Off campus housing is not usually covered by any sort of financial aid or housing assistance, so you are pretty much on your own to find a place that suits your needs. Having said that, sometimes student housing offices will keep a list of student-friendly off campus housing. Their list will usually contain inexpensive housing, apartments close to campus, and complexes that have security systems or a guard.

Your first step to finding off campus housing is to determine what type of digs you need. Do you just want to rent a room in a family’s house? Do you need a private entrance? Do you want an apartment or a townhouse?

Once you have determined that, go to the grocery store and get a Sunday paper (Sunday and Thursday always have way more classifieds than the rest of the week) and a free apartment guide (they are usually in a stand by the front door). The apartment guides will usually only have apartments and townhouse complexes. The paper will have those too, but will also have houses, duplexes, and rooms for rent. They may also have roommate-needed advertisements. Take the paper and the apartment guide home and circle a bunch of ads that interest you. Now, if you have Internet access, try going to a site like www.rent.net. Sometimes they list apartments that do not advertise locally.

Once you have found a few places that meet your needs, call them to find out all the particulars. Do they require a deposit? Do they take pets? Do they have central heat and air? Do they have security? This is your chance to find out about the amenities that are important to you. Last step, go visit your narrowed list of available places and see which one you like!