The housing games: May the odds be ever in your favor

Graphic by Amanda Norris.

Many students are scrambling to confirm their living situations for the upcoming school year as on-campus housing quickly fills with the university’s growing population. For those attempting to secure a place on campus, the selection process for student residences opened Wednesday.

Students can apply for housing online through the Chapman housing portal. There they will receive a randomly generated timeslot to log back on and choose from available housing options. The priority deadline to apply for on-campus housing is March 14.

Caileen Sylvester, a freshman biological sciences and pre-med major, said she initially hoped to live off-campus next year.

“I thought it would be nice not to have an RA (resident adviser),” Sylvester said. “(My roommates and I) could choose to live however we wanted without someone checking up on us.”

But Sylvester’s plans to study abroad in the spring of 2015 made her change her mind about potentially living in a dorm again, she said.

“I am okay with living on campus another semester because then I will still be able to walk to class and still be able to see friends whenever possible,” Sylvester said.

| Housing options

Off-campus housing coordinator Amanda Zamora said the new Panther Village, opened 2.5 miles from campus in August, gives sophomores, juniors and seniors more options for university housing.

“I think there is an idea out there that when you’re a sophomore, you have to move off-campus,” Zamora said. “That is really not the case at all.”

Zamora said there are many on-campus and off-campus housing options to choose from.

University housing options include the Panther Village, Sandhu Hall, South Morlan Hall and the Glass, Davis and Harris apartments.

Living on campus allows students easy access to campus, the Randall Dining Commons, the residence life pool and their peers that live on campus, according to Chapman’s on-campus living website. Students don’t have to pay monthly utility bills and have access to free Internet and maintenance and facility work. However, in all cases except Panther Village, university housing residents are monitored by resident advisers to ensure that rules like quiet hours are being followed.

Off-campus housing options include renting a house, apartment or room in a family home near campus.

Students living off campus are able to live more independently but may face challenges with landlords, commuting, household budgeting and staying involved on campus, according to Chapman’s off-campus living website.

“There is really something for everyone, whether you choose to stay on campus or find something off campus,” Zamora said.

| Finding housing

When looking for off-campus housing, students can use tools such as Craigslist, Zillow or Chapman’s online listings database, which can be found on the off-campus housing page on Chapman’s website, Zamora said.

Some students, like senior film production major Mason Thibo, use a more hands-on approach.

“There are certain websites that list houses up for rent, but they don’t list all of them,” Thibo said. “We actually just drove around the neighborhood and looked for signs.”

A common problem among students is that they don’t act quickly enough once they find a property, Zamora said.

“Most landlords get a lot of inquiries on a property, and they’ll prioritize a group that gets all of their applications and financial information in over a group that is dragging their feet and getting everything in one at a time,” Zamora said.

It’s exactly what happened to Thibo.

“We found a couple houses which we almost got a deal with before someone snaked us,” he said.

Thibo said using his connections eventually helped him to find the house he now lives in. Thibo knew a group of his Phi Kappa Tau fraternity brothers who were moving out of their house and looking for another group to take over their lease, he said.

Students often use their network of friends to find housing, Zamora said.

“The majority of the houses that are bordering campus never show up on my database or are advertised as being available for rent since they are usually just passed down from student group to student group,” Zamora said.

It’s what happened to junior economics major Joey Livingston, who found housing through his teammates on the football team.

“It was, in a sense, passed down to me,” Livingston said. “It’s been a football house for quite a few years, so when a lot of the guys moved out we kind of had an in with it.”

Some students, like senior accounting and business administration major Holly Porter, prefer to live in a quainter environment, like an apartment complex.

Porter said she enjoys living at the La Veta Grand Apartments because she is close to campus.

“It was hard to find housing at first, but once I found where I live now, it was great,” Porter said.

While some students are concerned with finding housing, others are more worried about finding a roommate.

“My main concern was looking for roommates,” said freshman undeclared major Lydia Benjamin. “Especially right now, everyone is looking for who they’re going to live with and it’s really stressful.”

But as in Sylvester’s case, asking for help can turn a nerve-wracking situation, like finding housing, into an exciting one.

“I mostly just asked my sorority sisters what their living arrangements were, and now I plan on living with one of my sisters along with her two current roommates,” Sylvester said.