Monthly Archives: April 2020

5 Most Popular Houses for Rent in Muncie, Indiana Near Ball State University

Each year, thousands of students searching for houses and apartments near Ball State University use CollegePads.com to find housing. Just like many other campuses across the nation, many students at Ball State start searching for housing during the Fall Semester. Students begin their hunt for Muncie rentals early in September, and the number of searches picks up throughout the semester in October and November. 

This year is no different. Most leases are signed during the Fall Semester, almost a year in advance of the date that you would be moving in, but the slackers are still signing during the spring. If you’re a BSU student with a group looking for a place, you’ll want to sign a lease as early as September and no later than November. For those looking to live alone, you can buy yourself a little more time, but don’t wait too long. Get ahead of your competition and start your search for off-campus housing before your competition does!

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How to Avoid Rental Scams

From Telemarketing scams, identity theft, to credit and debit card fraud we’ve all heard horror stories about scams, or even worse, fallen victim. Rental scams are prevalent across the nation and first-time student renters looking for off-campus housing are especially vulnerable to fraudsters because they often communicate with landlords and lack experience when it comes to renting.

College Pads surveyed hundreds of students across campuses nationwide and found that many students have encountered an online rental scam when looking for off-campus housing near their university.

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The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign: The Top 10 Landlords In Urbana-Champaign

If you’ve ever looked for off-campus housing, we’re sure you know how exhausting, overwhelming and tedious of a task it is. Between your everyday routine, classes, work, and trying to maintain a social life, we know you don’t want to pile yet another thing on your plate—especially one as draining as searching for off-campus housing at UIUC.

To help lighten your load, we at College Pads have done the dirty work for you. We’ve searched high and low to find UIUC students the best landlords around the Urbana-Champaign area. After reading through tons of reviews, we leave you with our picks for the top ten landlords for students attending the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

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Should You Rent A House or Apartment Near Ohio State University?

Living in the dorms is a lot of fun … for like the first semester. After a few months of being policed by RAs, sharing a bedroom with a stranger, and hearing literally everything your neighbors are doing next door, you’re going to be jumping at the opportunity to live off-campus in Columbus next year. Once you finally get the chance to live off-campus, you need to ask yourself one very important question: Are you planning on living in a house or an apartment near OSU?

If you’ve never lived off-campus before, you may not know what the big differences are between the types of OSU housing available to you (i.e. houses vs apartments). That’s why we decided to make you a cheat sheet to help you figure out which option is best for you. 

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5 Best Amenities In Apartments Near Ohio State

If you’ve driven around the Ohio State University campus, down streets like High Street, Lane Street, and Fifth Avenue, we’re sure you couldn’t help but notice the towering off-campus housing complexes that look more like Caribbean Resorts than student apartments. The popularity of luxury student housing has been growing over the years, and more of these massive student oases are being built all throughout the country. To coincide with their resort-like appearance, they also offer resort-like amenities that really help draw in student renters. 


Are you in need of off-campus housing near Ohio State University with some serious amenities? Check out our list of the five best apartment amenities near the Ohio State campus!

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Iowa State University: Top 10 Landlords & Apartments in Ames

At College Pads, we understand the pain and stress that comes with finding off-campus housing. Between balancing a part-time job, a social life, and studying, we know college life can get pretty hectic. When it comes to finding a place that’s close to campus and fits your budget, it’s really important to rent from a legitimate landlord. But how can you make sure? That’s where we come into play!  

Here at College Pads, we took the time to do a little digging into all of the landlords and apartments in Ames near campus, leaving Iowa State students with our picks for the top ten landlords and off-campus apartments in Ames. So, next time you’re looking for off-campus housing near Iowa State University, be sure to check out this list! 

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5 Best Amenities In Apartments Near UIUC

Gone are the days when stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and sports courts were enough to attract UIUC students and entice them to sign a lease—off-campus housing just isn’t what it used to be. Across the nation, we have seen increased development of high-end, luxurious student housing complexes, and these apartments have been popping up all over the Urbana-Champaign area. In order to edge out the competition, they offer some of the sweetest amenities known to students. Totally necessary? Not always, but these guys sure take student housing to a new level! 

Looking for off-campus housing near UIUC but want the best of the best? Check out our list of the five best apartment amenities near the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus! 

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Southern Illinois University: Why Carbondale Rent Prices Are Dirt Cheap

How many times have you been out shopping and found a pair of shoes you were absolutely in L-O-V-E with, only to check the price tag to see that your wallet wasn’t even in L-I-K-E? That’s probably happened to you more often than not, right? Now imagine that you found those same shoes, but this time as you hesitantly flip the price tag over you see that they are on super sale.  That’s what it’s like when you’re searching for your next apartment or house near Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

When the rental prices almost seem too good to be true, you may wonder what’s wrong with the rentals in Carbondale. Are they haunted or something? Nope! The reason that rentals in Carbondale are so inexpensive has less to do with anything supernatural, and more to do with your college enrollment and tuition. 

But how does that affect your rent? Well, when The Great Recession hit back in 2007, colleges across the nation dropped the prices of tuition to influence people to become students at their universities. This worked to reel tons of people to enroll in college for years. The key takeaway here is that when tuition decreased, enrollment increased. When there were more students at these universities, area landlords had their rent prices set just a little bit higher as there were more people in need housing in the area surrounding that college.

As the economy began to recover, colleges started charging obscene amounts for tuition. Which you already know, since you’ve probably signed away your firstborn as a downpayment for your degree. Okay, that was a little dramatic, but not like that off base. Anyway, due to the increased cost of tuition and the diminishing value of a college degree (everyone has one these days), enrollment in colleges has fallen continuously over the last 8 years.

A ton of colleges have felt the sting low enrollment, and Southern Illinois University is no exception. Could it be because the cost of an in-state college education at SIU is more expensive to residents than an out of state college which ends up forcing Illinois residents to neighboring state colleges? Maybe. And by maybe, we mean possibly probably. (Cough, Welcome to Wisconsin)

While paying more for tuition isn’t working in any of the SIU students favor – the low enrollment definitely benefits you since local landlords are continuously underbidding each other to get you to sign with them over another landlord. This is great for you because you can rent a really nice house or apartment with great features and amenities in Carbondale at a price you couldn’t get anywhere else. Unfortunately, landlords in the Carbondale area will continue to go out of business if something doesn’t change with enrollment at SIU.

Ohio State University: 3 Big Reasons Why Rent Is Too Darn High in Columbus

Trying to find the money to pay rent every month feels like you’re competing against Usain Bolt in a 100-meter dash – you just can’t keep up. If you feel this way, know that you’re not alone. A huge chunk of students at Ohio State University are going through the same struggle as you. Without the “help” of financial aid, most students wouldn’t be able to afford their rent since the cost of a rental is rising faster than the cost of wages. Yikes.

But have you ever thought about why rent is the way it is in Columbus? Well, we have. This is why we decided to do a little digging to find out the top 3 reasons rent prices are so high near Ohio State University.

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How To Stay Productive While Taking Online Classes

When you first were told your courses would be moved to an online forum, you were probably thinking it’d be super great to work from home. You’d be simultaneously listening to a lecture while also rewatching an old episode of The Office on Netflix. 

As Admiral Ackbarr from Return of the Jedi once said: “It’s a trap”.  And that’s because working remotely is … or it can be. There are so many different obstacles to working remotely that will get in the way of your productivity. 

This is why we created a list of steps you can take to stay productive while taking online classes.

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