Moving off campus – Column A and Column B
This is a message I run every year, so our seasoned Daily Deac-ers might recognize it. This is about housing and the decision to live on or off campus during a student’s junior or senior year. Now that there has been a message about the 21-22 housing selection process for current students, it seems like the right time to talk about this.
I have a theory that in life, we often want to have everything we want at once. Sort of like an a la carte cafeteria menu where you can choose all you want. I call it wanting to choose something from Column A and Column B – and in reality, most often you get to pick one or the other, but not both.
I’ll begin with a reminder that Wake Forest has a three year residency requirement. Juniors must petition to be released from that requirement, and be released in writing by the Office of Residence Life and Housing, before they finalize any off-campus housing. Failure to follow this process can be a costly mistake that lands a student with two housing commitments.
This decision to move off campus as a senior – or petition to move off as a junior – represents a great Column A-Column B moment. There are benefits and tradeoffs, and students/families just have to decide what is most important to them.
Some students want to get a house or an apartment because it seems more fun to have their own place, fewer rules and regulations, etc. But they need to consider that one of the realities of moving off campus is that you are not guaranteed on-campus parking; that is something that only on-campus junior and senior resident students have. So if your Deac wants to move off campus, they can log on when parking permits are being sold in August and see if they can get a commuter parking pass for on campus. Those permits are limited – so maybe they get lucky and get one, and maybe they don’t and have to park in a satellite lot just off campus and walk. That walk to campus in the morning might be less fun when it is raining or snowing. (Note that students with off campus permits can park on campus after 5 pm, so they can move their cars if they are working late in the library or whatever).
There are other realities/amenities of on-campus life that are not replicated off campus. During times of snow and ice storms, historically the buildings on campus (which are on their own power grid), have kept power when some of the houses and apartment complexes contiguous to campus have not. Wake has superior snow plowing on campus compared to the city snow plowing. And the University cannot make the power come on faster or have the streets get plowed faster on non-campus properties.
There are other services that are different: if you move off campus and call 911, it goes to Winston-Salem city police, not University Police. If you move off campus, there are not dumpsters and recycle stations right outside your building (as they are with the residence halls). You are taking out your own trash and recyclables, etc.
Students who live in single family houses in areas of high concentration of Wake students have historically been more likely to have break-ins or other incidents than those in apartment complexes. So that is a consideration too – if I move off, am I better off in a house or apartment? Students may want to live in a house; parents and families may prefer their student live in an apartment. Those are issues you and your Deac will have to navigate.
Also, some students may have scholarships or other requirements that specify they must live on campus all four years. So know the fine print of your Deac’s situation before you make firm plans.
I say all this not to sway your student to stay on campus or move off. There is not a right or wrong here – just what is right for each individual. But they (and you) should think about what the pros and cons are of moving off campus, and determine which tradeoffs are important to you, and which are not, so you make an informed decision. Definitely something to mull over before it is time for room selection later this summer.
Also, students approved will need to indicate their intent to live off campus and register their address/roommates with the Office of Residence Life and Housing. They do this on their Housing Application in the Housing Portal.
Again, your Deac needs to make the best choice for their situation. Just know that with every decision, there are pros and cons to consider.