Written by Bailey Coffman // Photo by Macy Cox
In the midst of college life, the transition to off-campus housing has a significant step toward adulthood for many students. Beyond the comforts of campus dorms, renting a house brings a host of responsibilities that are perhaps unfamiliar to students who have not had to live on their own before. Understanding the essentials of living independently is very important, from knowing when to leave the sink running during cold weather to knowing what to do when your carbon monoxide detector goes off.
Senior Connor Manry shared his experience when his off-campus house caught fire in fall 2022 due to an electrical shortage.
“It was very random and out of our control,” Manry said. “We learned how to deal with landlords. All eight people in the house — this was our first communication with the landlord — so it definitely felt like the landlord was seeing what he could get past a bunch of college kids who didn’t know what was going on. He lost a lot of money from the house burning down, and he wasn’t in a rush to spend his insurance money on us, so we had to stand up for ourselves and push him to fix it.”
Senior Luke Zeigler highlighted the differences between dorm life and off-campus living, mainly how costs and services are different once a student moves off campus.
“I currently don’t have any hot water because the landlord forgot to pay the gas bill,” Ziegler said. “Now it’ll be a day or two before my hot water is turned back on, which is really inconvenient and wouldn’t happen if you were living in a dorm.”
Junior Elle Brumley shared her insights on the maintenance aspects of living off-campus.
“Living off campus, you definitely have more maintenance things to handle than when you lived in the dorms,” Brumley said. “I live in an older house, so things are constantly needing maintenance. In the cold weather, we had to make sure water was always dripping. One simple thing me and my roommates sometimes still forget is to take the trash cans outside on our trash day before noon. Living off campus is sometimes more affordable than living on campus. However, if you aren’t careful, your utility bill can get really high.”
