How to Find a Cheap College Apartment

With the right price, you can move off-campus into your own apartment and reduce living expenses. A college apartment also allows you to cook for yourself and have more control over sleep, noise and life in general. Find a cheap college apartment that suits your needs.

Instructions

1. Make a rent budget. Look at how much you pay for the dorm for each year, then break it down to monthly amounts. This provides a figure for how much rent you want to pay each month.

2. Decide if you want a roommate. This reduces the monthly cost, especially in paying utilities and services such as television and Internet.

3. Consider a sublet as an avenue to a cheap college apartment. Look for sublet ads on local Internet ad services such as Kijiji or Craig's List. A sublet allows you to negotiate a favorable rent amount in many cases.

4. Search for a cheap college apartment through online apartment finder websites. There are several that specialize in college apartments.

5. Contact upperclassmen living off-campus who plan to leave their college apartments soon. Ask how you can get to the landlord before the lease ends, allowing you to snap up a desirable place before it enters the open market.

6. Watch bulletin boards around campus where students often place flyers advertising sublets or looking for roommates. You can also place a flyer with your contact information indicating you are looking for a place.

7. Check the classifieds in the campus newspaper and postings on the college housing website for cheap apartments.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to factor in the cost of food in a monthly budget. Chances are you can eat for less than the cafeteria costs on campus and cooking for yourself provides more choices.

• Ask questions about the cost of utilities such as electricity and heat. When paying for heat, you want to know how well the apartment is insulated against the cold. Landlords and previous tenants can give you an idea of monthly amounts.

• A roommate helps reduce expenses even further, but set up a written agreement on cost-sharing to avoid disagreements over who pays for what.

Resources

• The Campus Rent website has a search function for cheap college apartments.
• The Sublet website has listings for college students.