Attending NSU as an out-of-state student, the first question that everyone has is, “Where am I going to live?” For the past two years, I have gotten lucky with being able to live on campus, but now because of the new housing policy, I will probably live in a cardboard box.
To start, NSU’s housing policy changed after the pandemic, prioritizing housing for lowerclassmen. With this, the seniors were expected to find off-campus housing because NSU “has limited space available.”
As the 2023-2024 housing policy states, “no one over 20 is guaranteed to live on campus or can room with someone who is not in their same class.” So seniors cannot live with sophomores, freshmen cannot live with seniors, etc.
NSU has also significantly increased the prices of living on campus. In the 2023-2024 academic school year, the price for one room within a four-bedroom apartment in Rolling Hills was $4,660 per semester, and now for the upcoming school year, the price has increased to $4,995.
As NSU continues to accept more freshmen than we have space, more upperclassmen are going to be forced off campus. With the acceptance of more freshmen, most of the on-campus housing options have been turned into freshmen living spaces, which allows fewer and fewer upperclassmen to live on campus.
Typically, seniors can choose from whatever rooms are left over after the juniors and sophomores make their selections. However, this year all the rising seniors who filled out housing contracts on time received emails stating “unfortunately the 2024-2025 returner self-selection process is now closed for all upperclassman communities (Rollings Hill A, Rolling Hills C, and University Pointe).”
As someone who is from out-of-state and does not drive, I cannot afford to get an off-campus apartment. Most student loans do not cover off-campus housing.
What does not make sense to me is how students who live in the tri-county area, 15, 30, 60 minutes away, are more likely to get housing than many upperclassmen who come from different states or even different countries, simply because they are freshmen.
Local students still have a place to stay and go back to during the school year, but for us students from out of state, we are expected to just figure it out and hope that we can afford to live down here and continue attending NSU.
Even if I had someone to live with, because I do not have any source of sustainable income, living off-campus would not be feasible. So, it looks like I’ll be living in a cardboard box.
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