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Affinity housing arrangements
Within campus housing, some colleges have specially-designated dorms or floors for students with special interests or those who
prefer a quieter environment. Those options may be desirable to current students and not as available to freshmen, but if you're
given the option and are interested, it can't hurt to try for one.
The University of Pittsburgh, for example, offers 13 special living communities that are specific halls within
certain residences. These include quiet living communities, where residents agree to abide by rules regulating noise, and special
interest halls that group students together by academic interests.
There are engineering, nursing, French, Italian, honors
college and entrepreneurial living halls, among others. These options
usually are the same cost as similar housing elsewhere on-campus.
Moving off-campus
With the pool of college freshman bigger than it's ever been, more incoming students are running into problems getting on-campus
housing. Either the school accepted more students than it can house or is unable or unwilling to build more dorms.
Under these circumstances, colleges are depending more on off-campus providers to fill the gap. Some off-campus
housing is designed specifically for college students, while other housing is in the form of apartments or houses traditionally
found around college campuses.
A number of companies are partnering with colleges
to design off-campus housing. These units typically have one to
four bedrooms with private baths for each room and are fully furnished,
says Julie Bonnin, a senior vice president with Asset Campus Housing,
a company that builds and manages off-campus housing near more than
50 colleges around the country.
A college will refer overflow to these private off-campus housing complexes, which are set up to match students
with roommates, provide shuttle bus services from the housing to the campus and offer many other amenities such as pools, exercise
rooms, game rooms and computer facilities.
Many students find off-campus apartments cheaper than
the on-campus alternative. "Off-campus living is an amazing way
to get prepped for the real world before you get there," says Clark.
"I lived in a house with five girls in Somerville, Mass., five minutes
away from the Medford campus of Tufts. As 19-year-olds,
we were given the opportunity to learn about paying rent, budgeting
for our move and shopping and cooking for ourselves."
No more mystery meat
Most colleges require freshman and any student living on-campus
to purchase a meal plan. Dining options include several full-service
cafeterias, snack bars, on-campus fast-food outlets and coffee bars.
Within those options, you need to choose a meal plan
that provides a fixed number of meals per semester plus a number
of a la carte points. Buy a plan with more meals or points than
you can use and you end up losing any remaining meals or points
when the school year is over; buy a skimpier plan and risk running
out of meals during final exams.
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