Congrats! Somehow you managed to make it through your first year of college at WWU and survived the dorm life. Friends are signing leases all around you, and your parents keep nagging you about finding off-campus housing in Bellingham for the next school year. No more putting it off—it’s time to start “adulting” and sign your first lease! But it’s your first time, how do you know where to start? Look no further! To make it easier for you, College Pads did some digging to come up with a list of the top off-campus Bellingham landlords.
After doing a year or two of hard time in the medium security correctional facility commonly referred to as “on-campus living”, students are itching for the freedom of living off-campus. No rules. No RA’s. No more shuffling down the hall in a towel to your room after a shower. Just freedom. But that freedom comes at a price: Rent.
While living off-campus is traditionally cheaper than living on-campus, that doesn’t mean that by choosing to live off-campus you’ll suddenly be paying thousands less in living expenses and start living like someone from Fancy Living Digest. What it actually means is that you’ll be paying a little less than you would in the dorms, but you’ll have more freedoms (and responsibilities).
Unfortunately for students across the nation, the cost of college is rising 8 times faster than the cost of wages (yikes) which makes paying for rent increasingly more difficult. Sure, there are a ton of ways to make sure you don’t end up having to sell a kidney (or two) to pay for next semester’s rent, like keeping what’s important in mind when you’re looking for your next place – I.e., lazy rivers, 24-hour fitness centers, indoor something-ball courts, and personal masseuses are not necessary amenities to have in your next rental.
However, when you attend any of our 10 campuses with super high rents, you’re going to be stuck.
While there are hundreds of different factors leading up to why these schools have the most expensive average rent prices for student renters, the main factors that affect the cost of rent include: Enrollment, Luxury Apartments, School Prestige, and Vacancy Rate. So let’s dive into the reasons why each campus is so expensive.
