Candy! Balloons! Popcorn! And bigger crowds.
Thousands of students came to the Off-Campus Housing Fair yesterday in the Michigan League to browse more than 40 displays for local off-campus rental agencies and cooperatives.
A recent decision by University Housing to limit the residence hall choices of upperclassmen has sent many students scrambling to these agencies for off-campus apartments and houses.
The fair, where nearly every display table offered some sort of reward or chocolate-filled, foil-wrapped ploy, was estimated to have more attendees than previous years, said University Housing representative Jeff Micale.
"We don't advocate off-campus or on-campus housing," Micale said. "Rather, we recognize that two-thirds of the students will not have (University) housing next year."
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| MALLORY S.E. FLOYD/Daily The Off-Campus Housing Fair in the Michigan League's ballroom attracted hundreds of students yesterday. |
"Basically, they're kicking me out," she said.
LSA senior Erin Wingate, a friend of Pontrello, said the new policies have put a strain on the availability of off-campus housing because more students are out looking.
"It doesn't seem very many places are left right now," Wingate said.
Although many older students strolled the aisles of tables in search of a place to live, a significant percentage of the attendees were first-year students.
LSA first-year student Matt Cohn said that next year he plans to live in a place other than his current room in Couzens Residence Hall.
"I'm sick of the dorms," Cohn said.
Cohn also added that despite his relatively late search for an off-campus place to live, some choices do remain.
"At first I heard that you had to get set up before Christmas," he said. "But seeing all this - it looks like there's a lot left."
While some walked away confident that a search for off-campus housing will eventually bring positive results, others said that the event proved futile for their needs.
Engineering senior Tricia Allam, who spent her last year in a sorority house, is in search of a four-month lease in the fall.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," Allam said. "I think it's pretty much going to end up being Baits or Martha Cook (residence halls). Another plan might be to wait and see if someone who signed a 12-month lease is going abroad in the fall."
An increase in advertising for this year's event may also explain the large turnout, Micale said.
"We did a lot more advertising this year," he said. "And as a result, more people are exploring the possibility of off-campus housing."
Some students expressed that more than one year spent in a residence hall room can be one too many.
"I should have gotten out a lot earlier," said LSA junior Jeff Hu.
An alternative to living in University housing or in traditional houses or apartments off campus is a cooperative house. Co-ops, popular with thousands of students on campus, can sometimes save a resident more than 50 percent of apartment rental costs.
Co-ops, which require tenants to work around the house to supplement their rent costs, force more responsibility upon students, said Raff Nataro, a representative from the Inter-Cooperative Council.
"Co-ops are a unique experience in that it's not really renting - it's owning," Nataro said. "The students get more responsibility."
"Also, it allows more people who normally wouldn't be able to afford off-campus housing a chance to do so," he said. "We know people can get sick of the dorms."
Some companies on-hand yesterday, such as Willowtree Apartments, offered coupons for $100 off the first month's rent, while other companies ran raffle contests that granted the winners a free month of rent after they sign their lease with the agency.
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