacks; kitchenettes in some suites; full community kitchen so international students can prepare familiar cuisines; accommodations for disabled students, including roll-in showers, larger doorways, and ADA-approved washers and dryers. Designed by Nadaskay/Kopelson Architects, Morristown, N.J.

Highlights: Suites with four private bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchenette and living room; air conditioning; focus groups, room mock-ups and furniture samples used to gather student input; cable TV, wireless internet, laundry on each floor; fireplaces in the “Club Room”; convenience store, fitness center, and computer lab amenities; outdoor fountains with benches; security cameras placed to cover open spaces and elevators; locking bedroom doors; fire sprinklers; peepholes on the main room door for security; individual thermostats. Designed by Design Plus Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Highlights: Mixture of semi-suites and apartments to accommodate students varying from undergrad to international, to graduate, to young married couples with or without children; housing options for disabled students; classroom/academic space; conference center with separately controlled-access; health club; retail facilities; parking for 300 cars; 24-hour security at front desk; bicycle storage room on lobby level with access electronically via ID card; green roof doubles as private roof garden; use of low-VOC furnishings and finishes to reduce off-gassing. Designed by VOA Associates Incorporated, Chicago

Highlights: Four two-story houses with 145 beds in single and double rooms; kitchenettes in two buildings, laundry facilities in other two to promote interaction; three houses with Tokonomas (small, alcove-like meditative and contemplative spaces); individual room lighting and temperature controls; residential-style wooden entry door to each room; large-screen TVs, comfortable furniture, air hockey, pool tables, and video games in lounges; house lounges open onto expansive porches, with the building site itself terraced to ground level; door prop alarms; resident-only swipe card access after 10 p.m.; covered bicycle racks and access to Yellow Community Bikes Program; energy consumption monitors in building lobbies; fresh air ventilation rates above code-required minimums. Designed by Canerday, Belfsky & Arroyo, St. Petersburg (lead architects, architect of record), Ayers Saint Gross, Baltimore (architectural design team), Melanie Taylor Architecture and Gardens, New Haven, Conn. (design consultant)

Highlights: Apartments with three bedrooms, two bathrooms (with two sinks outside the bath area), kitchen and dining area; nine-foot ceilings, double-hung windows, drywall, and carpets; laundry on each floor, mailroom in building; lobbies on each floor and a main lobby by the entrance for community gatherings; apartment doors look like wood but are metal, advanced sprinkler system, and large basement for use during tornado warnings; man-made pond with koi fish, ducks, and a fountain captures storm runoff and provides a calming study area; focus groups included current students, incoming freshmen, and parents. Designed by Gossen Livingston Architects, Wichita (construction by Conco Construction, Wichita)

Highlights: Rooms range from doubles with community baths, to four-person suites; suites and apartments in close proximity to encourage mingling; students can be grouped by major in the traditional wing; student focus groups conducted; rich color pallet is non-institutional, combined with wood furniture for a homey feel; swipe cards, security cameras, a manned guard station, and large windows on the stair towers for security; green features, including low-e insulated glass, carpets of recycled material, and occupancy sensor lighting. Designed by H2L2, Philadelphia

Highlights: Two- and four-bedroom apartment units for freshmen with fully equipped kitchens, furnished bedrooms (including adaptable furniture and wired with high-speed Ethernet, phone, and cable connections), and comfortable living areas; housing staff and student representatives reviewed several furniture options; mock-up units provided early in construction process for feedback; each of four buildings has its own interior finish and color scheme (for walls and furniture); “living clusters” on each floor promote sense of community; GSU police substation at the main entrance to gated facility; 24-hour service desk in main lobby; intrusion detection system to report any perimeter door that is forced or propped open; 100+ digital camera surveillance of all entry points and common areas; public address system for emergency announcements; 75 percent of occupied spaces have daylight and access to city views. Designed by Niles Bolton Associates, Atlanta, for developer Ambling University Development Group

Highlights: Four bedrooms with two bathrooms and four sinks, full kitchen with dishwasher and breakfast bar, free long-distance phone service, and wired/wireless internet; use of daylight, operable windows, synthetic wood flooring; current college students and high school seniors surveyed on design; suite mock-up provided for students to view; central community room; common and study areas on each floor; roof deck on the third floor; laundry room near a lounge and study room to encourage mingling; convenience store and vending machines; keycard access for building, apartment wing, apartments, and bedrooms; surveillance cameras on entrance/exit points; ample pedestrian lighting; new student housing tied to revitalizing intercollegiate athletics programs. Designed by SHW Group, Detroit, Mich.

Highlights: Double-occupancy suites with bathrooms and 400-square-feet of living space; microfridge units; classrooms and academic support offices on-site for living/learning for honor’s college and freshmen Quest learning community members; bridge lounge between two buildings with working fireplace, peaked ceilings, and banks of windows with grassy courtyard views in front and “Blanket Hill” views in back; additional lounges with fireplaces and comfortable chairs and couches; olive, plum, and eggplant walls (in stairwells, too); community kitchen facilities. Designed by The Collaborative, Inc., Toledo, Ohio

Highlights: Lodge-style units with apartments and suites; living rooms with fireplaces, exposed beams, warm furnishings, and custom light fixtures; the two buildings are clustered around large stairway foyers, with large windows and window seats, that double as community spaces; seminar rooms and study spaces; roof/attic area used as additional space; and designed with regional stone and regional primary building materials. Designed by Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company, Norfolk, Va.

Highlights: Johnson Hall, for upperclassmen, will have private suites with two-person shared bathrooms with a community kitchen and dining room; other halls, for freshmen, will be double-room suites with four-person shared bathrooms with a community kitchen, dining tables, and a recreation room; computer labs with docking stations; coffee shop, convenience store, dining hall, health center, and counseling and consultation center on premises; president participated in The 21st Century Project of the Association of College and University House Officers-International to help inform design ideas; multicolored glass wall provides light and visibility; security cameras monitor entrances and the card readers also have cameras.Designed by Alejandro Aravena, Santiago, Chile (architect of design), Cotera+Reed Architects of Austin, Texas (architect of record)

October 3rd, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

Every year tens of thousands of bright-faced college freshmen leave the friendly confines of their parents’ homes and head off to college, with dreams of drunken hook-ups, sleepless nights before tests, and “independence” dancing in their heads. For many, the first year of college is a well structured and supportive environment, facilitated primarily by life in a dorm. You have everything you need, they tell you when to eat, where to shower, and what the rules are. It’s kind of like prison, only with slightly less rape, and thousands of empty liquor bottles that first-year students save as a testament to indecency (yes it is incredibly lame, but we all did it because it makes you feel grown up and defiant). The dorm is perfect place to make a quasi transition from life at home to life on your own. However, this perfect microcosm of college experience only lasts a year (unless you are one of those bewildering people that chooses to stay in the dorms 2, 3, even 4 years, effectively avoiding any actual responsibility for as long as possible). Once this year is over, it is time to make an important decision: where will you go now?

Let’s assume that there are four basic options when choosing a residence outside of the cinderblock bomb shelters that serve as most dorms:

1. A House

2. An Apartment

3. A Condo

4. Your parents’ house

While this may not indeed by every single option available, these are the four major players in the off-campus housing game, so let’s start at the top.

A House

There is no denying the fact that having a house near campus is one of the more exciting things about college. It is a symbol of independence, a place for you to be whatever you would like to be, and ostensibly, to do whatever you would like to do. It can become a social nexus that is comprised of your very own style and influence, a meeting place for your friends and neighbors and probably some hot chicks too. You are free to engage in whatever behavior you find fitting, and there is no one there to tell you that you can’t take bongloads in the living room. It is the ultimate sense of freedom that you can experience without actually having to worry about much more than your security deposit. Houses have the immediate advantage over the other options just based on a few simple things: there is no resident manager on site, nobody lives directly above/below/left/or right of you, you don’t have to see your parents every day and sleep in the same room that you have for the last 2 decades, etc., etc..

Unfortunately, living in a house is not all rave parties and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Houses, more often than not, are slightly to considerably more expensive than apartments, and certainly moreso than living at home. This extra cost is reflected in the higher rents usually attached to houses, larger security deposits, and small things as well. If your house has a yard, there is a good chance that you will be responsible for maintaining it, and if you don’t, landlords are not shy about hiring professional help and sending you the bill. Also, some houses don’t offer garbage and water services at no cost, another thing you must consider, especially if you have roommates that are terrible at paying bills (we once had garbage stacked up 6 feet high in our garage because of some unnecessary miscommunication with the waste management company). Living in a house also means potentially giving up some things that would generally be common in an apartment complex. Your house won’t have a pool or a fitness center, and you will be lucky to get a washer and dryer or a dishwasher. Central heating and air conditioning is not uncommon, but it depends largely on how old the house is and whether or not the landlord considers it a valuable investment, so don’t expect it.

Despite these minor setbacks, having a house is still pretty kick ass, and certainly something you won’t regret, assuming of course that you have cool roommates, but that is an entirely different issue and one that won’t be covered here.

An Apartment

An apartment is certainly a viable option for any young student. Apartments are plentiful in most college towns and can be had in a variety of different price ranges depending on what you need. Generally they are cheaper than houses, and available ones are much easier to find since the demand is much lower. Because apartments are more concentrated and present less risk to the property manager, rents and security deposits for most apartments are far cheaper than houses, on average. For all intents and purposes, apartments function almost identical to houses in that there are no established rules and you are free to do what you wish the majority of the time. It is a vast improvement over dorm life and a hell of a lot better than living with mom and dad.

Like houses though, there are some pitfalls to apartment living. Large apartment complexes almost always have somebody on-site 24 hours a day to enforce certain rules. This is no big deal if you are a low key person with low key friends, but it can certainly be a pain in the ass if you choose to engage in activities that are a little less wholesome. Also, you will have many neighbors in any apartment setting, and in less you are just a real prick, you will have to be somewhat courteous of these neighbors. This situation can also be a positive thing; apartment complexes put large numbers of people in relatively small spaces, which is an excellent way to meet people. This close proximity to your neighbors can also be a downside to apartment living if you happen to get stuck next to the struggling band, the techno fanatic, the aspiring DJ, the heavy walker, the loud girl, or any number of irritating potential apartment dwellers.

What some apartments lack in privacy, they make up for in amenities. Apartments almost always have things like dishwashers and central A/C, as well as laundry that is either free or a hell of a lot cheaper than any laundromat while saving you the trouble of dragging your filthy laundry across town. Many larger complexes have things like pools and small gyms, and all of them include water and garbage at no extra charge.

A Condo

See Apartment, but also consider that while there might be 100 condos in the same complex, each one is independently owned and many aren’t rental units, they are simply people’s homes. This can lead to a colorful mix of tenants that is part student, part low-income family, part single professional, part retired couple, and everything in between. This clash of different groups can often be taxing and personally time-consuming. The first apartment I ever lived in was next door to a condo complex that was visited by the police at least 4 nights a week. For this reason, consider the location of the condo complex (near campus, low income area of town, etc.) before you commit to living there as this might be the most important determinant of whether or not you will enjoy your stay.

Your Parent’s House

Although I would certainly advise against this option, it is still an option, and for a select few people, a damn fine one. Personally, I see living independently during college as something that is equally as important as the classes you take and the degree you get. Everyone needs to learn some responsibility and life management skills while they are still in college and relatively protected from the outside world. As far as I’m concerned, there is not better way to do this than to live on your own.

However, I do understand that the choice to live at home isn’t always a voluntary one. Living expenses are extremely high when considered on top of tuition, books, gas, food, and all of the other things that take our money. Living at home is by far the most economical choice of the 4 that were discussed here, and is certainly a welcome option for those that lack the necessary resources to move out. That being said, I would highly recommend that even though this is a possibility, that you avoid it if at all possible. Once you get out of high school and into college, you are exposed to an entirely different world where you are actually given the opportunity to manage your own life and not adhere to some nonsensical set of rules designed to keep you in line and maintaining the status quo. This new found liberation requires a new style of existence, namely, living on your own and making your own decisions. No matter how positive your relationship with your parents might be, it will undoubtedly be put under pressure once you make this fundamental change in learning establishments. For this reason, I would suggest that you exhaust whatever options necessary to move out, even if for but a short time, say one year of college maybe.

All preaching aside, living with the folks is a pretty sweet deal on the surface. You have literally no costs aside from your own personal necessities, you will more than likely have dinner made for you each night, theres a good chance you won’t always have to do your own laundry, and your parents will probably be a lot cooler than they were when you were in high school simply because they would begin to see you as slightly more mature and whatnot. Honestly though, I would still suggest getting away, it is something that everyone must accomplish at some point, and there is no better time to do it than college.

October 1st, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

We need to talk, Penn State Housing.

We’ve been in this relationship for the past three and a half years and we’ve finally reached the point of no return. When we started out, things were great. Dorm living was so fresh and exciting. It was a whirlwind of emotion and I was so swept up in you. I trusted you, Penn State Housing, and you knew that … you knew that.

I filled out that roommate contract like I had signed my name in blood. I’d write our names together in my notebook during psychology class with little hearts and rainbows. I knew we’d be together forever.

Then, sophomore year, you grew a little distant. So distant, you tried to kick me out of my own room.

It hurt when I had to tell my friends the only reason you took me back was because I have horrible seasonal allergies and an air conditioner wouldn’t fit in a supplemental room window.

You got a little bossy and tried to push me around and tell me where to live, and that just wasn’t cool, Penn State Housing. Not cool. Especially because it was your fault for letting in too many incoming freshmen.

But we worked through that rough patch. We were in it to win it, not just some flimsy little fling.

This was the real deal. We became so close, I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.

Everyone thought I was crazy for sticking it out with you, but they just didn’t understand us. We were a team. Best friends. You learned to deal with all my quirks, and for my junior year, you even let ME decide where I wanted to live.

I was thrilled to say the least and saw this as a big stepping stone in our relationship. You trusted me enough to make that decision and everyone was happy.

This turning point went over so well, I decided right then and there that I would stay with you for one more year.

Yes, for my senior year, I would choose to stick with you, Penn State Housing, and live in a dorm.

And what did you do? Tore my heart in two, that’s what.

I put all my trust in you and what happened? You stick me in supplemental with seven of my closest enemies and tell me the allergy excuse won’t cut it anymore.

The fact that I remained with you for so long meant nothing to you.

My devotion and all that dough I dished out for three years meant nothing. Nothing! You acted like you didn’t even know me. I began to feel like you weren’t the same university department I fell in love with. You tried to console me, but your heart wasn’t in it.

Then it became clear to me there was someone else in the picture.

Someone new and naïve and ready to fall in love for the first time. I begged and pleaded with you not to end it.

Finally out of annoyance more than anything, you gave me a housing contract. But just so that you could get the last laugh.

You stuck me in the Penn State Siberia that is Pollock.

You relegated me to living with people who write unbelievably clever messages on each others’ white boards and can’t even drink alcohol in public places yet. Everything I’ve done for you and this is the thanks I get?

So you don’t get to break up with me, Penn State Housing. Oh no, I get to break up with you. After next semester, I’m out of here. Gone. Peace out. These twisted mind games have gone on long enough.

But don’t you worry about me, Penn State Housing, because I’ll be just fine without you. Because really, it’s not you, it’s me, right? See you never. Love, Erin.

Source: The Daily Collegian Online

Remarks: The above article may be a completely overdramatized view of one student’s experiences with student housing, however, it does provide an insight into living on campus past your freshman year. The simple fact is that it will probably be awful. Who, when they are 22 or 23, about to graduate, wants to live in a cramped dorm with 500 freshmen, sharing bathrooms and abiding by all of the ridiculous rules that have held you down for the last four or five years? The answer should be no one, and I think we can all agree that the person who authored this article had it coming. The point of going to college is to embrace the opportunity to be on your own for the first time, to do the things that you weren’t able to in the past. A large part of this experience involves renting your own house or apartment, and AllStudentRentals.com provides the perfect vehicle to assist students in accomplishing this.

October 1st, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

EUGENE — As classes start today, the University of Oregon is bracing for an extra-large freshman class by housing 400 new students in off-campus apartments, opening 3,700 more seats in classes and hiring more temporary faculty.

The additional students are stretching campus resources and sparking a faculty debate about how big the 20,000-student university should grow.

“We’re trying to fit them all in,” Scott Coltrane, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said Friday. “We are bursting at the seams, but so far we are doing OK.”

Like many freshmen who moved into off-campus Stadium Park apartments last week, Megan Johnson was disappointed at first to miss out on the traditional dorm experience — until she saw her spacious new pad.

The 18-year-old from the Tacoma area has her own room with a full-sized bed and large closet, a bathroom she shares with only one other student, a kitchen and a washer and dryer in a four-bedroom suite. The complex also has a pool, a sand volleyball pit, a fitness room, even a tanning bed.

“It’s like the luxury dorm,” she said, as she unpacked a box of shoes. “People are really jealous of the Stadium Park kids.”

She and other freshmen living in the apartments near Autzen Stadium said they don’t mind commuting to campus if it means they don’t have to share a cramped dorm room with a roommate and tromp down the hall to a communal bathroom.

But with 4,100 freshmen this year — at least 400 more than last year — university leaders say it will be a challenge to connect the off-campus freshmen to the academic and social life on campus.

Both Oregon State University in Corvallis and Portland State University also are expecting slight increases in freshmen this fall. Oregon State has enough dorm beds, but PSU has a waiting list.

UO is trying to make the off-campus apartment experience as much like living in dorms as possible. Eight staff members — two directors and six assistants — live there to supervise and support students. But the apartments are more private than dorm rooms and don’t have many large common areas, making oversight harder.

“The majority of our programming is geared toward getting them to come to campus, because that’s where the community is going to be,” said Robin Holmes, vice president for student affairs.

Still, she added, “We have to make sure that area feels like home to them.”

The university’s College of Arts and Sciences hired 60 new graduate students and 20 new temporary faculty to teach additional sections, labs and classes. That’s in addition to 26 new permanent tenure-track faculty.

All the available classroom and lab space is being used, and more classes are being offered in the early morning and in the evening. The large freshman class will be even harder to accommodate as the students advance and need to take more small seminar classes, Coltrane said.

The bigger question facing faculty: What is the university’s optimum size? The answer will help determine how many tenure-track faculty will be hired in the future.

Professors are weighing the opportunity for growth in student programs and research with the desire to retain the more intimate feel of a smaller campus, Coltrane said.

“There is recognition that we will grow a bit but keep it human-scale,” he said. “What that means, I’m not sure. And that’s what the debate is about.”

About 800 students who missed the March 31 priority housing deadline were initially denied campus housing. About half of them expressed interest in the off-campus apartments, and the university did not track what happened to the other half, Holmes said. Some chose to attend another college where they could live on campus, and others may have found other housing in Eugene, she said.

James Carroll, a UO freshman from Los Angeles, was considering attending a California State University campus, where he could live in a dorm, until he found out he got a spot in an off-campus apartment.

“I can’t imagine moving in here today without a place to live,” he said.

Source: OregonLive.com

Remarks: We are seeing a developing trend where extra large freshmen classes are putting strain on university housing programs that are already suffering as a result of a gradual increase in the average number of college freshmen over the last several decades. While this might spell disaster for many campuses, it is an excellent opportunity for property owners and managers in many college communities. The demand for off-campus housing is growing at a rapid rate, and the importance of finding a comprehensive listing service is increasing right along with it. AllStudentRentals.com provides property managers with everything they need to make their properties available to a large number of potential renters, and it offers performance-based, competitive pricing, ensuring that each property owner is getting the most value for their investment.

October 1st, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

WASHINGTON  —  Georgetown University administrators have shut down a campus dining hall after 41 students complained of nausea and vomiting, myfoxdc.com reported Wednesday.

Of those 41 students, 25 were treated for possible food poisoning.

Todd Olson, vice president for student affairs, said in an e-mail to the university community Wednesday morning that the students were being treated at Georgetown University Hospital for vomiting and diarrhea. He says most of them reported having eaten Tuesday at O’Donovan Dining Hall, known as Leo’s.

The dining hall has been closed for breakfast and lunch, with those services temporarily relocated to other locations.

Although the students ate at the same dining hall, they did not all eat the same types of food, according to myfoxdc.com.

Source: FoxNews.com

Remarks: While this is certainly an unpleasant article, it provides just one more reason why living off-campus can have its benefits. Among them, choosing what you eat and don’t eat, and having the freedom to do so. AllStudentRentals.com provides a place for students to find apartments and houses where they are free from the confines of the on-campus dorm, and in this case, the potential dangers of the dining hall.

October 1st, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

Boston University released its Annual Security Report online yesterday, providing three years of statistics on reported crimes occurring on- and off-campus. The report showed a drop in reported on-campus crimes — from 138 in 2006 to 74 in 2007 — but the University experienced small increases in several areas, including overall reported off-campus crimes, reported off-campus burglaries, and forcible sex offenses.

The number of reported off-campus burglaries increased from 4 to 9, and the number of all reported off-campus crimes increased from 4 to 14. On-campus burglaries fell from 117 to 62. Forcible sex offenses on campus rose from three to seven, five of which were said to have taken place in the dormitories.

Peter Fiedler, the University’s vice president for administrative services, notes that the statistics reflect the number of incidents reported to the BUPD, not the number of prosecutable incidents that take place in a calendar year, and that they do not include the results of follow-up investigations. He attributed the overall drop in reported incidents to the wider use of the CompStat crime analysis system, which BU Police Chief Thomas Robbins implemented when he came to BU in 2006.

“With the implementation of the CompStat model comes an increased emphasis on crime reporting,” says Robbins. “In order to effect change and reduce crime, the police need to gather timely information on crime and related incidents from the community. There has been a big push to get the word out to the community to report incidents to the police department. Some of this uptick in crimes reported can probably be attributed to these efforts.”

Fiedler says the new system has enabled the University to better study crime statistics on all BU properties. “It has allowed us to review all kinds of crimes,” he says, “and to look at their frequency from week to week or month to month and to then reposition our police officers in the most effective manner.”

The University reported a decrease in liquor and drug violation arrests; the number of liquor law violation arrests dropped from 95 to 21, and the drug law violation arrests fell from 56 to 10 — a change that Fiedler attributes to the drug and alcohol task force established by David McBride, the director of Student Health Services, when he came to BU in 2006.

“Previously, drug and alcohol education was not as focused and closely monitored as it is now,” Fiedler says. “Now, if a student is transported for medical care due to inappropriate use of alcohol or drugs, he or she receives follow-up care from a Student Health Services behavioral medicine social worker. That’s probably why we’re seeing the drop from 2006.”

Looking ahead, Fiedler and Robbins identify bicycle and pedestrian safety, increased communication between students and the BUPD, and a reduction in on-campus larceny as priorities for the coming year. Fiedler is currently working with other administrators on educational initiatives for bicyclists and drivers, and Robbins plans to continue the town hall meetings he held with students last year.

“The area that I think most needs improvement is our ability to connect with the University as a whole for information sharing,” Robbins says. “The best thing we can do as a department is get a free information flow, so we can track crime patterns and trends within the University. I’d like people to feel comfortable communicating with department members when they see them on the street.”

Source: BU Today-Campus Life

Remarks: It is true that living off-campus can be more dangerous than living on-campus, but it almost always dependent on where you choose to live off-campus. Every city has areas that are more prone to certain kinds of crime, and the best way to avoid these potential dangers is to be acutely aware of where you will be living when you move off-campus. AllStudentRentals.com not only provides a large volume of rental listings that cover every section of each university community, it also provides a mapping feature that allows potential student renters to find the specific location of each rental before making any commitment, facilitating renting areas that are considered more safe. This feature can also be used to gauge the distance from each rental to important locations like University Police, or areas of town with less concentrated crime statistics (these can be obtained from university or local police or many university affiliates).

October 1st, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

IRVINE, CA-The University of California at Irvine has kicked off construction of a new $221 million, 1,763-bed project that is being developed for the university by American Campus Communities of Austin, TX. The new development “will allow UC Irvine to lead the University of California system in the percentage of student population housed on campus,” according to a statement by the university. The project, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010 will enable UCI to move closer to its 50% on-campus housing goal.

The new housing is the third project at UCI for American Campus Communities, which developed and now manages two phases of housing totaling 3,052 beds. One project is Vista del Campo, which opened in 2004; the other is Vista del Campo Norte, which opened in 2006.

Wendell Brase, administrative and business services vice chancellor for UCI, says that the university believes the three combined phases of UCI’s student housing “represent the largest privatized student housing project in the US whether measured by residents, dollars or square feet.” A chief goal of the projects is “transforming commuters into residents,” Brase says.

The project was designed to meet Gold LEED certification and to promote the use of public transportation, bicycles and walkways. The project will be a part of UCI’s green building education program that includes sustainable curriculum and building tours.

KTGY Group Inc. Architecture and Planning of Irvine is the architect for the new project, as well as for the Vista del Campo and Vista del Campo Norte projects, according to a previous GlobeSt.com report on the student housing. Dan McAllister, a KTGY principal and lead designer on the project, noted in the previous report that KTGY has considerable experience in designing for college campuses as well as for green buildings in general and LEED-certified buildings specifically.

The new 1,763-bed project is composed of a 1,198-bed undergraduate complex and a 562-bed graduate complex. The undergraduate housing features three-story townhome units of two and four bedrooms, with private bedrooms throughout.

The 562-bed graduate complex features studios as well as units of one and two bedrooms. Both the graduate and the undergraduate housing features a host of amenities. The project will accommodate occasional student residential car use, although the university is emphasizing an on-campus transportation system comprising shuttles, personal and rental bicycles, a car-sharing program and walking.

Source: Globest.com

Remarks: UC Irvine is spending a large volume of money in order to encourage students to live closer to campus and curb its image as a commuter school. If you are a student at UC Irvine, then this development will probably be beneficial. However, if you are a property owner in Irvine and the surrounding area, this new project will eventually take potential renters out of the marketplace. American Campus Communities is a large scale company with more than $150M in revenue in 2007. In order to compete with a company of this size, property managers need an effective way to market themselves to a large group of available renters. Listing on AllStudentRentals.com is an inexpensive, efficient, and convenient way to accomplish this goal and ensure that school-sponsored building projects won’t hurt your bottom line.