In college, students are able to learn and grow, make new and lifelong friends, and gain polish and maturity before they go off into the real world. There are many ways to do these things and a million different experiences for each student to have, which will, in turn, shape them in a million different ways as well.
One common experience for college students is to rent a house together with their friends. Some parents and guardians may frown upon this kind of living situation and try to dissuade their students from participating in it. They might be afraid of their students falling into bad situations due to immaturity, rivalries, greedy landlords, and more. However, there are many positive aspects to renting a house in college with friends that make it an option to be further explored. Read on to learn more about the benefits of renting a house in college with friends!
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Lower Costs
For college students, finding affordable housing is imperative. While dorms are practical and place you right on campus, the limited amount of space, lack of privacy, and the expensive price make it a less likely option for students, especially after their first year. That leaves renting a property.
Most students assume that renting a house will be too expensive and instinctively lean towards renting an apartment or townhouse instead. However, when you have got to keep costs in mind, renting a house is often the way to go as it can be much cheaper than renting an apartment. Most of the time, houses have more bedrooms than apartments, which means that the rent can be split between more people.
This also means that besides the rent, other necessary household bills like water, trash, electricity, and cable and internet can also be split between more people, making it cheaper for you.
On top of this, houses are usually larger and more spacious, which means you get more room for your buck. You might even be lucky and have a yard of some kind. In addition, you are usually afforded parking, either in a driveway or in a garage, which means you will not have to compete to find a parking spot that is conveniently right where you live.
Sharing Burdens
Another benefit of renting a house in college with friends is sharing burdens. Not only do you share your bills to make them less expensive for you on a monthly basis, you also get to share chores and the like. When there are more people sharing a space, it can get a little bit more difficult and messy. But with more people to split the chores between, the lower chore load can help keep a student a little bit less stressed as they make their way through a busy college semester.
On the surface, it might seem like there would be more chores to do in a house than an apartment, especially because it has more space and rooms to it. But keep in mind your household chores have to do with the common spaces. You do not have to clean all of your friends’ and roommates’ rooms in the house. And while the common spaces might be incrementally bigger, they are not so much bigger that doing chores to clean them, like vacuuming, will make that much of a difference in that regard.
With more roommates, you might only have to vacuum the house once a month instead of every other week. You might have to unload the dishwasher only once a week instead of every other day. You might only have to scrub the toilet every other month instead of every month. The changes could be endless! And with fewer chores on your plate, you will better be able to focus on your college studies.
Some students might worry about having to do lawn care and if that is something you are truly concerned with, keep in mind that many rental houses now include lawn maintenance in the cost of the rent.
Gaining Maturity
Finally, the biggest benefit of renting a house in college with friends is that it can help you to gain maturity. With a house, you may have different kinds of duties to do than you might have in an apartment. There are fewer amenities, just more space, so you need to make a more conscientious decision about how to spend your time and money.
If there are more people in your household in a house than in an apartment, then you also need to get better at handling it. It can even make you more financially responsible since bills will need to be split and juggled. The experience will definitely help you grow!
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There are pros and cons to every living situation, but renting a house win college with friends has some undeniable benefits.
Equal Housing Opportunity
