Off-Campus & Apartment Living

Moving Off Campus? Start Here.

Dorm life has a checklist. So does your first apartment — it's just three times longer and nobody hands it to you. Kitchen, living room, a real bed: here's everything the dorm never made you buy.

Get the apartment checklist   Shop the apartment store

Find off-campus housing near your school

Pick your state and school — just like the dorm picker — and jump straight to the apartments students actually use.

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Dorm or apartment? Two different lists.

Living in a dorm

Twin XL bedding, shower caddy, command strips. Your room comes furnished and the bathroom is down the hall.

Find your school's dorm packing list →

Living off campus

Full or Queen bedding, a kitchen to stock, a bathroom that's all yours to clean. Furnished or not, the list changes completely.

See the apartment checklist →

First question: furnished or unfurnished?

Purpose-built student housing (the big communities with per-bedroom leases and roommate matching) almost always comes furnished: bed frame and mattress, desk, dresser, sofa, and full kitchen appliances are already there. You bring soft goods — bedding, kitchenware, bath, decor.

Conventional apartments and most shared houses are unfurnished: the fridge and stove stay, everything else is on you — mattress, bed frame, sofa, tables, the lot. Budget roughly $800–$1,500 to outfit a furnished place and $2,500–$5,000 for an unfurnished one (split kitchen and living-room costs with roommates).

How big is a college apartment, actually?

Unit typeTypical sizeBedroomBed size
Studio400–550 sq ftOne room + private bathFull or Queen
1 Bed / 1 Bath600–800 sq ft~10×11 to 12×12 ft bedroomQueen
2 Bed / 2 Bath850–1,100 sq ft~10×11 to 11×13 ft, en-suite bathsFull or Queen
4 Bed / 4 Bath (student housing)1,300–1,800 sq ft~9×11 to 11×12 ft private roomsFull (the student-housing standard)
Room in a shared housevaries~9×10 to 12×12 ftWhatever fits — usually Full
The Twin XL era ends at the dorm door. Student apartments almost always use Full beds; conventional rentals fit a Queen. Check your lease or floor plan before buying bedding — then test your layout in the free room designer.

Lease basics nobody tells you

Student-housing leases usually start August 1 or August 15 and run 12 months, priced per bedroom in monthly installments — you're not on the hook if a roommate flakes. Conventional apartments lease per unit, so pick roommates you'd trust with rent. Popular buildings pre-lease as early as October for the following fall. Most leases require renters insurance (usually $15–20/month), and if your building doesn't include internet, you'll need your own router.

Off-campus guides by school

Complex-by-complex guides for the campuses we cover in depth, with distances, unit types, and what each market is really like:

Your school not listed yet? The apartment checklist and shop work for every campus — and more school guides are on the way.