Procrastination happens, so it’s not a surprise to the staff of the Neighborhood Services and Collaboration and Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement when they get students coming in looking for roommates and housing at the last minute.
Set up within the Office of Student Life, these offices help students find off-campus living arrangements in the University District.
The primary pre-leasing period is from as early as October into December, said Dilnavaz Cama, the department manager for Neighborhood Services and Collaboration. However, after that time there are still properties available.
“Your pool will be smaller,” Cama said. “In my opinion, the things that go the quickest are those big huge eight-, 10-, 15-bedroom houses with the party deck. But if you’re looking for a one-, two-, three- or even four-bedroom places, those are available year round.”
According to the office’s website Thursday, there were more than 200 one-bedroom, roughly 300 two-bedroom, about 130 three-bedroom and about 120 four-bedroom units available as of Thursday. These listings are given to the office from landlords who choose to advertise their properties on the website.
Although there are still rental properties available for the next academic year, some students are still concerned they will not find what they are looking for.
“I am a little bit worried about not finding all the specific things I want in a place,” said Austin Yoder, a fifth-year in city and regional planning who has yet to sign a lease for next year.
While Yoder is concerned about finding the right property, Cama said one of the most important factors when choosing where to live is who to live with. An online roommate search is one of the services Neighborhood Services and Collaborations offers to students. The site is OSU username and password protected to ensure that only OSU students can access the website to find roommates.
“Students can just check out the roommate search and contact people if they want to or they can post an ad if they want to,” Cama said. “And then on top of that we do have roommate fairs once a semester.”
The roommate fair is designed to help students meet potential roommates in a safe and formal environment, Cama said. Finding the proper roommate is an important step in the process because most leases renters will sign include a Joint and Several Liability clause. This clause financially attaches the roommates by holding all parties responsible for the entire lease amount for the entire year.
Some students, such as Clayton Bushey, a second-year in international studies, said they did not know about the Neighborhood Services and Collaborations offices.
“I plan to live off campus again next year and I have never heard of it before,” Bushey said.
A roommate fair is scheduled to be held in the Multicultural Room in the Union on March 22.