Leases offer freedom, some say
Limited campus housing sends students elsewhere

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of stories that examines housing options on and off campus.

Chrissy Braden
Staff Reporter

With deadlines to sign up for limited campus housing approaching, many students are beginning to look at off-campus options, which offer freedom from campus housing rules.

Most two-bedroom apartments in the area range from $650-$900 a month. Several apartment complexes around TCU offer special rates to students, especially during the first month of their lease.

Ginger Schmidt, assistant manager at The Reserve at Stonegate, said each apartment complex has a set number of leases for different leasing terms. Some apartments have to wait until the leases students want are available before they can accommodate them.

“People need to be signing leases as soon as possible,” Schmidt said. “We fill up our available apartments in the summer.”

She said most students move in for the fall semester at the beginning of August.

Tim Cox/SKIFF STAFF Trisha Blyther, a freshman nursing major, and Zabrina Steele, a freshman marketing major, discuss their options about moving into Waits Hall with Nancy Grieser, coordinator of housing assignments. The fall 2001 priority housing deposit deadline is Friday.

Life in a house or apartment can offer amenities and freedoms that a residence hall room cannot.

Lauren Kramlich, a sophomore social work major, said she selected her apartment based on friends’ recommendations and what she could afford. She said she liked not having visitation rules, being able to house out-of-town visitors without a hassle, having her own room and choosing features such as her phone and cable carriers in her apartment.

“(Apartments) give you more freedom, and they’re a place to be that’s not just one room,” she said.

Most area apartments offer clubhouses, workout rooms, fireplaces, security access gates, Jacuzzis, swimming pools, laundry rooms, tennis courts and racquetball courts. For additional fees, many apartments may offer alarm systems or washers and dryers for individual units, and some complexes also lease parking spaces to residents.

The Reserve at Stonegate offers free uncovered, or “open” parking, and charges $35 a month for covered parking and $90 for a detached garage.

Schmidt said apartments offer advantages over other housing options.

“We have excellent maintenance,” she said. “We take care of everything, as opposed to a house where you have to wait a long time or pay for it out of your own pocket.”

Kramlich said she liked living off campus, but missed the benefits of a resident assistant that a residence hall can offer. She said it was important to have someone to give advice from their experiences.

“It was nice having an RA,” she said. “But in an apartment you kind of have to figure things out on your own.”

Some students opt to live in houses, which can offer more space than apartments, even though they may require more maintenance.

Jared Hippe, a sophomore premajor, moved into a house this semester after living in a residence hall and apartment.

“I just like the idea of being in a house,” Hippe said. “It’s a lot more comfortable than a (residence hall) or apartment.”

Even though the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of living in a house, Hippe said there were some complaints about living in a house.

“My roommates are always complaining about having to park on campus,” he said. “And yard maintenance is not a whole lot of fun.”

Julie Michener, a leasing consultant at The Reserve, said students looking for off-campus housing should consider amenities an apartment or house has to offer and the community that it’s in.

“Students can use apartment locators, the Internet and word-of-mouth to look for off-campus housing,” she said. “It’s good to ask people around school and get recommendations.”

Chrissy Braden
l.c.braden@student.tcu.edu